Athletic Uses of DVDs:

The coaches at Braintree Athletic Systems are very excited about the use of DVD with players and coaches. We'd like to start this discussion with some "pros" and "cons" that will no doubt change over the next few years. Expect more information about DVD players, recorders, burners etc. over the next few months.

 

Pros:

Multiple Scenes

A single DVD can contain multiple scenes, with easy access to any particular one. Imagine a ninety minute DVD that contains six scenes. The scenes are really nothing more than short movies or film studies. Here is an example of a DVD that we used this fall with our defensive team after week five of the season.

Scene 1: Our entire game from the previous week. (27 min.)

Scene 2: A short film study that showed each running play by our previous opponent that gained more than four yards. (6 min.)

Scene 3: A short film study that showed every pass on 1st and 2nd down by our opponent. The emphasis was two-fold. How did our defensive line transition from stopping the run to rushing the passer and did our linebackers read the necessary keys to get into their pass drops? (5 min.)

Scene 4: Our next opponent's previous game, just the plays of their offense. (12 min.)

Scene 5: Our next opponent's game with us from the year before, again just the offensive plays. (11 min.)

Scene 6: All the drop back passes we have on our opponent over the past two years. These were plays taken from five different games as we have several games of our opponents from different exchange films. (8 min.)

Scene 7: All 1st down plays of our opponent over the last two years. (9 min)

Scene 8: All 2nd down and long plays of our opponent over the last two years. (4 min)

Scene 9: All 3rd and short plays of our opponent over the last two years. (7 min.)

Quicker to duplicate

DVD's can be duplicated quickly. A ninety minute DVD can be copied in as few as ten minutes. Granted, only one copy can be made at a time, but it would take up to four "chained" VCR's to make the same number of VHS copies.

More options to view

Newer laptop and desktop computers are more often than not coming with DVD players installed.

A little less expensive

We purchase DVD's in bulk for a little less than thirty cents each. It is hard to find VHS tapes for less than that price.

Cons:

Learning curve

I can remember the first time I tried to make a copy of a game film from one VHS/VCR to another VHS/VCR. It wasn't as easy as I thought. It's easier now, but we still spend time helping coaches with all the wires and hardware. Making a DVD with a computer is a little more difficult than attaching the wires of two VCRs, but that is where we come in at Braintree Athletics, offereing the kind of support that coaches need.

Need to purchase hardware and software

Teams will need at least one computer with DVD burning capability and all the necessary software. Regardless of which computer platform you choose, you are looking at around $1500.

More time to make the first one

Computers need "rendereing" time when creating the first copy of a DVD. This time is usually two to four times longer than the actual video on the DVD, depending upon the speed of the computer.