Billy Mitchell's Direct Feed Recordings are MAME Generated

[danman123456]

I watched the video and it looks like the exact same board taken out and put back in. Is that what your trying to show?

[Sqrlmonger]

I'm open to suggestions, as long as it's not Youtube or Facebook because they tend to mangle videos. I also prefer that this information be public.

1) Upload it to mega.nz.

2) post the link

I used the previously suggested file sharing website. Here is the download link, just in case it never gets posted to Twin Galaxies. Judge for yourselves.

https://we.tl/ZqTg4UAY01

I appreciate the effort but I hope you can also appreciate that if you wish for this to be taken as objective evidence that you will need to document, in detail, what you have done to the video to "enhance" it.

edit: PS - I will say I thought the original video was blatantly a DK Jr to DK Jr board swap and I see the exact same thing in the "enhanced" video.  Not trying to take anything from your efforts, but if the conclusion is the same, I'm unclear as to what we gain.

[Raven]

I watched the video and it looks like the exact same board taken out and put back in. Is that what your trying to show?

Indeed, it certainly looks that way to me, but I wanted to give people a chance to make up their own minds.

The truth of the matter is (I've been dying to say that), I am now 100% convinced that the before and after boards are the same exact Donkey Kong Junior board being removed and reinstalled. To be absolutely certain, I've watched the video countless times, often at variable speeds using a back and forth technique called video scrubbing, and frame by frame.

In my mind, this single act of intentional deception leaves no room for doubt about the motive.

[Raven]

I appreciate the effort but I hope you can also appreciate that if you wish for this to be taken as objective evidence that you will need to document, in detail, what you have done to the video to "enhance" it.

I used Adobe Premiere Pro with a sharpen filter (set to 10) and a shadow highlight filter (highlight 0, shadow 50). In addition to the timecode overlay and a simple invert filter on the second video segment. It's nothing fancy, and frankly I'm surprised that it was not done before now. If need be, I can provide a screenshot of the precise settings used, but I think that would be overkill. Anyone with basic video editing skills can replicate the process, provided they have the required software.

[johnbart]

It's very clear to see #4 and #5 areas in the original video even without the post processing to be from DK jr board both before and after the "swap".

[xelnia]

I appreciate the effort but I hope you can also appreciate that if you wish for this to be taken as objective evidence that you will need to document, in detail, what you have done to the video to "enhance" it.

I used Adobe Premiere Pro with a sharpen filter (set to 10) and a shadow highlight filter (highlight 0, shadow 50). In addition to the timecode overlay and a simple invert filter on the second video segment. It's nothing fancy, and frankly I'm surprised that it was not done before now. If need be, I can provide a screenshot of the precise settings used, but I think that would be overkill. Anyone with basic video editing skills can replicate the process, provided they have the required software.

I'm not sure if anyone has gone into that much detail (filtering the video), but the fact that a DKJR board is swapped for a DKJR board has been established for quite some time (and was part of the initial set of posts in the TG dispute thread).

What I'd really like to know, and maybe your processing of the video will help, is what's on that laptop screen.

[Raven]

It's very clear to see #4 and #5 areas in the original video even without the post processing to be from DK jr board both before and after the "swap".

It was not entirely clear to me, but now it is. I had to be certain, and others may feel the same way.

[Raven]

I'm not sure if anyone has gone into that much detail (filtering the video), but the fact that a DKJR board is swapped for a DKJR board has been established for quite some time (and was part of the initial set of posts in the TG dispute thread).

What I'd really like to know, and maybe your processing of the video will help, is what's on that laptop screen.

It's funny that you mentioned it because I've been wondering about that too. To me, it looks like some kind of webcam or video window on the right, with a partially obscured picture of a circuit board on the left. I've tried various methods to make it more clear, but without much success.

[Mary McManus]

The PCB being pulled out of the game is lacking the volume control pot where it would normally located on a DK 2 board upright. From that observation its clearly a DKJR PCB.

[Raven]

Something just hit me about that video and I want each of you to watch it now and tell me if I'm wrong. First, is the audio is synced up with video? It seems it is when Billy is talking about the board swap.

When Billy goes to start his DK Jr. game at the end on the video, the credit is in the machine and he talks a little about his tie then hits play. LISTEN REALLY CLOSE. The game starts THEN you here his hand hit the start button milliseconds after.

Now if that's just audio lag, there isn't lag when they are talking about the board swap.

I was once wondered that what if video was ran into the monitor and Billy was in front the machine simulating the game play. What is that blue box next to the PC with the wires coming out.

I checked for audio sync issues and everything seemed to be ok, but I only listened and watched to be certain that words matched lip movements.

[LMDAVE]

Well if the audio is I fact sync, then the start button press after game starts is weird.

EDIT: Scratch that. I just checked the original video, sync is fine, something must have happened in your enhancement video that push the sync off at the end. Button syncs up in original video.

[SHLONKY]

I'm not sure if anyone has gone into that much detail (filtering the video), but the fact that a DKJR board is swapped for a DKJR board has been established for quite some time (and was part of the initial set of posts in the TG dispute thread).

What I'd really like to know, and maybe your processing of the video will help, is what's on that laptop screen.

It's funny that you mentioned it because I've been wondering about that too. To me, it looks like some kind of webcam or video window on the right, with a partially obscured picture of a circuit board on the left. I've tried various methods to make it more clear, but without much success.

thanks for the video, its possible enhancements may helpidentify some things, but the board swap being the same board was 100% a long time ago.

as for the pc, the screen at first looked like early versions of Windows Movie Maker, but theni noticed theres a second blockon the left that seems to display an image. At first i started looking at mame builds, certain Mame32 builds look similar in layout, but i only found ones showing a filetree on the left and not an image.
To me the image (if zoomed in) looks like a kind of landscape youd see in games like 1942 etc, but i cannot find any screenshots that match.

whats also worth noting is the purple or blue box to the side of the pc that has wires coming out, i was trying to match it to capture devices or pc-vhs link boxs but found no definite matches yet.

[Bounty Bob]

Thanks Raven, I've posted a link to the video and details of processing over at Twin Galaxies. Would have done it last night but had to go to sleep  .

[Raven]

Well if the audio is I fact sync, then the start button press after game starts is weird.

EDIT: Scratch that. I just checked the original video, sync is fine, something must have happened in your enhancement video that push the sync off at the end. Button syncs up in original video.

I carefully checked the enhanced video and you are correct. At the beginning, the video and audio are in sync, but at the end they are out of sync by exactly 13 frames. The problem originated in the source video I had used, and the audio sync problem was likely caused by a failure to compensate for different frame rates, say 29.97 fps as opposed to 30 fps. My best guess is that someone attempted to restore the audio to the original Robert Childs video, the one where he inexplicably replaced the original audio with classical music.

Ironically, the original Robert Childs video has the best overall picture quality, despite the missing audio, so I started from scratch and restored the audio, except that I did it properly. The video and audio are now a frame-perfect match, from beginning to end. The same settings were used to enhance the video.

If anyone wants to see the corrected video, here is a download link.

https://we.tl/8MIPLpcoRz

[Raven]

I've been closely examining the infamous Boomer's board swap video where the Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Junor records were supposedly broken on the same day. It's the video where Billy Mitchell allegedly scored 1,062,800 points on Donkey Kong, roughly a week before his announcement at the Big Bang Video Game Hall of Fame event in Ottumwa, IA.

If anyone wants to see the corrected video, here is a download link.

https://we.tl/8MIPLpcoRz

There are two parts to the enhanced video, where the first part is "normal" and the second part is "inverted", plus I added a timecode (HH:MM:SS:FF) overlay to the upper right corner of the video for reference. The video appears grainy due to the processes used to make the lighting more consistent, plus it was sharpened slightly to bring out more detail.

Here is an image to help visualize the major differences to look for in the enhanced video. I snagged it from the video Apollo Legend made, adding numbered identifiers for reference.

The following is a transcription of the video. The timecodes should be accurate to within a few frames, and I'm reasonably certain that the text matches what was said, except for the one marked as "Unintelligible". If there are any errors, please let me know and I will make any necessary corrections.

00:00:04:24 Robert Childs: The Donkey Kong record has been broken...
00:00:07:09 Robert Childs: I'm taking the Donkey Kong board out of the game, and putting the Donkey Kong Junior board back in.
00:00:48:23 Robert Childs: Ok, we um...
00:00:51:26 Robert Childs: We have the Donkey Kong Board in our hands, right now, we're gonna switch it for DK Junior.
00:00:58:04 Robert Childs: Unintelligible...
00:00:58:29 Billy Mitchell: It's a...
00:00:59:28 Billy Mitchell: It's a good thing we've got Rob here, because as good as I can play this game, I couldn't switch a board out, or switch a board in.
00:01:07:12 Billy Mitchell: So...
00:01:08:26 Billy Mitchell: Rob, go ahead and take the Donkey Kong Junior board...
00:01:11:13 Robert Childs: Donkey Kong Junior...
00:01:12:12 Billy Mitchell: and do your stuff.
00:01:17:03 Billy Mitchell: I'm not too humble to admit that.
00:01:19:01 Robert Childs: Ok, that's good.
00:01:21:03 Robert Childs: Alright, Donkey Kong Junior goes in.
00:01:23:17 Billy Mitchell: I don't know that I'm gonna admit anything else though.
00:01:30:24 Robert Childs: Power connector...
00:02:38:16 Billy Mitchell: Hey Rob, we are in a time crunch here.
00:02:40:12 Robert Childs: Ok, I'm moving as fast as I can move.
00:02:43:11 Robert Childs: You know how these old boards work.
00:02:44:23 Billy Mitchell: No, I don't know a damned thing.
00:03:39:27 Billy Mitchell: Do I need to call in a more knowledgeable tech?
00:03:42:22 Robert Childs: Um... you might umm... have to... we've got one more wing nut.
00:04:04:26 Robert Childs: Ok, what we now have, is Donkey Kong Junior.
00:04:14:11 Game Sound: One credit added.
00:04:16:10 Robert Childs: Billy, break the record.
00:04:20:24 Billy Mitchell: It's only because uhhh... of Miss Morning Dove, is the reason why I'm going to be able to do this.
00:04:31:22 Billy Mitchell: The rest will be history.
00:04:32:24 Game Sound: Game begins.