Why is there no video section at Muppet Central?

[CookieMonster]

I was just wondering why in the world is there no video section at muppet central. I believe you should carry short clips from the muppets such as the Muppet Mastercard and Dennys commercials, The Muppet/Weezer music video and the behind the music special of it (which might i add that the Weezer/Muppet combo is great and whoever came up with it should be awarded some muppet award of some type) or other memorable moments of the muppets such as all those music videos like the bermuda bahama, lime in the coconut videos or even muppet originals like Mahna Mahna and also have memorable clips that members can suggest or vote upon to go on the site. Ive never seen the Muppet episode "Sex, Drugs and Violence" which i would love to see and I believe making muppet video available to all will make the site more popular. Instead of making us search the web or giving us stupid links, you should have muppet videos available here cuz, i mean isn't the motto of muppet central: Muppet Fans Unite? cuz if it is why are you making us go to ying yang and back to look for this stuff, cuz i know that i have and i still havent been able to get my hands on many muppet videos. One more thing is that Muppet Central should have the Muppet/Weezer merchandise available here. Its awesome and i dont know why its not in the Muppet Central Shop. Oh yeah and before i go i was just wondering if the "Merry Muppet Christmas" special was gonna be on dvd. Thanks for reading and please post replies about your feelinngs on this subject.

 

[CookieMonster]

Sorry, i tend to write in long run-on sentences, but whatever works

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Hiya,

It was titled "Sex and Violence" as opposed to "Sax and Violins" I'm sure.

Depends on the bandwidth of the video and how much space they have to use for that kind of stuff at MC.

FOZ

 

[Chilly Down]

Cookie,

In addition to bandwidth, another potential problem is the legality issue. Muppet Central owns no copyright from Henson; it's completely unofficial. The photos are allowed because no one's making any money off of them. Muppet Central Radio is only allowed because Phil went through much pains to ensure that the music couldn't be downloaded for free while it was playing. But if Phil were to openly put tons of free Muppet video on the web, so you'd never have to buy another Muppet-related video or DVD again, you can bet that the Henson lawyers would shut down this site so fast our heads would spin!

If you're looking for certain items that aren't available in stores, like the Sex and Violence special, we have a Trades section in this forum. Someone should be able to help you out with whatever you need.

As for Very Merry, NBC didn't put it on DVD yet because they were waiting to see if it was financially worth their while. If the VHS version sells well enough, and if they re-run the TV-movie next year, NBC may offer the DVD. (Ironically, I doubt VHS sales are doing all that well, since everyone's waiting for the DVD.)

Good luck on your video hunt!

 

[Luke]

There are certain very short promotional video clips that could possibly be used legality with the right credits - adverts are quite an easy one to use legally as well as interviews during TV shows and things like that. Full blown clips from any point in a show you choose would be illegal, even some of the pictures here would be considered illegal and are probably used with a nudge and a wink - the site does make money or at least is able to. The legalities are very shady with any unofficial fan site - if you were to do things totally legally you'd need a credit on every single picture. I'd think the bandwidth would be the main issue here as well as legal implications, but they could be got over in some cases.

 

[Chilly Down]

Good point about the commercials -- I meant to mention that. When this site doesn't host them directly, they at least provide links to the company's website where they can be found. The site also hosted Kermit and Gonzo's announcement of MuppetFest on the Today Show last June. The company didn't complain, I'm sure, because it was free publicity.

About the pictures, I should have clarified. While MC recoups some of its costs through merchandise, no money is made (or lost) by the photos themselves. If Phil were to charge money for access to the photos, he'd be in trouble. If all the photos were taken from one source, and that source was a photo album available in bookstores everywhere that the Henson Company was trying to profit from, then he'd be in trouble there as well. Clearly neither of those two things are going on.

 

[Luke]

You are right that blatently making money from the photos would be something that would trigger Henson to act, but most of the photos are still used illegally anyway on more or less all fan sites whether they are used to profit or not. Henson are usually fine as long as a service is being provided with a greater proportion of original content than illegal stuff.

I'd love to see some of the TV appearances available here to view, especially Mikes 'Today Show' appearance and the Maceys one but i guess it'd take a lot of bandwidth and the legality issues would need to be looked into (i'm a bit shady on what they are in the states). Still, the clip that was put up last year was, i'm sure, enjoyed by all and i'd love to see more if it can be arranged.

Actually shame i haven't got a capture card - i'd love to show some short clips of 'The Hoobs' and 'I Love The Muppets' on my own space so you guys can see what we English people are talking about.

 

[Chilly Down]

Again, you're right: technically no photos are to be used on any unofficial website anywhere. Henson, as with most other companies, tends to look the other way as long as it's not all about the pictures or whatever.

I'd like to see the Macy's thing too. Who's "Mike" that was on The Today Show? And maybe you need to befriend someone who DOES have a motion capture card so we can see "I Love the Muppets"!

 

[Luke]

Mike from Palisades appeared on the 'Today Show' for a charity campaign. I'm looking into getting a cheap capture card from Ebay and some more memory - i shall have to see what i can do !

 

[sidcrowe]

Hmmm....why haven't we heard from Phil on this one yet?

The way I feel about video clips is that they can't possibly eat into Henson revenue because a little mpeg or Quicktime movie that lasts a minute or two, and is shown at the size of a postage stamp or a Kit Kat bar is no big deal.

Heck, I have plans to add the clip of Henson's "Timepiece" I got from the Henson site over a year ago to my website when I get the time.

Further, all of us with Muppet characters of our own may like to have them on MC. Let's say, 10 of us did that with original characters, with 3 or 6 megs each...that's no big deal to a website of this size.

And since the Apple Mac share of the market is so small, and only Apple itself makes Apple tv ads, Apple enthusiast websites regularly offer the tv commercials for people to have.

If I had the money, I'd email you all and have you send your vids to MY site

By the way, if you'd care to watch an interview with Neil Affleck, who directed the Simpsons off and on for 10 years, go to my website, then the main page, then the "CROWE TV" section, and check it out and four other new vids. Get the Quicktime player from Apple first, though. It's free, and there are versions for both Mac ANNND the PC.

CAW!