Cricket videos have joined the online world. You can now find a vast range of video clips, live matches and cricket highlights online, to complement traditional VHS and DVD video. So, what's the advantage of all this choice? It's so easy to drown in the sea of video products. So, if you want to enjoy more cricket or inspire your junior cricketer, you'll need to be selective.
VHS tape and DVD cricket video are still popular, and don't have internet related transmission issues. So, it's worth considering them for your collection, but consider the picture quality of archive TV footage before you part with your money.
Remember that colour TV has only been around since the late 1960's, and that earlier black and white footage has variable quality. However, it's still worth considering archive material, to see some of the all time greats at work. For example, Sir Donald Bradman's 1993 video on how to play cricket includes footage of the master batsman at his best in 1934.
Picture quality improved through the VHS era in the 1980's. Good quality cricket video tapes are still available from around 1990, but the best quality pictures are on DVD. These formats are great for compilations of rare cricket occasions. For example, the 1960 tied test match between Australia and the West Indies at Brisbane was one of the all time great matches, and you can re-live the tension on a video from ABC TV sport.
Want to know what VHS and DVD titles are available? The top specialist retailers are listed in Google under "cricket video". But, with such global suppliers, beware of the "compatibility trap" for both DVD and VHS. You'll need to make sure that the rare video product that you ordered from 10 time zones away, is actually playable on your own hardware.
The world is divided into eight "DVD Regions", numbered 1 to 8. So, for example, a Region 3 DVD is only compatible with DVD players sold in Region 3. However, "Region Free" DVDs are the exception, and are compatible with players from any Region.
TV picture format is another complication. NTSC is the standard North American TV picture format and differs from the European PAL system. So, if you're in the USA or Canada (DVD Region 1), make sure that your TV can read the PAL signal before buying a European (Region 2) DVD.
Video tapes have the same issue. There are 3 global recording formats for commercial videos, NTSC, PAL and SECAM. If you're ordering a VHS tape from a far flung country, make sure that your TV can display it.
The internet takes cricket videos onto another level. Live international cricket and cricket highlights are now available online, and large volumes of archive material are available as cricket clips. As a coach, I'm particularly interested in the brilliant online coaching resources.
Free cricket clips and videos are abundant in the cricket sections of Google Video, You Tube and Metacafe. These range from beach cricket to events from classic test matches. You can have a fun time browsing through these, but finding exactly what you want in the maze of video offerings is less easy.
You need enough computing power to view online videos - broadband is essential, as is good PC performance. Your machine needs sufficient processor speed, enough RAM and a suitable video card to display videos quickly, smoothly and with good quality. You could test it on the BBC highlights or one of the samples on Google Video or You Tube.
You will also need a javascript enabled browser, and a suitable media player. Windows Media player is suitable for some online videos. Real Player and Flash are commonly used and are available as free downloads. The BBC Sport player is based on Real Player, and is available free from the BBC web site.
This rough guide to cricket videos highlights the main choices of product, where to find them, and some of the key technical issues involved. Of course, there's far more detail than this, but I hope that it gives you a start on finding a way through the video maze.
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