rachel: Yeah, exciting. Less than a week to go and I stilll haven’t found my ratatouille DVD. 
TSS: One of the cool things about DVD rentals is that you can actually…rent DVDs! 
Ywah, but i am a cheap guy. I really don’t want to spend money on something I already have (but can’t find)
Aah, a man after my own heart, TSS. Scrimping and saving is the way to go! 
After work tomorrow, I’m going to go and buy a headset thing, and then I’ll be all set. 
I am also reluctant to use youtube to watch it because if my computer is on youtube for a certain amount of time, then it will crash on me.
TSS: I don’t think YouTube’s the way to go, either, sicne YFTR is over 11 minutes long, and 10 minutes is the limit for YouTube videos that are non-webcam. I think Google Video would be better.
I’ll check and see.
I’ve just purchased my headset, for a cool £11.99 (and this was one of the cheaper ones! I saw one for over fifty quid!) so I guess I’m good to go.
lizardgirl - Have you tried the Skype Test Call yet? Does it sound ok?
rachel - Ha-ha. Yes, indeed. Gee, a web-cam conference. I think I’d be too nervous to engage in a session such as that, if such a commentary ever took place. (heheh)
I will, indeed, purchase a decent headset for the event, since I also wouldn’t want to waste money on a $10.00 piece of faulty equipment when I could spend double for a long-lasting set that’s operational. Turns out that the very headset I desired to purchase is at a Circuit City facility only a couple blocks away from my residence, so I won’t have to worry about ordering over the internet now.
A113 - As I previously told rachel, I’ll be acquiring a headset from my local Circuit City store this week (possibly tomorrow), so consider me 100% ready for the commentary if you wish.
– Mitch
We still need to decide which frame we’re starting at. I suggest the first blue frame of the Disney logo (since my DVD player can’t step backwards, it’ll be easier to find than the last black frame before the Disney logo). Note that in Ratatouille, the first blue frame of the Disney logo is really dark.
qxgnxamy- Yup, it was absolutely fine. Aside from the sound of my own voice, of course.
A113- I’m dittoing Mitch here, all good to go!
qxgnxamy - I’ll be happy with the first blue frame, but in the end, a couple of frames out won’t make too much of a difference.
I have the short as a file on my desktop, so what is going to be my starting point?
rachel - The important thing is that we don’t start at the very beginning. I have a DVD copy and a digital copy that I ripped from the DVD, and there’s more seconds of black on the DVD before the logo appears than there is in the digital copy.
TSS - We’ll all start from the first blue frame of the Disney logo.
Edit - Or we can start from within a couple of frames of that first blue frame.
I’ll see if I can get that starting point. Hopefully, since it is a video file, it won’t skip over that frame.
I think a good idea would be for all of us, whether we have the DVD or digital copy, would be to start on the first blue frame.
I bought some new headphones, not the most expensive, but not cheap like the ones I bought last time which ended up breaking for no reason. They are nice and soft and comfortable on my ears, too. =) So, I’m 100% ready now, and I did the Skype test call and it works fine. You’ll have to tell me if my voice is too loud because it sounds like it is. Heh.
I’m going to log onto Pixar Planet before I do the commentary/log onto Skype just in case something goes wrong and I need to contact you guys. Talk to you guys this Friday/Saturday, I guess. 
I emailed my sister, who has more experience with Skype than I do, and she said that sometimes users drop out of the conference because of network congestion. If that happens, I’ll add you back in. My apologies to everyone if this whole thing doesn’t work out, especially those of you who bought equipment. I hope you saved your receipts.
Also, to facilitate the editing process, could everyone wait to start talking until the Pixar logo appears? That first white frame is easy to find and will help with syncing the commentary audio with the original audio (when I mix the two together). We’ll still be pressing play at the first blue frame of the Disney logo, it’s just that in the edit, that first blue frame is hard to find.
Finally, if you’re not using a headset, you need to use headphones instead of speakers (to hear the other commentators) otherwise feedback will occur. Even if you are using a headset, don’t turn the volume up too loud, because the microphone can pick up that sound.
I bought a decent headset (the Plantronics Audio .325 version) at Circuit City yesterday, tested it on my family’s computer this morning, and it worked fine. I’m going to keep experimenting with the sound though, just to make sure it will work properly during the commentary.
qxgnxamy - So we’re all starting the Your Friend the Rat short from the first blue frame of the Disney logo, but will refrain from speaking until the Pixar logo appears? That’s fine by me!
By the way, at what time should we all “log on” to Skype? I’d suggest that we all get connected at least half an hour before we begin the commentary, so as to get properly adjusted and make sure that everything is running smoothly. We should probably decide ahead of time who will be the first to introduce themselves, as well. Just a suggestion.
Edit: Oh, wait. It was decided that we shall introduce ourselves in alphabetical order (according to our screen names), right? Although, since qxgnxamy is hosting I’d prefer that he go first. Hmm. This still needs some figuring out.
– Mitch