Frequently Asked Questions and Information
Yes. All the content here is strictly for professional DJs to use to enhance their shows.
Yes. We do our best to locate all the hard to find rare content. Contact Us and let us know what you are looking for.
We recommend a combination of using Serato DJ Pro with Mix Emergency as the video plugin.
There are other video DJ software platforms available, our best suggestion would be to try before you buy any of them.
The audio in some of the content has been edited with a clean intro/outro. Those are considered a basic edit.
A ReFix is a track that was modified to either liven up the sound with replaced instruments or even reprogrammed drums. Some give a modern feel to older tracks.
Those audio/video tracks will not only have a full version of the track but also a Quick Mix version.
A Quick Mix is a much shorter version that has an intro/1st verse/hook/outro type of formula. Those tracks are good if you just want to play a shorter version in that moment or it is your style of mixing in general.
Some videos on Rare Crates kept the full screen (4:3) video format from what it was originally produced. There are lot of widescreen (16:9) videos on the site that was either modified from full screen or it was originally produced in that aspect ratio. More details are described below.
If you are a quality content creator for DJs and feel your work would be a great contribution to this site, please contact us. Our content contributors portal is being developed and will be active very soon. Please keep in mind that our quality standards are very high and the content we distribute is very selective.
Converting Videos from Standard Definition to High Definition
There are several videos that were originally made in full screen Standard Definition (SD) (720×480 or 640×480) resolution that are interlaced and have some poor video quality. We are using advanced technology and proprietary methods to convert these videos to High Definition (HD) (1280×720 or 1920×1080) resolutions in a cleaner progressive video format. As a result we have a lot more detail, cleaner looking video that can now can be played in a high definition video system with confidence. Some content was digitally remastered from analog sources with a tremendous amount of restoration involved and to ensure the best quality for your show.
Most venues and mobile video equipment will be in an HD format. If you play an SD video in that environment, your DJ software will attempt to stretch your content to fill the screen. Your video may end up looking pixilated and a little blurry. It is a hit or miss whether a video will look good or not. It just depends.
Examples of some videos that were converted are shown below in a still images. Slide the divider on the image to compare quality on a video that was converted. On the left is a video that was stretched from SD to HD as if was to be played on a 1080p High Definition screen. On the right is the same video converted from SD to HD as if it was being played on it’s native resolution output.
What are aspect ratios and how do they affect my video playback?
Aspect ratio is the ratio of the width to the height in a video. 4:3, commonly known as full screen standard definition, was mainly used in TV and computer screens before the early 2000’s. 16:9, commonly known as widescreen, was adopted as the standard for almost all videos produced since the early 2000’s.
The difference between the two is how it fills up a screen that is displaying the video. See the image as the example of 4:3 (Full Screen) and 16:9 (Widescreen).
Some of the older videos on Rare Crates have been reproduced in a 16:9 (Widescreen) format to fill up the video screens that DJs mainly would be playing on. You will see on all the SD Videos an indicator if a video was full screen (FS) or widescreen (WS).
There may be a setting in your video DJ software playback that would either stretch the full screen video to fill a widescreen output or even add some effect to fill the empty areas to the left and right of the video. Check your settings and play around.
All the HD Videos on Rare Crates are in widescreen (WS) format.