Download Polar Express on Ice

Donations are GREATLY APPRECIATED

Video downloads are not contingent upon donations.

Questions?  Feedback?  Requests?

Contact me at:
michael.kiese@soarforvets.com

CAN I GET A DVD COPY?

Unfortunately no, and I apologize for this.  The truth is that DVD's have gone the way of the dodo bird just like all old media.  CD's are gone, cassette tapes are gone, VHS tapes are gone, and they are not ever coming back.

The entire media landscape has gone to the streaming model, which makes ownership of media files a VERY RARE thing nowadays.  

(this is why it's super awesome that you will get to privately own the actual video files on your computer)

There is scant software support for DVD burning nowadays.

Commercially available DVDs can only hold very little data (~6GB total), and the Video Files of these performances are too big(~14GB each).

Furthermore, burning DVDs at home would create DATA discs which can only be read on your computer.  They would not able to be played on your old DVD player.  The software support is just not there.  Professional DVD publishing services are harder to find these days, and they wouldn't be worth the added cost anyway.

IF I DON'T HAVE A DVD, HOW DO I WATCH IT ON MY TV?

Another great question!  

Thanks to our Silicon Valley tech overlords, we now have the home streaming model with devices like:

AppleTV, Nvidia Shield, Roku, Amazon Fire, and Google Chromecast

What you do is download the file to your desktop computer.

Then you can access and play that file from your computer, casted to your TV.

For example...

I am an Apple User.  I edited this video on a Mac computer using Final Cut Pro.  I have an AppleTV 4K.

Everything just works!

I double click on the 4K movie file, it automatically opens my AppleTV app on my iMac and saves it to the AppleTV library.

Then I go to my AppleTV device which is connected to my Living Room TV, and search for the file on my AppleTV device.

Then Boom!  I'm watching the video in 4K with chapter markers and everything.  It's pretty sweet.  Not gonna lie.

Conversely, if you have the 4K file stored directly on your iPhone or iPad, and you have an AppleTV, then you could play the movie directly on your iPhone/iPad and Airplay it to your AppleTV with the same effect.

If you're not an Apple user, don't fret.  The beauty of owning the actual files in multiple formats means that you can download the Video directly to your smartphone, tablet, computer, etc.  Conversely, you could do the same process but with a Roku, Amazon Fire, et al.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 4K/1080p/720p/480p?

I'm glad you asked!  Simple.  Two things.

1) Picture Quality

2) File Size

4K has the highest video quality, and the biggest file size (each 4K video is about 14GB, which would easily fill 2-3 DVDs)

480p has the lowest video quality and the smallest file size (each 480p video is about 1.5 GB)

SINCE 4K IS SO GOOD WHY BOTHER WITH 480p?

That is a very intelligent follow up question.  I can tell that you are very savvy.

4K is awesome.  You can blow it up to 80" flat screen TVs and the entire picture looks amazing.

However 4K video files are very large.  Again, these particular performances are each about 14GB in 4K.  That's a big file.

The smaller the screen, the less the human eye can really tell the difference between 4K and lower quality formats.

For example, a smartphone like an iPhone has a very small screen compared to a TV.  Modern technology is such that lower quality formats actually look VERY GOOD on smartphones.

Bottom line, if you have 2 TB of storage on your iPhone, download all the 4K movies you want directly to your iPhone.

However, if Grandma and Grandpa have older smartphones with only 256 GB of storage, but they want to carry around this video on their smartphone at all times so they can show it to others....download the 480p version to their phone.  It'll still look and sound great.

Social Contract:

Please DO NOT upload these files to YouTube or Social Media.  Unscrupulous Tech-Savvy people will easily rip videos off of YouTube, pirate them, and distribute them for profit.  Please allow me to recoup the costs of my efforts through charitable donations.

Download, copy, and reproduce the videos as much as you want within your immediate family household on ALL of your devices and peripherals!  Show them to your friends and neighbors!  

If you copy/reproduce the files and give them away to people outside of your immediate household, please ask them to donate to SOAR®.  There are multiple opportunities for them to donate with discretely embedded QR codes in the video itself.  

This is  a test run, if all goes well, I'd be happy to provide this service again in the future, especially because it draws attention and support to my charity which helps Veterans.  It all just depends on how this goes.  

On the other hand, if this doesn't go very well as far as low donation proceeds, and/or piracy, that would be a huge disincentive for me to do this again.  I'd still attend the performances my wife Suzie skates in, but I wouldn't record the entire show and put forth all this effort.

I'm prevailing upon all of our good natures to do the right  thing and to incentivize productive mutually beneficial choices, and I was willing to take a chance and put in the work.

If you think about it, this is actually a very great and unique deal in this day and age.  You will have the actual video (the file itself) in your possession, just like how we used to in the 80's, 90's, and early 2000's.  You get to keep and retain these videos forever and store them on all the devices in your household.  If you share the video with Grandma/Grandpa or cousins and they forget to donate, there are QR codes at the beginning, middle, and  end of the video, and they can donate to SOAR that way.   Future viewers can give what they can through embedded QR codes. 

99% of video content distribution these days follows a streaming subscription model that does not allow you to download nor own videos you pay for.  You're just renting access to THEIR media content.  In fact if you read the fine print of iTunes, even though you paid for a movie on AppleTV or iTunes, you don't own the movie.  Apple can remove the link at any time, or change the content/nature of the link as they see fit.  

You actually made it this far down and read all of this???  Wow, that's amazing.  

Thank you for reading.  Thank you for your time.  Thank you for supporting SOAR's efforts to help Veterans.  I truly hope you love the videos.

Very Respectfully,

Michael Kiese

SOAR® Director