You might have heard of video2brain, maybe you’ve even bought a DVD or two from these guys. For everybody else: Video2Brain is a company from Graz, Austria, that specializes in video trainings and sells them on DVD and online. A little like The Gnomon Workshop, actually, only with a much broader portfolio. Their range of training products covers many different topics, from photography, image processing and manipulation, 3D modeling, lighting, video editing, motion design up to the huge area of web programming and software development. Each of these DVDs can run for as long as 8 or 9 hours, neatly organized in chapters and broken down into easy-to-swallow 5-minute pieces. The average price for a DVD is about 50 €, and there are a few hundred of them in the shop.
But here’s the kicker: A few weeks ago video2brain started offering the option of annual subscriptions. You pay just under 200 € and gain access to the entire (!) online video catalog. Awesome! It’s like a land of plenty, and I’ve been lost in it already. An additional 100 € gives you the license to download all of the DVDs to your hard drive, including source files and training material if you wish. This way you can watch it all offline, whenever you want.
I’m very curious to see how this thing will develop for video2brain. For a knowledge junkie like me that’s a spectacular offer, especially at such a fair price. The video2brain website calls it an “introduction price”, and I’m anxious to see how the market will accept this concept and how the prices will behave in the future.
So in conclusion: If you’re interested in a particular topic, have a look at their catalog. If there are only one or two DVDs that tickle your fancy, then it won’t be worth the subscription and you’re probably better off buying the DVDs individually. But if you want (or need) a lot of interdisciplinary knowledge – which is a good idea especially in game development – then the subscription should be right up your alley.