I have never been able to understand why certain regions have a fascination with shitty, proprietary media formats. Most of the video that comes out of China is encoded in RMVB, while a lot of Japanese video is encoded in WMV.Why is this?Both of these formats are horrible. They are absurdly difficult to transcode from and they only play on a tiny fraction of hardware and software players. Neither format has anything that might be considered a redeeming quality. I can not for the life of me understand why one person would choose to encode or distribute video in RMVB or WMV formats, let alone entire countries. Is there some sort of local prejudice against codecs and containers that don't suck?I think RM/RMVB is an artifact of the past, when size really mattered, with this format you can get a decent quality with a smaller file size, despite what you're saying. WMV (and his big sister the dreadful ASF) may be more a Micro$oft affinity as it's their proprietary format.Another feature of all these formats is that they are streaming formats, which means you could play them "on the fly" on many hosting websites. Well it's not really true anymore, because of the popularity of FLV (Flash Video).Both are not meant for editing, that IS the very point of using them probably.To forbid other people to "play" with them.10 years ago, I would have enjoyed videos in ANY format, whether it was AVI, ASF, WMV, RM, because it was already an achievement in itself to download them. Youngsters don't imagine the luck they have with today's internetIf people intentionally encode DVD rips in the WMV file format because they don't want other people tinkering with the file ... wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow @ hypocrisy.Most of the wmv are downloads from from site's like dmm.co.jpQuote:Originally Posted by elgringo1410 years ago, I would have enjoyed videos in ANY format, whether it was AVI, ASF, WMV, RM, because it was already an achievement in itself to download them. Youngsters don't imagine the luck they have with today's internetI know. I was downloading 250kbps .rm encodes of 3rd and 4th generation VHS fansubs long before it was "cool" (let alone easy). Low quality or not, it was still better than the only other alternative - paying $20 a piece for those same 3rd and 4th generation VHS fansubs in Chinatown. Back then, Divx was still just a really bad DVD rental scheme. Video encoding was in it's infancy and people didn't have a choice.But that was then and this is now. Now there are much better choices, and there has been for quite a while. Proprietary codecs are a pain in the ass and do not offer any improvements in quality or file size over Divx/Xvid and x.264. Is it really just a matter of "tradition"?Quote:Originally Posted by elgringo14Youngsters don't imagine the luck they have with today's interneteehhhh they really don't... i still remember the hell i gone through to download some of my earlier anime (Shingetsutan Tsukihime and Hellsing over all) in .rm or .mpg format and downloaded on a 33.6 kbs modemQuote:Originally Posted by Desui still remember the hell i gone through to download some of my earlier anime (Shingetsutan Tsukihime and Hellsing over all) in .rm or .mpg format and downloaded on a 33.6 kbs modemLOL. I'm in the same generation as you: and that gen's by no means "old school." :) They're talking mid-to-early 1990s, my friend, and you're talking 1998 at the soonest. Two totally different conversations. You showed up on the tail end of the .rm wave (as did I), but they rode the entire wave from start to finish.My first "video" was an animated ascii animation of a milkmaid getting fucked by a farmer. Downloaded at 2400bps. How's that for old-school?I said "old school," Rolly, not "Neolithic."Quote:Originally Posted by SakunyuushaLOL. I'm in the same generation as you: and that gen's by no means "old school." :) They're talking mid-to-early 1990s, my friend, and you're talking 1998 at the soonest. Two totally different conversations. You showed up on the tail end of the .rm wave (as did I), but they rode the entire wave from start to finish.in early '90s we didn't even get the phone line hereno, i'm exaggerating, but still... i first heard the word "internet" in 1995 (i'm sure 'cause that year is some kind of milestone in my life, but for other reasons), and you're telling me that were people downloading even before (apart from napster)? wow! i'm the classic frog in the well thenedit: i probably chose the wrong example: i serched for those anime and actually they were released in 2003, not even in the nineties, but i remember downloading Gatchaman 94 and FF legend of the crystals (ouch! those were BAD!), both dated 1993 or 1995... so can I be labeled as an old schooler now?nothing to be proud of, really...