index.php

The new home of the FAQ is http://animeusenet.org/wiki/.

This site exists only for historical/archival purposes.

1. Preface

1. Preface
2. What is this FAQ?
3. What are alt.binaries.anime and alt.binaries.multimedia.anime?
4. Where are the files? I'm seeing garbage text...
     a. uuencode
     b. MIME
     c. yEnc
5. What's with the .rar, .r00, etc. files?
     a. RAR Files (.rar/.r##)
     b. RAR Recovery Records
     c. ACE Files (.ace/.c##)
     d. Numeric Extensions (.000/.###)
     e. ZIP Files (.zip)
6. What are all these other files, then?
     a. SFV
     b. PARchive
     c. RAR Recovery Volumes
     d. Vobsub
     e. Soft-Subtitles
     f. Other Support Files
7. What's a good newsreader?
8. How do I post?
     a. How NOT to make a request
9. What software is good for posting binaries?
10. What about hentai & pornography?
11. What is this media format? How do I play it?
     a. Multimedia Wrapper Formats (AVI & OGM)
     b. MPEG4 (DivX, XviD, ASF, WMV)
     c. MPEG (MPEG1, MPEG2 & (X,S)VCD)
     d. RealMedia
     e. Audio
     f. Linux Notes
12. My server is missing files! What can I do?
13. Where was that software again?
14. Appendices
     a. About the Annotated FAQ
     b. Mirroring the FAQ

This document attempts to answer the most commonly asked questions found in alt.binaries.multimedia.anime (ABMA) & alt.binaries.anime (ABA). It is intended to help newcomers ("newbies") get up to speed, and to serve as a memory aid and a form of continuing education to others. Newcomers to AB(M)A, even those experienced with the internet and usenet, are advised to read this document.

For those reading the text version of this FAQ, the annotated version is highly recommended, both due to improved readability and the up-to-date notes. It can be found at http://abma.x-maru.org/faq/.

Original Author:

SWong

Current Maintainers/Editors:

Keikai & xo

Past Maintainers/Editors:

SWong
Or[Q]yman

Original FAQ Contributors:

The Most Unfriendly SWong
Akito (uudecode/uuencode/MIME)
Severin (NewsGrabber)
Bogus Name (RAR recovery method)
"Supernice" Inc (Agent tips)
Moomoo (Realtext)
NetGear (some addition to uuencode and file formats)
darkwire (resources on Virtual Dub, various players, codecs, converters, Linux stuff, etc.)
TheMan (misc. on file formats and codecs)
Gorunova (reformatting, proofreading, pleas for sanity)

Contributors:

Onakra
xo
Tobias Rieper
Keikai
Bogus Name
Myen
Many more to be added (I apologize for the many omissions. This will be rectified.)

Previous revision dates

2000-03-11 2000-03-12 2000-03-16 2000-03-22 2000-03-30 
2000-04-06 2000-04-25 2000-05-06 2000-05-11 2000-05-21 
2000-06-07 2000-09-21 2000-09-23 2001-02-11 2001-02-22
2001-09-27 2002-03-15

The up-to-date web FAQ is available at these URLs:

http://abma.x-maru.org/faq/ (annotated version)

Older versions of the web FAQ are available at these URLs:

Other Notes

Contributing Notes

User contributions of additions, elaboration, and corrections to the FAQ are welcome! At the bottom of each page of the annotated faq, a form is provided for making such contributions. Simply navigate to the section that is most relevant to the contribution you wish to make and submit it in the form. Your addition will then be displayed for others to benefit from.

Before making a contribution for the first time, please browse through the site to and the contributions others have made to get a feel for how it works. Also, make sure to use the preview button to check how it will look before submitting.

Periodically, the maintainers will choose particularly relevant notes and add them to the main body of the FAQ. The note's author will be credited with the contribution. When transferring notes to the FAQ, however, it is sometimes necessary to edit them. When this is done, the credit will have an ed. following the normal credit.

Thanks!

Web Bulletin Board

A web-based bulletin board is now available to supplement standard usenet posting for discussions related to AB(M)A. It can be found at http://abma.x-maru.org/bb/index.php.

This Revision

Many significant changes were made to the FAQ in this revision. There have been some layout changes, particularly to the multimedia formats sections. There have also been some major rewrites. This includes the posting section. I have made every effort to make the new listings of the AB(M)A rules and guidelines as close an approximation to a group concensus as possible. When there are differing points of view, I tried to relate them according to the strengths of the arguments made in their case and according to general popularity in the group, since non-vocal contributors must also be taken into account. No one will agree with every point in this section, just as I do not. However, I put a great deal of time into this by merging the many discussions we've had about those subjects over the past couple of years. Furthermore, it is not, of course, aimed at the existing regular contributors, most of whom already follow the rules. Most of us, who have been around for a while, have our own styles for posting and I am not suggesting that any of that should change. However, there have, on quite a few occasions, been a call for this to be done, and I believe I have succeeded in doing so in a fair and group-minded fashion.

The Next Revision

The next revision is planned for the near future. A very few sections of this FAQ are noted as being incomplete, and I will work on them for then. Additionally, it will contain the incorporation of those notes that did not make it into this revision and a rewrite of much of the *NIX sections by xo. I am going to start marking sections that would benefit from some outside submissions. If you have pertinent information related to these sections, please submit them as annotations and they will be added to the FAQ itself in the future. There are several large annotations that have not yet been merged, this is not because they did not "merit" inclusion. Rather, it is because I want to give those annotations the time they deserve.

User Contributed Notes

xo
2001-08-26 07:22am

Another mirror is available at: http://member.newsguy.com/~moomoo/abmafaq.txt

Neuralblastoma
2002-04-15 01:36am

What series are NOT allowed in ABA/ABMA/ABAV? Dragonball, Sailormoon, Tenchi Muyo, Pokemon. The reason? They all have their own groups: alt.binaries.dragonball, alt.binaries.anime.tenchi, alt.binaries.multimedia.sailor-moon, alt.binaries.pokemon These series were taking up far too much space in ABA/ABMA and were not wanted by many group regulars. For these reasons their own respective groups were created so as to lessen the traffic in the main anime groups. Posting these series in ABA,ABMA,ABAV is an FAQ violation. If after being warned by group regulars either in the group(s) or by email a poster continues thier off-topic posts, they will be reported to their ISP or premium news provider. The ISP or premium news provider will likely respond by suspending the posters' usenet access. Please note that if your ISP does not carry any or all of the above groups, that is no excuse to post in ABA/ABMA/ABAV anyway. Off-topic is off-topic. An FAQ violation is an FAQ violation. This is your problem. Not usenets' or anyone elses'. Don't be selfish! You can always simply send an email to your ISP requesting they add the group(s). Failing that you can subscribe to a premium news provider such as Easynews, Newsguy, Giganews, Newsfeeds, Airnews, Supernews and others. HIWIH Posts [Neuralblastoma] f. HIWIH(Here Is What I Have) posts. These are amoung the most irritating type of posts on all of usenet. Someone will make a partial repost of something in hopes of another person filling in the gaps. Example: [Repost]#Ghost In The Shell#ALL I HAVE!! PLEASE FILL!!GITS.r00 [Repost]#Ghost In The Shell#ALL I HAVE!! PLEASE FILL!!GITS.r01 [Repost]#Ghost In The Shell#ALL I HAVE!! PLEASE FILL!!GITS.r03 [Repost]#Ghost In The Shell#ALL I HAVE!! PLEASE FILL!!GITS.r07 This type of post benefits no one. In fact it harms the group by wasting bandwidth/server space with a post that nobody can use. It is encouraged that if someone is need of fills/reposts that they simpley make a proper request in ABA/ABMA and specify which repost group, ABMAR or ABMR that they would like the reposts posted to. Anyone Willfully and knowingly making HIWIH posts, especially after being warned by others either in the group or by email, will result in being reported to their ISP or premium news provider. The persons' ISP or premium news provider will very likely respond by suspending usenet access as punishment.

Neuralblastoma
2002-04-20 05:03pm

More on VCD/SVCD: [Neuralblastoma] VCD MPEG-1/SVCD MPEG-2 files should be burned with Nero, Fireburner, CDRWIN or other CD Writing program that has VCD/SVCD support. VCD's and SVCD's are best viewed(and meant to be viewed) on a TV. Many DVD players can play VCD's and SVCD's. To play SVCD's on your computer you need DVD playing software. Just the software, not a DVD drive. PowerDVD and WinDVD are the most popular. You need these because SVCD uses the MPEG-2 codec just like DVD's. VCD's and SVCD's are burned on mode2 tracks as opposed to mode1(data CD). Mode1 tracks have three error correction functions, while mode2 tracks have two. The one less error correction function allows for more space. A 650MB CD-R can hold up to 740MB when burned as VCD/SVCD and a 700MB CD-R can hold up to 830MB when burned as VCD/SVCD.

xo
2002-10-09 02:16am

All of the aforementioned mirrors are woefully out of date. There are no known "current" mirrors.

SKiNSLiP
2002-12-12 08:40pm

I have provided a mirror at http://mayhem.s1lv3r.com It is under Articles -> Guides

Planet_Destroyer
2003-01-08 12:11pm

Hello all who maintain the aba/abma FAQ, You're doing a great job and I thank you for maintaining this FAQ. With this FAQ you've helped me understand some basic UseNet rules. Anyway some ppl from ab.dragonball have asked me to add some OGG/OGM/XviD information in it, due to recent postings in this format. Unfortunately only ppl who use WinOS or Linux can view this format. Therefore many ppl want to know how to convert OGG/OGM. To prevent that the same question is answered over and over again (it is Off Topic) I decided to add this information to my FAQ (although not included yet); What are these *.ogm files? Why should I use Ogg Vorbis rather than MP3 or AC3? How is it better? Ogg is a container format for video and audio, just like avi. Obviously it's better than avi (less overhead, more possibilities for adding multiple soundtracks), but it is still not a well known standard like avi. Vorbis audio sounds better than mp3 or AC3 at low bitrates (~ 64-96kbit). Vorbis audio is not recommended at higher bitrates. Many people say that vorbis at 96kbit has the same quality than mp3 at 128kbit. A vorbis stereo file, 44.1kHz at 64kbit still sounds ok, while you can forget that bitrate for stereo mp3. Overhead? Overhead is added to the total filesize when the audio and video are combined. For a 120 minutes movie the audio file contains about 11 Mb overhead when MP3 is used. While when Vorbis audio is used at 64 kbit it's only 4 Mb. Thus a 120 minute movie at 64 kbit stereo file 'll end up at about 60 Mb + 4 Mb overhead = 64 Mb 700 - 64 = 636 Mb Video file You can use OggMux to join video and audio files, read more here; http://oggmux.sourceforge.net/about.html ------------------------ Ogg Media Stream support ------------------------ Windows PC version: http://tobias.everwicked.com/oggds.htm Linux version: http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/ (libogg and libvorbis are also required, which can be obtained here: http://www.vorbis.com/download_unix.psp) NOTE: You can associate the .dat extension to your favorite Video player, but the Ogg DSF for the PC or the libraries for Linux _must_ be installed. [LABMonkey] ------------------------ What does that XviD in Subject Lines mean? XviD - Guides; http://www.doom9.org/xvid.htm http://www.vidomi.com/ Greets Planet_Destroyer My FAQ online; http://users.apex2000.net/wsnthere/abdfaq/Unofficial-abdragonball-FAQ.htm



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