The Unofficial FAQ of aba/abma abmaFAQ
1. Preface
2. Introduction
3. Newsgroups
4. Encoding
a. uu
b. mime
c. yEnc
5. Archives
a. .rar/.r##/.part##.rar
b. RAR recovery
c. .ace/.c##
d. .###
e. .zip
6. Support Files
a. .sfv
b. .par/.p##
c. .rev
d. .idx/.sub/.ifo
e. .smi/.ssa/.srt
f. .nfo/.txt/.md5
7. Newsreaders
8. Posting
a. Bad Requests
9. Auto-Posters
10. Hentai
11. Formats/codecs
a. avi/ogm
b. mpeg4
c. mpg
d. rm
e. audio
f. linux
12. News servers
13. Software
14. Appendices
a. About the FAQ
b. Mirroring the FAQ
1. Preface
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:
* http://www.fansubbed.com/abma_aba_faq/main.htm
* http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/abafaq/
* http://www.geocities.com/alt_binaries_anime/
* http://member.newsguy.com/~moomoo/abmafaq.txt
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.
2. What is this FAQ?
The AB(M)A FAQ [SWong, Keikai]
Welcome to the AB(M)A community!
Before asking questions in the group, make sure to read this FAQ and
search the abma.d web forums at http://abma.x-maru.org/bb/. The AB(M)A
community is full of very nice and helpful people. Asking questions
for which the information can easily be found in these resources,
however, is generally considered poor netiquette and can easily be
avoided.
The content of this FAQ is a compilation of original articles, posts,
and user submissions. Those sections that discuss rules and guidelines
represent, as closely as possible, a concensus amongst the "regulars".
Where no concensus can be found, the FAQ tries to relate the various
points of view. This FAQ is not based upon the personal opinions of
its individual maintainers.
A Mini-FAQ is posted by Netgear on a regular basis with enough
information to get most newbies started. This big FAQ has not just
technical info on how to use newsgroup for downloading, but also have
notes on netiquette and hopefully helpful information on various
things that crops up on the newsgroups every now and then.
3. What are alt.binaries.anime and alt.binaries.multimedia.anime?
The AB(M)A Newsgroups [Original, Keikai]
According to the charter of ABMA (alt.binaries.multimedia.anime) at
ftp.isc.org/pub/usenet/control/alt/alt.binaries.multimedia.anime.Z:
This group is for posting any multimedia file (any format) that is
anime related. The file may be a commercial, trailer, music video,
opening movie, ending movie, special, or entire episode or movie of
anything specifically anime related, including free fansubs which
are widely unavailable to most people (check legal issues in your
area, it is beyond the scope of this proposal to cover the vastness
of fansubs.)
ABA (alt.binaries.anime) was originally a rogue group but does now
have a charter at
ftp.isc.org/pub/usenet/control/alt/alt.binaries.anime.Z. While it
originally was created for posting of both anime and manga binaries,
manga is now no longer appropriate and should now be posted to a group
devoted to it, such as alt.binaries.pictures.manga. Currently, ABA
follows the same rules and netiquette as ABMA.
Two related newsgroups are ABMR (alt.binaries.multimedia.repost) and
ABMAR (alt.binaries.multimedia.anime.repost). They are intended for
reposting of multimedia files from any other multimedia newsgroups
(for ABMR) or from AB(M)A (for ABMAR). If a potential post meets the
charter requirements for ABMAR, it should be posted there. This
prevents AB(M)A from becoming overloaded since new material alone
requires a great deal of bandwidth.
You can find a lot of information on various anime and their number of
episodes at: [Onakra]
* http://www.anipike.com/
* http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rllew/andivots.html
Also useful sites:
* http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews/
* http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/listups/
A list of useful links maintained by AB(M)A regulars is available on
the abma.x-maru.org bulletin board at:
* http://abma.x-maru.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t=19
4. Where are the files? I'm seeing garbage text...
Binary File Encoding [Akito, NetGear, ed.]
Because Usenet was originally developed for communication of text
messages, it is not possible to post binary data in its natural form.
To overcome this limitation, several binary encoding methods have been
devised to allow posting of binary materials to the Usenet. Below are
explanations of several of the most popular encoding methods.
uuencode
On an older, less featured newsreader, you may see something like
this:
begin 644 filename.r10
M4F%R(1H\'`*6\.TD`#0````````"AZG2#@#4`V.%-`/8=?04"VD4%`%(.5R@4
M-14`(````$QO9%]S.R!787(@;V%V(#`Q+F%S9EDF==)\'"DO$1\'Y+\A.\3X)
M5_AR06`T8P.$*?D_Z-.^5]TBHM0Y3I[/*P..M$R1J)2\%RVYKAU?;A7ULJ%I_
This is known as a uuencoded format. The "begin 644 filename" line and
the fact that every single line starts with "M" is a good way to
recognize uuencode.
Any half decent newsreaders will automatically decode the file into
binary formats so you would never actually see the code. So if you are
having problems with the codes your best bet is probably get a new
newsreader. Most news readers understand this kind of encoding and
have the ability to decode the message back to its original form. See
section 6 on good newsreaders for decoding.
A more verbose explanation of uuencode
Here's what this means. "begin 644 filename.r10": save this uuencoded
text as filename.r10 with permissions 644 (that number is a Unix code
that means let everyone read the file, and let the owner modify it).
You may also occasionally see messages encoded using some other system
such as Base64. The principle is the same. Usenet was designed to
transmit messages containing only printable letter, digits and
symbols. Binary files like anime episodes containa wider range of
data, so that data has to be transformed into text before posting it
to Usenet.
Uuencode, aka uuencode/uudecode, is one of the popular forms of binary
file distribution along the realms of passive file distribution.
(Meaning it's not done in real-time, files are sent but received
later, not instantly). Email and newsgroup messages are of such type.
Originating on UNIX systems (thus the UU means Unix-to-Unix), it is
used by users who wish to send binary data to others who are using
software that's not capable of processing binary code. Something like
this would be a unix-based email client like PINE.
Basically how uuencode works is that it takes whatever binary
attachment you are sending- it may be a WinRAR archive, an .rm or some
executable- and translates (encodes) that file into a HUGE string of
text garbage that only someone with the decoder can convert back to
the original form. This way, it simplifies the transmission as no
special protocol and/or software is needed. (Nearly all computers can
do text transfer without problems. I say nearly because there is
always some exceptions to the rule in the world of computers - just
look at Windows).
In summary, uuencode is simply a utility, if you wish, that translates
binary code into encrypted text to be sent: 1) Over a medium that
cannot process binary transfers. 2) To a individual using software not
capable of receiving binary attachments.
MIME
Now for MIME... (this is the uglier one as it involves Windows and Mac
OS...)
Raw codes of MIME looks something like this:
If your mail reader is text-only
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
------=_NextPart_000_004B_01BF8C4A.98F7ABE0
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="big5"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
-OR- if your mail can read MIME encoded mails but can't handle the
file type
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_000C_01BF8499.08997280"
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3110.5
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3
Again, current newsreaders will decode MIME automatically like
uuencoded files.
MIME, aka Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extension, is an extension of
the original E-mail protocol (an agreement between computers that data
of such type [email] will be transferred using this set of specifics)
to exchange different types of data. (Such as webpages, audio, video,
and of course, text files)
How it works is that servers sending the transmission will insert MIME
headers into the body where it instructs the client on HOW to handle
the binary data that's to follow. Say it may be a webpage, then the
client knows to launch the web browser to handle the attachment. (Or
RealPlayer for those anime .rms ^_^ )
Currently only so many MIME types are registered on the Internet
Assigned Number Authority
(http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/iana/assignments/media-types/), as new
file formats are surfacing as the days go by, the Internet MIME
databases will be updated accordingly and YOU as the user, will need
to download the appropriate software and update your computer so they
can handle such files. Fortunately most installation programs take
care of this for you on most platforms. (Called file associations -
ie: files with .RM extension will be handle by RealPlayer, .HTM - web
browser, MP3 - Winamp...etc)
In summary, MIME is a string of instructions inserted at the beginning
of any web transmission that instructs the client receiving this how
to deal with the binary attachments that's to come. By equipping
themselves with the associated software, (which is usually widely
available on the Internet) users will not have to hunt down software
every time they receive a binary attachment.
Now, I've stripped down the definitions to avoid the complicated
techno jargon, there is MUCHO to know about MIME but that I think is
beyond the scope of this FAQ. There are numerous documents out there
floating on the web on MIME and can be easily found using a search
engine like www.google.com
The main difference between MIME and uuencode is that MIME is more
user-friendly to newbies as it takes the guesswork out of the user on
what software is used to deal with this piece of binary code. But
uuencode is computer-friendly as it does not require fancy software to
be able to receive such type of information.
Uuencode is the most preferred transmission type because most
newsgroup servers will not handle binary transmissions therefore MIME
is not recommended here at ABMA Make sure you are using a reader that
is capable of uuencode or else you might have some complaints (or
nasty comments from our "respected" SWong) coming your way =)
yEnc [xo, Keikai]
This section is currently in its preliminary stages, more information
will be added in the next revision. A good deal of additional
information is currently available in the notes for this section in
the annotated FAQ: http://abma.x-maru.org/faq/annotated/encoding.php
yenc is an alternative to uuencoding for encoding of files posted to
Usenet. A new decoder is required in order to process these files.
Some news clients include native decoding of yEnc encoded files,
however, many do not and will require some additional work and the use
of an external decoder.
Details and the status of client support can be found at
http://yenc.org.
Zen's web page hosts his excellent yEnc FAQ. This FAQ can be found at
http://www.geocities.com/zenwebpage/yEncFAQ.htm and includes:
* a consise explanation of yEnc
* list and locations of news clients and binary posters that
natively support yEnc
* list and locations of manual encoding/decoding applications
* possible workarounds and hacks for clients that do not have native
support (including Agent)
* links to many, many yEnc resources
It is also important that posters indicate in the subject when posting
any binaries encoded in yEnc format. More specifically, make sure the
word "yEnc" appears somewhere in the subject, preferably in the
description.
Occasionally, files are posted with the extension .NTX. These are
actually files that are yEnc'd prior to posting (usually via uuencode,
thereby neutralizing any benefit of the yEnc format). They can be
decoded using a standalone yEnc decoder such as yEnc32 or ydec.
Linux-specific information [xo, ed.]
On the Mac platform, the most popular newsreaders descend from the
original Newswatcher and do not include uuencoding within the
newsreader. Instead, a helper application is needed. YA-Decoder is a
good utility for this and is available from
http://www.newsreaders.com/link/jump.cgi?version=Sys71_yad. It has
problems with some long file names, but less so than many other
uudecoders available.
5. What's with the .rar, .r00, etc. files?
Archive Formats
What are .RAR, .R00, R01...Rnn AND part01.RAR...partnn.RAR files? (The RAR
Archive Format) [Original Contributors, ed.]
RAR files are compressed/split archives. Nearly everything in the
newsgroups is posted in this format. This is done to make successful
download much more likely and it makes reposts much easier. The files
in both ABA and ABMA usually run from 50 MB+, and if these files were
posted in a single post and even one part doesn't make it to
somebody's server, the file is useless. When the files are split up,
the chances of the individual files arriving intact are greater. Also,
even if some of the parts didn't make it, the poster only needs to
repost one small part to fill it. Furthermore, RAR archive sets can be
created with a recovery record which allows RAR parts, when damaged in
certain ways, to be repaired by the RAR program itself.
To decompress (dearchive) these archive sets, one must have every
single part of the set. Use a RAR program to "unrar" these files.
RAR programs can be found at: http://www.rarsoft.com for all major
platforms, http://macrar.free.fr for Macs. StuffIt Expander is capable
of simple dearchiving for Macs, as well.
Posting unarchived files, or files archived in a non-RAR format
(especially an uncommon one) is rather seriously frowned upon due to
the negative impact on the groups. Continuing to pursue this course
after being warned could result in letters explaining the abuse to the
poster's news provider.
Because multimedia files, especially those of newer formats such as
MPEG-4, are already internally compressed, the compression of such
files may give poorer results than one might hope. In those cases, the
file should not be posted unarchived. Instead, archive the set with no
compression. This causes the archiving and dearchiving process to go
very quickly, because no compression is performed, but the other
advantages of archiving, file splitting and file recovery, remain
intact.
There are two principle kinds of error messages as you unrar a file:
1. Invalid or corrupt authenticity information. In this case, it
merely means that the poster used an unregistered version of
WinRAR with authenticity information enabled, so that the error
recovery data is not saved. Usually this is not a problem and the
file should extract just fine. Unless if the files fail the crc
check when checking with SFV, in which case recovery method will
not work and another repair method or replacement of the file is
needed.
2. CRC error. In this case the files are actually damaged. Check the
file size against the other files of the same archive. Sometimes
it is possible to repair the file if the error recovery data is
present. Other times, especially if the file is short by a few
bytes, repair will not be possible.
With the release of WinRAR 3.0, the author of WinRAR decided to use a
new naming scheme for RAR parts. Instead of naming them .rar, .r00,
r01...rnn, version 3 and greater will default to naming them
.part01.rar, .part02.rar...partnn.rar. This behavior can be turned off
when the archive set is created. (Under the Advanced tab, in the group
entitled Volumes, enable Old Style Volume Names.) Currently, it is
preferred group behavior to use the old-style volume names, but this
is, as always, at the discretion of the poster. The primary reason for
this is that some OSes other than Windows reportedly have issues with
the new names.
RAR Recovery Records [Bogus Name, Keikai, ed.]
Yet another good reason to use RAR archiving is the recovery record
that can be included in the RAR file. In WinRAR, highlight the
affected R?? file, select the Commands menu and click Repair Archive.
Then rename the resulting archive to the name of the corrupted archive
(after first renaming or moving the corrupted archive). If the
archiver did not include recovery information, then it will try to
reconstruct the archive. This is not the same as recovery and has a
much lower chance of success (actually 0% usually, in the case of
split files).
As of version 3.10 of RAR, recovery records have been vastly improved.
The RARSoft applications can now repair files that have missing data
and other damage that was previously unrepairable. This significantly
escalates the need for all posters to include at least 1% RAR Recovery
Records.
There are some reports that the repair via recovery records no longer
works in MacRAR.
When the recovery record is unable to repair the RAR part, there are
further steps you can take to repair the file. T. Rieper's excellent
article explaining multiple steps that can be taken to repair RAR
files can be found at http://riepersnest.tripod.com/rar/index.htm.
Please note that RAR recovery records are not the same as RAR recovery
volumes, which are described in the support section under recovery
volumes.
What are .ACE, .C00, .C01...Cnn files? (The ACE Archive Format) [xo]
Files with extensions of the type .ace, .c00, .c01 are archive
segments produced by WinACE, available at http://www.winace.com. A
utility called unace is also available in source form for *nix
operating systems at
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/utils/compress/unace-1.2b.tar.gz
WinACE is functionally equivalent to the RAR family of programs;
however it uses it's own format, which is different and incompatible
with the RAR format. Note that ACE-format archives can only be
produced under Windows and can only be uncompressed under Windows and
certain *nix operating systems.. Users of other platforms, most
notably Macintosh (unless unace compiles under OS X), are unable to
unarchive ACE formatted files. For compatibility's sake, the use of
ACE is discouraged.
What are .000, ,001...nnn files? (Numeric extensions) [Keikai]
Unfortunately, files with three-digit numerical extensions do not
belong to only one form of archiving. The two primary forms these
files will take are:
* Split files
* RAR files
Split files are created using one of several splitting applications.
These utilities simply break the file up into "chunks" of a specified
size. No changes of any kind are made to the data. The slight
advantage of these files are that they do not require any third-party
application to recombine. Proper use of the copy command in the
operating system can rejoin these files. However, split files should
NOT be posted to AB(M)A. Split files offer no form of protection
against corruption, and, because of the nature of usenet, this puts
them at a significant disadvantage. If a poster for some reason must
post material in split form, then they must also create a set of
parchive files. There are several methods of rejoining a split file:
* (Windows Command Prompt) copy /b splitfile.000 + splitfile.001 +
splitfile.002 + ... + splitfile.nnn
* (Linux/*NIX Prompt) to be added later
* MasterSplitter
* DecompressionChamber
* more to be added later
RAR files can be created using the standard rarring applications to
use the three-digit numerical extension. These files are proper RAR
files and are no different from RAR files with the more common
extensions (.rar, .r01, part00.rar, etc.). Because of the ambiguity
caused by this extension, however, RAR files that are named using
simply a three-digit numeric extension should NOT be posted to AB(M)A.
The determine which of the two possible formats a file may be, one
should open the first file (usually .000) in WinRAR or the appropriate
RAR application for an operating system. If an error occurs, it is
likely that the file is part of a set of split files. If it opens
properly, treat it as any other RAR file for decompression.
Unfortunately, if an error occurs when opening in the RAR utility, it
may also indicate that the file is simply corrupt. If no form of data
integrity checking is available with the post (.par, .sfv, .md5) then
it will be necessary to request a repost from the original poster.
What about .ZIP files? (The ZIP Archive Format) [Keikai]
For a number of reasons, posting ZIP files and split ZIP files is
strongly discouraged on AB(M)A.
6. What are all these other files, then?
Support Files
What are .SFV files? [Onakra, ed.]
SFV stands for Simple File Validator and is used to check files if
they became corrupt after transfer. It does this by doing a CRC
(cyclic redundancy check). The poster generates this (text) file with
a SFV-generator and the downloader checks it with a SFV-program to see
if there are any problems. After the check it displays which files
contain CRC-errors and therefore are corrupt.
If a file is corrupt the first thing to do is try to repair it. Since
most archives are created with a recovery record you should first try
to repair the file yourself. See the RAR recovery records section on
how to do this. If this fails you should make a request for a repost
by using the guidelines for repost requests. Before you do, however,
first check the newsgroups to see if it was reposted already or if
there are already outstanding request(s) for it. Don't forget to also
check alt.binaries.multimedia.anime.repost (ABMAR) and
alt.binaries.multimedia.repost (ABMR) which are other potential repost
locations.
The two most used programs for SFV are WinSFV and QuickSFV and are
fairly easy to use. Most SFV's generated can be checked by the other
SFV programs. One exception is WinSFV. The first line for this program
must always include: ;Generated by WIN-SFV32 otherwise it won't work
properly.
The only FAQ for WinSFV that exists at the moment is in Dutch. It is
supposed to be translated to English, but the page hasn't been updated
in a while. It does have a small section in English with the 3 most
asked questions. It also offers the latest version (1.1a) for
download. It is located at http://members.tripod.lycos.nl/winsfvfaq/
The official page for QuickSFV is
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Mouse/4668/index.html and
always has the latest version for download. A nice feature of QuickSFV
is that it can generate SFV's compatible with WinSFV. That means it
generates the first line that must be included for WinSFV in a
SFV-file.
QuickSFV can be downloaded from:
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Mouse/4668/
Other SFV generators/checkers are:
* nvCRV - The homepage for this has disappeared, but the program is
still available from http://www.speakeasy.org/~theorb/nvcrc.exe
* PdSFV - (Windows and linux version) http://pdsfv.isonews.com/
* CheckSFV - (Linux and FreeBSD version)
http://www.fodder.org/cksfv/
* cfv - (operating systems support Python)
http://cfv.sourceforge.net/
What are .PAR, .P01, .P02...Pnn files? (Parchive files) [Myen, Keikai, ed.]
PAR files (also known as parchive files) are similar to SFV files in
that they can check file integrity. Unlike SFV files, parchive files
contain the checksum hash in the form of MD5 values instead of CRC-32
values. This greatly decreases the chance of two different files
having the same hash and, therefore, makes them less likely to be in
error. Furthermore, the parchive files test themselves for corruption.
The primary function of parchive files, however, is that posters will
usually also post *.Pnn files (where nn are numbers from 01 to 99)
that are slightly bigger than the largest file in the archive set
(adds <1K) that can be used to recover bad or missing files on a
one-for-one basis. Because the Pnn files contain the information in
the .PAR file itself, the .PAR file is not necessary to test or
recover files. However, it is highly recommended that the .PAR file be
posted anyways, as it is a small and efficient means for testing
whether Pnn files should be downloaded, and it has a few advantages
over .SFV files.
The PAR client, when run on a PAR file (or any .Pnn file), will report
the number of missing or bad files. If there are enough .Pnn files
available, it will then recover the missing files.
For more information on the individual clients used both to create
parchive files and to recover archive parts using them, go to the
individual client websites
SmartPar:
http://www.disc-chord.com/smartpar/Viewlet/SmartPAR_viewlet.html
(Currently, the most common in AB(M)A)
FSRaid: http://www.fluidstudios.com/fsraid.html (FSRaid can handle
renaming of files like Mirror; SmartPar cannot do this)
Mirror: http://www.wehlus.de/mirror/restore.html (Discontinued)
There are also command-line versions for DOS, *nix, MacOS X, and other
operating systems at http://parchive.sourceforge.net/#clients
For the technical details (not required reading), read the file
specifications at
http://sourceforge.net/docman/display_doc.php?docid=7273&group_id=3056
8
It is not uncommon to post both a .SFV file and a parchive set. Some
people prefer to have a .SFV file as it can be opened in a text editor
to verify what files should be in the set.
It is usually preferred that you only include the archive set (RAR
files) when creating the parchive set. Including support files (such
as .nfo, .txt, .sfv, etc.) can cause problems.
What are .REV files? (RAR Recovery Volumes) [Keikai]
These files are current an inferior and proprietary version of
parchive files discussed above. Therefore, one can recover damaged or
missing .rar parts using RAR recovery volumes on a one-for-one basis.
Currently, it is strongly urged that posters use parchive files and
not WinRAR recovery files. The reasons for this are:
* They are proprietary and require one to use a Rarsoft product as
opposed to giving the user a choice of tools. .rev files are a
different format and cannot simply be renamed to parchive volume
names and used with parchive clients.
* They do not detect misnamed archive set and recovery files.
* There is no small .par file equivalent which contains only the
integrity testing data.
* It is unknown if the RAR recovery process does all of the MD5
self-testing that parchive clients perform on parchive files (or
if the file format is even capable of it).
* The recovery process is much slower.
RAR recovery records are a totally different feature and should still
be used. They are described in the archive section under RAR recovery
method.
Although parchive files are much preferred over WinRAR recovery files,
it is still preferable that posters use one of these technologies.
Therefore, if parchive files cannot be posted for some reason, please
use WinRAR recovery files instead. Inclusion of both is highly
unnecessary and is discouraged.
The naming format for these files is:
Sample.partxx_yy_zz.rev
Where xx is the part number of the last part of the archive set, yy is
the total number of recovery volumes created, and zz is the number of
this particular recovery volume. The only number that should change
throughout the recovery set is zz.
Recovery using RAR recovery volumes requires version 3 or later of
WinRAR. More information regarding the use of RAR recovery volumes can
be found at http://www.rarsoft.com/.
What are .IDX, .SUB, .IFO files? (VobSub files) [Keikai, Scrippie]
These files will usually be found together in a group of all three,
or, more recently, in a group of two (.IDX & .SUB). These vobsub files
are produced by a Virtual Dub filter called VobSub. VobSub is used to
"rip" the subtitles off of a DVD into the vobsub files. These files
can then be used either to create a permanent hardsub on an encoding
or used with DirectVobSub to optionally display them when playing the
video. Therefore, the former method is "hardsubbing" and the latter
method is considered a form of "softsubbing", although, unlike most
softsub file formats, the subtitles in these files are in fact timed
bitmap graphics.
DirectVobSub (also known as DVobSub) is a DirectShow filter that works
with most DirectShow compatible video players. Video players that are
known to work with DVobSub are:
* Windows Media Player 6.4
* Windows Media Player 7.x
* ZoomPlayer
* BSPlayer
* mplayer for Linux (mplayer.sf.net) [Scrippie]
* more to be added later
While the use of vobsub files is very popular, be aware that unless a
person has a system running a Windows or Linux/*NIX OS, they may not
be able to play the files. For those people who prefer to watch videos
on a non-Windows OS, but have a Windows OS available, they can use the
vobsub files to hardsub the video on the Windows OS and then watch it
elsewhere. This also, of course, applies to those who do not like
"softsubs" or those that reencode AVIs to other formats such as MPEG-1
or MPEG-2.
The homepage for VobSub is http://vobsub.edensrising.com/vobsub.php.
Both the encoding filter and DVobSub can be downloaded as one package
from there. Inside the package are excellent, if a bit cryptic,
resources regarding the use of VobSub and DVobSub.
mplayer for Linux (http://mplayer.sf.net/) supports the VobSub format
as well, therefore making it available on most *nix variants.
For information on how to create the vobsub files when encoding, go to
http://www.doom9.org/vobsub.htm, and http://www.doom9.org/dvobsub.htm.
For information on creating hardsubbed videos from an unsubbed video
and vobsub files, see the appropriate encoding section at
http://www.doom9.org/guides.htm.
When watching a video with vobsub softsubs, the subtitles should
automatically be displayed if the vobsub files are in the same
directory as the video and the file titles are identical to that of
the video. The only difference between the files should be the
extension. When playing, an icon should appear in the system tray.
More options can be found there.
As of version 2.07 of VobSub and DVobSub, the .IFO file is no longer
needed. If a post includes only the .IDX and .SUB files, then most
likely they were created with a post-2.07 version of VobSub. A
post-2.07 version of DVobSub is then necessary to view the subtitles.
What are .SMI, .SSA, .SRT files? (Soft-Subtitles) [Keikai, Onakra, ed.]
These are all different formats for text-format timed soft subtitles
(usually called "softsubs"). More information will be included
regarding these later.
Installing the DirectShow VobSub plugin (DVobSub) available from
http://vobsub.edensrising.com/vobsub.php will allow any
DVobSub-compatible media player to display most softsub formats.
A Windows media player that does not support DVobSub but is excellent
at manipulating and displaying softsubs is Sasami 2k, freely available
at http://www.sasami2k.com/.
Excellent information on other programs that can deal with softsubs
can be found at Zen's website: http://www.geocities.com/zenwebpage/
Some softsubs can be displayed directly in Windows Media Players:
* In WMP 6.4: In menu 'View' check the item 'Captions' Microsoft
Media Player 7 : In menu 'View' go to the sub-menu 'Now Playing
Tools' and check 'Captions'.
* In WMP 7.0: To be added
What are .NFO, .TXT, .MD5... files? [Keikai]
.NFO, .TXT:
These files are generally plain text and can be read in any text
editor. They contain whatever supplementary information the poster
wants to include. This includes credits for the work done to produce
the post, any special information about the file being posted or the
post itself, and, most importantly, the posters policies regarding
fills and reposts. Because of this, it is essential and expected that
you read any accompanying .nfo or .txt file before making any requests
either publically or privately. In many cases, you will be ignored or
killfiled if the poster feels you have not read their policies. (Some
posters, instead of or in addition to posting this file, post a
00/part with the post that contain similar information. If available,
this should be read as well.)
.MD5:
This is a file identical in purpose to a .SFV file. Unlike an SFV
file, the .MD5 files stores the file hashes as .MD5 values instead of
CRC-32 values. However, .MD5 files are rarely encountered in AB(M)A.
The .PAR file, from a file integrity checking standpoint, has the
advantages of using MD5 hashes, but also has the advantage of
self-examination for corruption. Therefore, parchive files should
always be used for this purpose, often in conjuction with a .SFV file.
.MD5 files can be checked with md5summer from
http://www.md5summer.org/ [kloug]
.NTX
See the yEnc section of this FAQ for an explanation of .NTX files.
7. What's a good newsreader?
News Clients (Newsreaders) [Keikai, xo, Myen]
Access to usenet is established through the news client. The most
common news clients are those embedded within Outlook Express and
Netscape Navigator. Both of these, however, are completely inadequate
for dealing with binary usenet groups. Many of the problems that new
AB(M)A users encounter are the result of using one of these two news
clients.
Below are listed some of the more popular news clients used by
experienced AB(M)A denizens. No single news client is ideal for all
situations, even within just AB(M)A. Some users even use a combination
of two clients, one for reading and responding to text messages and
the other for monitoring and downloading the binaries.
Windows:
* Agent/Free Agent (http://www.forteinc.com/)
* NewsBin (http://www.newsbin.com/)
* NewsPro (http://www.usenetopia.com/)
* ZeoNews (http://www.zeonews.com/ - formerly NewsGrabber)
* XNews (http://xnews.newsguy.com/)
* others to be added
Linux/*NIX:
* pan (http://pan.rebelbase.com)
* nget (http://nget.sourceforge.net)
* others to be added
Mac:
* MT-Newswatcher (http://www.smfr.org/mtnw/)
* NewsHunter
* others to be added
News Client descriptions and usage notes
Agent/Free Agent
For Windows, Agent (http://www.forteinc.com) is very good. It is not
free though. The free version, Free Agent, is usable but lacks some
valuable features like sorting by subject line.
Usage Notes: [inc]
1. Combining segments from multiple posts/servers:
In Agent, segments from a given Part can be retained in a work
folder and later combined with other segments from a different
post of the same part. Segments (or Sections) are the actual
individual messages that are propagated by Usenet. You see them
as something like foobar.r03 (4/16). This segment would be the
fourth message of the sixteen that make up the RAR part
foobar.r03. If you have an incomplete part (say, only 14 of 16
segments of foobar.r03 made it), they can be saved to a work
area within Agent and later combined with segments from a
repost of that part. (To make a work folder, be in the
Groups/Folders window. Right-click and chose New Folder.)
When you have segments to retain:
+ Select the RAR part that has the messages you are going to
save.
+ Choose "Message / Split sections"
+ Select all the segments to save.
+ Do "Online / Get selected message bodies."
+ Right-click the messages and "Copy to Folder"
Then, later, if the part is reposted, but is again incomplete,
you can check if the segments missing from the first post made
it, if they did, save them to the same work area.
Once you have all the segments in the work folder.
+ Select all the messages that make up the part
+ Right-click and "Join sections"
+ Verify the order & "Join"
The only requirement is that the poster is sending with the
same segment size on both posts (and, preferably, with the same
software & version).
This method can, of course, also be used to combine segments of
the same part post from different servers.
2. Missing messages
Your server may be loading messages out of numeric ID order. By
default, Agent just checks the ID of the last message you have
and grabs headers from there on. If any new messages went on
the server that has a lower id, you don't see them unless you
do a "Get all headers."
There is an option in Agent that can cure this: "Options / User
& System / System / Server creates messages out of order" ==>
Checked.
Agent will then check for holes in the message ID list.
Obviously slower, but you won't miss anything. Free Agent
doesn't have this option - instead you have to open a newsgroup
with the "download all headers in selected groups" command.
Another site with good explanations of how to use Agent is at
http://www.freepicgirl.com/nero-x/
ZeoNews
Usage Notes [Myen]
Just remember to hold shift when starting ZeoNews if you want to
access database repairing utilities. And to wait a while after it
quits to make sure it quits properly (after a little box shows up with
a progress bar similar to loading).
NewsGrabber [Severin]
For people with access to more than one news server, NewsGrabber,
[shareware, currently $17 and it's worth it IMHO] from TronTech at
www.news-grabber.com carries the Severin Seal Of Approval. While not
as easy to use as Agent or News Express this thing is AMAZING in that
it can piece together complete posts from parts gathered from any of
the servers you tell it about. ex: a 15 part article, with M1Jax
having 1, 4-6, and 14; M1Naples having 1-3, 11, 13-15; M1Pompano
having 7; AirNews having 1-6, 8-10; and EasyNews having 8-15 is
complete from NewsGrabber's point of view. @home users may find this
particularly useful, since I understand that all of their news servers
are available to all of their customers.
Xnews [Meep Meep, ox]
A excellent newsreader for binaries is Xnews, available at
http://xnews.newsguy.com/ - It is currently freeware.
It works best as an on-line browser, which is fine for people who have
constant-on connections (cable, dsl, etc).
Usage Notes [Meep Meep, Planet Destroyer]
It can be a little bit cryptic to use at first, but the manual is very
clear. For downloading binaries, parts can be downloaded and held in
an 'archive' while you are waiting for the rest of a post, and
assembled afterwards (this really helps on @home servers, where early
parts of a post usually expire before the last parts of a post).
A newer feature is the 'q-archive' which does not download parts but
can let you queue up article parts across multiple servers and then
download them. Very cool (and space efficient).
Segment Downloading with XNews; Select the broken files, Menu:
Transfer - Binaries [when the download is complete you can goto] Menu:
Folder - Binaries (here the broken parts 'll show up) -Make a ATTN:
'Posters nick', please fill missing segments (inside)- -(inside)=your
missing segments in the body of the message - Segment(s) iS/are
Posted.... Select the missing parts Menu: Transfer - Binaries [when
the download is complete you can goto] Menu: Folder - Binaries (all
parts are joined and can be selected as normal)
PAN (Pimp Ass Newsreader, Linux) [darkwire, xo]
http://pan.rebelbase.com/
This is the newsreader I use for all my NG sessions under Linux. It is
very similar to XNews and Agent and seems to have taken the best
features from both. It is currently a work in progress, and requires a
fair amount of memory and resources to run. Since it is beta, it does
segfault occasionally, or gets a hung thread. But otherwise, I use it
as my *only* newsreader, so I rely on it solely for all my news needs.
PAN does not support binary posting.
MT-News Watcher [xo, PeterCat]
Pretty slick for the occasional downloader. If you plan to get
binaries on a regular basis, look into a program like NewsHunter,
although when I tried it recently it performed rather sluggishly
compared with MT-NewsWatcher - the downloads were so slow it could
never keep up with the new posts on the newsgroup.
Usage Notes [PeterCat]
* A tip for Macintosh users with MT-NewsWatcher: If you set the
newsgroup to sort by Subject and also thread by Subject, with
threads collapsed, MT-NewsWatcher will group all the articles for
each part of a multi-part post on one line, and indicate in the
Score (S) column in the newsgroup window whether all the articles
for that part have arrived:
* A blank means all the articles for that part are available;
* a < (less-than) sign means some articles are missing;
* a checkmark means you've read (downloaded) all articles in that
part already;
* a dash means you've somehow read (or marked read) some of the
articles but not others, and some are still missing;
* a dot means you've read (or marked read) some of the articles but
not others, and all articles in the part are available, which
usually happens to me when I've downloaded an incomplete part by
mistake.
So it's easy to just select the lines with a blank Score indicating
the complete parts, and hit command-B to start downloading in one go.
(You can do this several times and have several downloads going at
once, although of course all of them share your connection bandwidth.)
Then check back in 12 hours or so to see if any of the remaining parts
are complete yet, and download them.
nget (*nix) [xo 2001-07-26]
The author's brief description from the home page
(http://www.azstarnet.com/~donut/programs/nget.html) reads:
nget is a command line nntp file grabber. It automatically pieces
together multipart postings for easy retrieval, even substituting
parts from multiple servers. Handles disconnects gracefully,
resuming after the last part succesfully downloaded.
As a command-line client, it's not for GUI seekers or the faint of
heart, but for those interested in automating the newsgrabbing
process, it can be very powerful. The man page is very dense but
thorough but those comfortable under Unix should be up and running
with a little effort.
8. How do I post?
Posting Practices
AB(M)A thrives because of the contributions of the posters. Because of
this, good posters are essential to the group and are therefore
greatly appreciated. However, in order to tame the chaos that can
occur, and to facilitate the use of the groups by as many people as
possible, there are both rules and guidelines that should be observed
whenever posting material to AB(M)A.
Some terms used in this section are defined as below:
* Anime Groups - The primary usenet anime groups are
alt.binaries.multimedia.anime (ABMA), alt.binaries.anime (ABA),
alt.binaries.anime.vcd (ABAV), and
alt.binaries.multimedia.anime.repost (ABMAR), although ABAV and
ABMAR have their own rules and guidelines as well.
* Archived - The process of breaking up and encapsulating a post in
a file format that aids in self-repair when corrupted. (e.g. RAR
or ACE)
* Archive Set - The multiple files created when a fire is archived.
* Episode - A single TV or OAV episode, or a single movie or movie
part. Generally this is equivalent to a single multimedia file.
* Fills - Individual archive parts that are needed to complete an
archive set.
* HIWIH Posts - HIWIH (Here is what I have) posts refer to posting
an incomplete archive set with the intention that someone will
post the missing parts.
* Repack - A new archive set created for a previously posted
episode.
* Repost - Posting of an archive set for a previously posted
episode, usually referring to the original archive set (not a
repack) as previously posted to the groups.
* Series - An entire season or more of episodes of a TV or OAV
series.
To determine if and when an episode has been recently posted, consult
the anime usenet logs at http://www.animeusenet.org/.
Binary vs. Text Posts
Usenet was designed for text broadcast and, therefore, does not
natively support non-text data. Due to this, multiple encoding
standards have evolved to allow binary information to be sent across
usenet. Most of this process is handled transparently by news clients.
However, the one significant distinction between them is that binary
posts produce a file. A discussion of usenet encoding standards is
available in the encoding section.
Rules vs. Guidelines
While usenet is necessarily an unruly "place", it is generally
accepted that it is in the best interest of the majority that some
limitations be imposed. Some news groups have nearly none, and tend to
be an anarchic mess, which others take rules to an extreme and can be
a very unpleasant place to participate.
The regulars in AB(M)A tend towards a middle course, where as few
rules are made as possible, while still ensuring that procedures
benefit the majority.
In the following section, there is a distinction between Rules and
Guidelines:
* Rules are limitations that must always be observed. Repeated
breaking of the rules can lead to abuse notifications being sent
to news server and ISP administrators. This is very rare and no
AB(M)A regular wishes to do this.
* Guidelines are put in place to show what should be done. Ignoring
guidelines repeatedly is bad for the newsgroups, however, it is
understood that is will sometimes be necessary to do so.
It is important to observe both the rules and the guidelines.
Binary Posts
Rules
* A single poster must not post more than 400MB of material to the
anime groups in a single day.
* Posts must be properly archived, with only one episode per archive
set.
* Dragonball (all series) and Sailor Moon (all series) must not be
posted to the primary anime groups but instead be posted to their
topic-specific groups (alt.binaries.dragonball,
alt.binaries.multimedia.sailor-moon) in accordance to the rules of
those groups.
* HIWIH posts (see above) are forbidden.
* Reposts of episodes posted to the anime groups within six months
must not be intentionally posted. This does not apply to posts of
different encodes of the same episode.
alt.binaries.multimedia.anime.repost (ABMAR) is to be used for
reposts according to its own rules and guidelines.
* Reposts of an entire series to the anime groups within twelve
months must not be posted. This does not apply to posts of
different encodes of the same series.
* Post subjects:
+ Must include the proper filename of the file being posted and
that information must be at the end of the subject.
+ Must include the language of the audio and subtitles (if
any), preferably in abbreviated form.
Guidelines
* A single poster should not post more than 250MB of material to the
anime groups in a single day.
* Posts should be properly archived in the RAR format with only one
episode per archive set.
* Archive sets should be accompanied by recovery files totalling
more than 10% of the size of the archive set, preferably in the
parchive (PAR) format and totalling more than 20% of the size of
the archive set.
* Posts should include either a PAR or a SFV file of the archive
set, preferably both.
* Posts should not be crossposted between groups without good
reason.
* Reposts of episodes posted to the anime groups within nine months
should not be posted. This does not apply to posts of different
encodes of the same episode. alt.binaries.multimedia.anime.repost
(ABMAR) is to be used for reposts according to its own rules and
guidelines.
* Post subjects:
+ Should be made as concise as possible while still including
information needed by the http://www.animeusenet.org/
maintainers.
+ Should include abbreviated information tying the multimedia
file to the person or group that encoded it, preferably as
part of the file name.
+ Should include abbreviated information about the
format/codecs necessary for viewing the encode.
+ Should NOT include the poster's name or nick, as it is
already shown in the post Author header.
+ Should NOT list requests that the poster has.
+ Should NOT repeat information more than once.
+ Should, if the post is being broken up across multiple days,
include both the current day of the post and the expected
total number of days.
* Posts should include information about the posters intentions,
schedule, repost plans, fill posting plans and proper fill request
formats or lack of such services, in the supplemental information.
* Posts of unreencoded DVDs should be posted to DVD-specific groups
such as alt.binaries.dvd and alt.binaries.dvdr with a notification
posted to the anime groups.
Recommended binary post subject line:
This is an example of a complex subject line that remains short and
contains all necessary and recommended information. Most posts will
not require some of this information.
Uuencoded/MIME:
R2-10 (jpn,e-hsub,divx5,ogm) day1of2 [01/26]
Ranma_TV_s2_ep10_[FG].part01.rar
yEnc:
R2-10 (jpn,eng-hardsub,divx5,ogm) day1of2 [01/26] yEnc
"Ranma_TV_s2_ep10_[FG].part01.rar"
Explanation:
* R2-10 - Abbreviation of the episode name, (season) & number. This
keeps the post grouped together when sorted by subject in a news
client.
* (jpn,eng-hardsub,divx5,ogm) - Concise abbreviated listing of
language, subtitle and encoding information.
* day1of2 - Shows current day and planned completion day of episode
post
* [01/26] - Current file number which is calculated by the posting
program. This should not be manually entered.
* yEnc and "filename" - Necessary to fit yEnc spec. Only necessary
for yEnc encoded posts.
* Ranma_TV_s2_ep10 - (Part of actual filename) Episode name, type,
(season) and number.
* [FG] - (Part of actual filename) Encoder information, usually the
acronym of the encoding group's name.
* Ranma_TV_s2_ep10_[FG].part01.rar - Actual full filename
There is a alternate posting practice that is also acceped. Some
posters prefer to put the extended episode title in the subject and
abbreviate the posted filename. This is advantageous because the
shortened filenames are often more compatible with some operating
systems and news clients. The disadvantage of this is it makes it more
difficult for those who provide fills weeks or months after the
original post, whether on the groups or off, to be fully aware of what
all episodes actually are. No concensus has been made as to the proper
way to do this so it is up to the poster to decide which course of
action is preferable. An example of this would be:
Ranma TV S2 ep10 [FG] (jpn,eng-hsub,divx5,ogm) [01/26]
RTV2-10.part01.rar
When observing this practice, it is best to maintain the full episode
title for the episode file inside the archive set. This makes it
possible for those needing to know what the content is of an archive
set without having to deduce the meaning of the abbreviation.
Additional justification for descriptive subjects - Anime Usenet Logging
Besides the advantages to those downloading a post, there is an
additional critical reason to include the information discussed above.
The Anime Usenet Logging Team maintain a database of all episodes that
are posted to AB(M)A. Due to time constraints, however, they must
limit themselves to reading the subject for logging purposes.
Therefore it is important to include the information that they need to
log in the subject of the post. Anything that posters can do to help
these generous folks is appreciated by all.
Recommended abbreviations
* Language (for Audio and/or Subtitle)
+ j, jpn, jap - Japanese
+ e, en, eng - English
+ c, chn - Chinese
+ k, kor - Korean
+ f, fr - French
+ i, it - Italian
+ ger - German
* Subtitling
+ sub - subtitled (usually hard subtitled); when listed by
itself this represents Japanese audio with English subtitles
+ hsub, hardsub - hard subtitled
+ ssub, softsub - soft subtitled
+ vobsub, vsub- contains vobsub soft subtitle files
+ dub - dubbed, when listed by itself this represents English
dubbed audio
* Encoding
+ divx, divx3, divx311, divx4, divx5 - DivX codec (and version
when possible)
+ xvid - XviD codec
+ mpg4, mp41, mp42, mp43 - Old MS MPEG-4 codec (mp43 represents
mpeg4v3)
+ mpg - MPEG-1 or MPEG-2
+ mpg1, mpeg1 - MPEG-1 format
+ vcd - VCD compliant MPEG-1 format
+ dat - VCD compliant MPEG-1 DAT file (see VCD section)
+ mpg2, mpeg2 - MPEG-2 format
+ svcd - SVCD compliant MPEG-2 format
+ avi - AVI file format
+ ogm - Ogg Media (OGM) file format
+ rm - RealMedia RM format
+ ram - Old RealMedia RAM format
+ qt - QT Quicktime format
+ mv - MV Quicktime Format
* Episode Types
+ TV - TV episode, usually numbered by occurrence in a season
and the season listed in the title as well if beyond the
first season.
+ OAV, OVA - (Original Animated Video/Original Video Animation)
Episodes that are originally released neither in the theater
nor on TV but go directly to media sales.
+ Movie - Movies
+ OP - Episode opening
+ ED - Episode closing
+ OPNC - Episode opening without credits
+ EDNC - Episode closing without credits
+ MV - Music Video
Supplemental Information
Any of the following information can be included as supplemental post
information:
* Detailed encoding information and/or information about those
individuals or groups that prepared the episode
* Detailed language/subtitle information
* Special instructions regarding playing the episode
* Posting and reposting schedules
* Fills Policy - instructions on how to properly contact the poster
for fill requests
This information, when included, should take the form of either a
00/part or a text file, preferably both. A 00/part is an unencoded
text post prepared by some binary posters that preceeds the binary
post. A supplementary text file is simply a text file containing the
information which is posted as a binary along with the remainder of
the post.
00/parts have the advantage that they are readable directly from a
news client without decoding and opening a file.
Text files have the advantage that they can be archived by downloaders
for future reference. These files should be given a unique name
specific to either the individual episode or the set of episodes in a
single series. They should not be given generic names, such as
"readme.txt", since multiple posters practicing this will cause
conflicts for those consciencious enough to archive these files for
later use.
Because each of these two methods have distinct advantages, it is best
to utilize both.
Text Posts
Fills Requests
Always, before requesting fills, determine if the poster has:
* included parchive files or recovery volumes. If either of these
are available, and the post was successful, fills should not be
necessary.
* announced repost plans. If a full repost is going to be made,
fills should not be requested until after the repost, unless
otherwise indicated by the poster.
* specific fills request instructions. Many posters will only post
fills if the request is made a certain way. These instructions are
usually indicated in the supplemental information.
Not all posters provide fills for their posts. In these cases, one can
make a general request for fills with the hope that someone else on
the newsgroups will post them. It is also common in these cases that
two individuals who have fills that will help the other "exchange"
them by both posting them to the groups.
Rules
* A request must contain only requests for parts within a single
archive set.
* A request should list all parts needed in the same post.
* Only one request should be made within a 48-hour period.
* Do not use multiple names/nicks to post the same request in an
attempt to circumvent the previous rule.
* A request must be a text post. Do not post a binary text file as
part of a request.
Guidelines
* Special notes and instructions should be placed inside the body of
the request
* Short notes such as "Thank you" or "See inside" should be put at
the end of the subject
If specific fills request instructions are not provided by the poster,
a generic fills request can take a form similar to this:
ATTN: PosterNick REQ: Ranma_TV_s2_ep10_[FG].part01,03,05.rar
Repost Requests
Any request for any episode has has been posted to AB(M)A within the
last nine months is consided as repost request.
If requesting a repost of an entire episode, it should also be
requested that the post go to alt.binaries.multimedia.anime.repost
(ABMAR) as that is the designated newsgroup for reposts.
Episode Requests
Episode requests can be broken up into several groups:
* Newly available episodes, that have only recently been released to
TV or other medium. It is usually unnecessary to make such
requests. Most new episodes will be posted independent of requests
at some point and these requests generally go unread.
* Recently posted episodes. Any episode that has been posted in the
last 9 months is considered recent and is therefore considered a
repost request and should be posted to
alt.binaries.multimedia.anime.repost (ABMAR).
* Old or unposted episodes. Any episode that has not been posted in
the last 9 months is acceptable for posting in AB(M)A.
Always check the Anime Usenet Database at http://www.animeusenet.org/
to determine when an episode was last posted.
A generic episode request can take a form similar to this:
REQ: Ranma TV Season 2 Episode 10 [FG]
or
REQ: Ranma TV Season 2 ep 10 (jpn-lang, eng-sub)
Furthermore, there is a request forum at
http://abma.x-maru.org/bb/viewforum.php?f=2 that may be more
successful for episode requests than posting to the newsgroups.
Series Requests
Series requests refer to requests for an entire season or more of a TV
or OAV series. Because of the general scope of these requests, they
often go ignored.
Series requests for a series that has been posted in the last 12
months is inappropriate.
Notifications
When something that is on topic for the anime groups is posted
elsewhere, it is always appreciated for a notification post be posted
to the anime groups. The notification message should be placed in the
subject. A body is not usually necessary.
A generic post notification can take a form similar to this:
NOTICE: RanmaTV DVD2 posted to alt.binaries.dvdr
Other Text Posts
AB(M)A is more than just a pair of binary newsgroups, it is also a
community with many contributors that care about them. Discussions
posts have always been accepted in AB(M)A.
How NOT to make a request. [SWong, user, ed.]
or, doing any of these things will get you deliberately ignored or
kill filed
a. ALL CAPS - It looks like you're yelling.
b. ########LOTS OF PUNCTUATION#########
c. Nym-shifting: changing your pseudonym to pretend to be different
people requesting the same thing.
d. Most annoying of all, vertical spam:
############PLZ POST KAWAII GIRLS TIA!!!!!###########
############PLZ POST KAWAII GIRLS TIA!!!!!###########
############PLZ POST KAWAII GIRLS TIA!!!!!###########
############PLZ POST KAWAII GIRLS TIA!!!!!###########
############PLZ POST KAWAII GIRLS TIA!!!!!###########
Some newbies post a request multiple times with some attention
getting letterings, thinking that'll get somebody's attention and
will respond to it. Well it gets attention all right. It gets
deliberately ignored, or maybe even kill filed.
e. Pestering the wrong person for repost. 2 words: bloody annoying,
chances are the person you pester will not post your request even
if s/he has what you want. It doesn't take very much effort to
keep track of who posted what.
f. HIWIH (Here Is What I Have) posts. HIWIH posts constitute posting
only those files that one is able to obtain with a request for the
remainder.
9. What software is good for posting binaries?
Posting Software
Power-Post 2000 (Windows;UUEncode) [Onakra, Zen, Keikai, ed.]
Power-Post 2000 is available for free from http://www.cosmicwolf.com/.
This is the recommended posting software for all uuencoded AB(M)A
binaries posting. While some other applications are just as capable,
Power-Post is the easiest to configure to post in the format required
in AB(M)A. Additionally, it is freeware.
More to be added (and replaced) later
Do not use Power-post 2000 Build 25b yEnc version, it is broken.
Newspost (Linux/*NIX;UUEncode) [xo, ed.]
Newspost is a command-line posting utility for *nix systems. It is
available from http://newsposts.unixcab.org The author writes of
newspost:
"Newspost is a full-featured USEnet binary autoposter. It is meant as
an all-in-one posting solution. In addition to posting files, it can
post text prefixes, and generate and post .SFV files and .PAR
volumes."
A typical command looks like this:
newspost -y -a file.par -c file.sfv -i newshost.myISP.com -n
alt.binaries.multimedia.anime -s "My Subject" *.rar
The above would post all files ending in rar in the current directory
in yEnc
(-y) and generating PAR (-a) and SFV (-c) files to abma on newshost
with the subject line "My Subject" (it automatically appends the
filename and segment counters at the end).
Please see the newspost site for a full list of command-line options.
Graphical front-ends for newspost also exist - check freshmeat.net for
details.
Agentpost (Windows;UUEncode)
More to be added later.
yEncPost 2002 (Windows;yEnc/UUEncode)
This is the recommended posting software for all yEnc AB(M)A binaries
posting.
More to be added later.
yEnc Power-Post (Windows;yEnc)
More to be added later.
Other Posting Software
More to be added later.
10. What about hentai & pornography?
10. Hentai Material [Original Contributors, Keikai, Onakra]
Hentai material should not be posted to either ABMA or ABA. Hentai
material is generally considered to be that which contains depictions
of sex, whether censored or not. When borderline, or if the poster is
unsure about whether the material in a potential post is hentai or
not, an "Intent to Post" message should be posted to the group asking
if the material is acceptable. A prompt reply from those who are
familiar with the material and this subject should be forthcoming.
The proper group for posting hentai anime is
alt.binaries.multimedia.erotica.anime (ABMEA). The ABMEA FAQ is
maintained by Squared Root and is available at
http://squaredroot.virtualave.net/.
Further explanation of this policy:
The charter of ABMA specifically states:
Things that should not be posted in alt.binaries.multimedia.anime:
* pictures: they belong in alt.binaries.pictures.anime
* sounds/music: they belong in alt.binaries.sounds.anime
* general anime discussion: belongs in the rec.arts.anime*
newsgroups
* hentai/erotica material
* non-anime material
That means no hentai material in ABMA folks!
Orignally, ABA was an unchartered or rogue, newsgroup. However, even
then, most regular posters felt rather strongly that hentai should be
kept off of it as well. This is not because of any self-righteous
puritanical reason. It is because of the fact that quite a few ISP's
newsservers will not carry erotica/porn newsgroups. If some parents
find their kids downloading porn from a non-porn newsgroup and
complain to their ISP, most likely the ISP will simply stop carrying
that newsgroup. This will ruin things for other people on the same ISP
who also follow the newsgroup. So please be considerate.
Another very important reason for excluding hentai is that, in
newsgroup naming convention, newsgroups with sex-related material are
designated with "erotica" or "sex". Since neither of these words are
in "alt.binaries.anime", newsservers and ISPs will treat it as non-sex
newsgroup by default. If the more strict service providers discover
the existance of porn in ABA they will no doubt stop carrying the
newsgroup. Just see the disappearance of misspelled/disguised warez
newsgroups from the @home servers for a potential fate of ABA, or ask
your news service providers what usually happens to "stealth" erotica
groups.
If ABMEA is not available on your server,
alt.binaries.pictures.erotic.anime (ABPEA2) has been an acceptable
substitute. Note there is no 'a' at the end of "erotic". Hentai anime
is not appropriate in alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.anime (ABPEA)
which is home to hentai manga and pictures. ABPEA2 was a misnamed
group and became, for a while, a convenient spot to post hentai anime,
something which did not have an official home until ABMEA was
chartered by Jiss with the support of several of the ABPEA2 regulars..
11. What is this media format? How do I play it?
Preface [xo - 2001-07-27]
There is seemingly no end to the type of file formats posted, and each
requires at least an understanding of which player can handle the
format.
It's also good to understand the limitations formats can impose. Some
are "dead end" formats in that there exist no way to convert from it
to another. Some are proprietary in that they only work on one
platform, so users of other OS's are unable to enjoy files of that
format. Some have low CPU requirements, while others will stutter
badly without current hardware. And so on.
Most of the information provided is oriented to the Windows platform,
with some non-Windows notes intermixed. A Linux-specific
FAQ-within-a-FAQ is provided by darkwire.
11a. Multimedia Wrapper Formats (AVI & OGM)
Multimedia Wrapper Formats (AVI & OGM) [Keikai]
While the .AVI extension has often been associated with the MPEG4
codec, they are actually not the same thing. In fact, AVI files can
contain codecs other than MPEG4 and there are MPEG4 codec encodes that
are not ,AVI files.
.AVI files, amongst others, are wrapper formats that explain the
multimedia content. They explain to the operating system what it will
need to play the files. Also, they allow for synchronization between
the video, audio, and other encoded information within a multimedia
file, including subtitles. Modern implementations allow for multiple
audio and subtitle tracks.
Nearly all multimedia files actually contain a wrapper as well and the
encoded streams, however, some are not codec specific. Examples of
codec specific wrapper files are .WMV, .ASF, .RM, and .QT. These are
all discussed in their associated codec section of this FAQ.
.AVI (Audio-Video Interleave) Files [Keikai]
.AVI files are by far the most common multimedia file to be found in
AB(M)A. And while they are generally associated with DivX files, they
can actually contain streams encoded by any number of codecs. The
codec(s) needed by the contained video and audio streams must already
be installed to play any .AVI file. Therefore, it is necessary to be
aware of what codecs an .AVI file needs. This information will often
be provided by the poster of the file. If not, this FAQ lists other
methods to determining the codec.
See the subtitle section for more information on displaying subtitles
with AVI files.
. OGM (Ogg Media) Files [Orqyman, Keikai, xo, ed.]
Ogg Media (.OGM) files are a far more recent wrapper format than .AVI.
Usually, they contain either DivX or XviD encoded video streams. .OGM
files are becoming popular as they are far more adept at supporing
multiple audio and subtitle streams than .AVI. As with .AVI files,you
must have the codecs needed by the contained streams to play these
files. Therefore, it is necessary to be aware of what codecs an .OGM
file needs. This information will often be provided by the poster of
the file. If not, this FAQ lists other methods to determining the
codec.
Assuming the necessary video and audio codecs of the OGM file are
known, and are already installed, it is also necessary to install the
Ogg Vorbis Directshow filters available at
http://tobias.everwicked.com/. Any DirectShow-compatible media play
should then be able to play Ogg Media files. DirectX 8.0 or higher is
necessary, as well.
When subtitles are encoded into the Ogg Media file, either DVobSub or
SubTitDS is necessary to display them. The SubTitDS method will not
work, however, for Windows 9x/ME users, and, therefore, DVobSub will
be necessary.
See the subtitle section for more information on these DirectShow
filters.
Some of the advantages of Ogg Media files over AVI files are:
* Less overhead for muxing of streams than AVI
* Multiple audio streams (nandub AVIs support a maximum of 2 audio
streams)
* Embedded Subtitles
* Chaptering
* Faster Keyframe Seeks
* Ogg Vorbis may be used for audio, which many proclaim to be better
than mp3 in many respects
Determining the codec inside a Wrapper File
To be added later
11b. MPEG4 (DivX, XviD, ASF, WMV)
MPEG4 Codec [Keikai, Netgear, ed.]
MPEG4 is the basis for many of the most popular codecs, including:
* DivX
* XviD
* MPEG4v1, v2, v3
* ASF
* WMV
While originally popularized on Windows. Many of these codecs are now
available on other operating systems.
Because of the significant quality/filesize ratio of properly encoded
MPEG4 files, it has become the primary codec class used in AB(M)A.
Due to the many different MPEG4 codecs, however, it is often necessary
to perform many codec installations in order to support them all.
MPEG4v1, v2, v3 [darkwire, Keikai, ed.]
These three codecs were the first MPEG4 codecs used. Because better
codecs that are also freely available are now present, these codecs
should no longer be used for new encodes. It is, however, still
necessary to install some or all of these codecs depending on your
operating system to support older encodes.
The official Microsoft links are as follows:
* Windows Media Tools
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/en/technologies/tools.asp#Downloads
* Windows Media General Infos
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/en/default.asp
* Windows Media for Mac
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer/en/download/macintosh.asp
The best site for practical information and codec downloads for MPEG4
is http://www.undercut.org/msmpeg4/.
DivX [Keikai, darkwire, ed.]
The official DivX site is http://www.divx.com/.
DivX was originally a hack of the Microsoft MPEG4v3 codec, but has
since become a completely separate codec. It is available in both free
and purchased versions.
DivX is the most common codec used in the groups, although you will
find several versions of the DivX codec that are all used.
The most common versions are 3.11, 4.0n, and 5.0. Officially,
installing the most recent version of the codec will allow playing
older versions, however, there have been complaints of lowered quality
and compatibility when playing files created with the older codecs.
Version 3.11 can be installed separately of later versions without
much hassle. Getting versions 4 and 5 to coexist on a single computer
is very difficult.
XviD [Keikai]
The official XviD site is http://www.xvid.org/.
When DivX became a commercial enterprise, an open-source project was
created entitled Project Mayo. One of the offshoots of Project Mayo is
XviD. XviD is an open-source implementation of the DivX codec. The
codecs are now, more or less, independent of one another.
XviD is generally popular because of it's open source status. It is
generally considered slightly inferior in terms of quality to modern
DivX, but it is still popular.
To play (decode) XviD files, you will either need to compile your own
codec files or download and install precompiled binaries. The two most
popular binary distribusions for Windows OSes are:
* Koepi's Binaries at http://www.roeder.goe.net/~koepi/xvid.html
* Nic's Binaries at http://nic.dnsalias.com/
.ASF Files [The Man, Keikai, ed.]
.ASF Files are the original Microsoft attept at media-rights control.
The codec used in these files is exactly (or nearly so) the same as
the MPEG4v3 codec. Windows Media players are able to play .ASF files.
It is also believed that the Linux avifile library is able to play
.ASF files.
Because of the proprietary nature of .ASF files, creating new encodes
in this format is strongly discouraged.
.WMV Files [Keikai]
.WMV files are Microsofts second, and much more successful, attempt at
media-rights management. While the Windows Media codecs are still
based upon MPEG4, converting from .WMV files is nearly impossible.
Windows Media Player is necessary to play .WMV files.
Because of the proprietary nature of .WMV files, creating new encodes
in this format is strongly discouraged.
11c. MPEG (MPEG1, MPEG2 & (X,S)VCD)
MPEG (including MPEG1, MPEG2, VCD & SVCD) [Keikai]
MPEG stands for Motion Picture Experts Group. MPEG is a committee
charged with developing multimedia compression technologies. They have
spawned many multimedia compression formats over the years. All
currently popular formats used in AB(M)A are MPEG-derived.
To quote the official MPEG web page at
http://mpeg.telecomitalialab.com/, "MPEG is a committee of ISO/IEC
that is open to experts duly accredited by an appropriate National
Standards Body. On average a meeting is attended by more than 300
experts representing more than 200 companies spanning all industry
domains with a stake in digital audio, video and multimedia. On
average more than 20 countries are represented at a meeting."
Because various forms of MPEG all used the .MPG/.MPEG extensions, one
must detect the actual format by deducing the format from the
information provided by a media player or through utilities designed
for this purpose. Technically, .MPG files are similar to .AVI files in
that they are also a wrapper format for the streams included within
them.
MPEG-4 is discussed in its own section.
What are MPEG-1 (.MPG, .MPEG, .M1V) files? [Keikai]
MPEG1 is the most widely accepted and compatible multimedia format.
Due to its age, however, it no longer provides a very efficient
quality/filesize ratio. In other words, very large filesizes are
necessary to create MPEG1 video of high quality. However, due to its
ubiquity, it is still a popular format, particularly when encoded
using the VCD specifications.
.M1V files are video-only MPEG-1 streams. They are not posted in
AB(M)A.
MPEG-1 files should be posted to AB(M)A's sister group
alt.binaries.anime.vcd (ABAV).
What are VCD (.MPG, .DAT) files? [Keikai]
VideoCDs (VCDs) were the first standardized format for multimedia
video on optical disc. While never popularized in Western cultures,
VCDs were very popular in Asia and other parts ot the world. This
format allows up to 74 or 80 minutes of MPEG-1 encoded video with a
single audio stream to be burned to a compact disc (CD). While VCD
players exist, it is more common to play VCDs on compatible DVD
players. The best site for information on VCDs is
http://www.vcdhelp.com/.
Without going into detail, the multimedia streams on a VCD are encoded
at a specific constand bitrate in MPEG-1. Furthermore, depending on
the region, the resolution is one of two sizes, one for NTSC and one
for PAL. Generally, the NTSC VCD format is what is found in AB(M)A.
These MPEG files, however, are slightly modified when burned as a VCD,
and to represent this the extension is changed. The MPEG file on a VCD
has the extension .DAT. Most media players can play .DAT files "as is"
or may require that the extension be renamed to .MPG.
These .DAT files can be properly converted to normal MPEG-1 files
without reencoding using one of several utilities:
* VCDGear at http://www.vcdgear.net/
* VCDEasy
* More to be added later
While there is very little difference between .DAT files and .MPG
files, it is the responsibility of posters to inform the newsgroup
when posting which of these two formats they are using. The easiest
way to do this is simply to leave the extension intact. It is assumed
that a .MPG file is a proper MPEG-1 file and a .DAT file is a VCD
modified MPEG-1 file.
A VCD .DAT file should not simply be renamed to .MPG before posting
without notifying the newsgroup that this has been done.
VCDs should be posted to AB(M)A's sister group alt.binaries.anime.vcd
(ABAV).
What are MPEG-2 (.MPG, .MPEG, .M2V) files? [Keikai, Ryan]
MPEG-2 is another extremely popular format worldwide. It is a
significant improvement over MPEG-1, primarily because it is variable
bitrate and allows for multiple audio streams, however, it has two
significant drawbacks. First, like MPEG-1, the quality/bitrate ratio
is not very good. MPEG-2 files are usually quite massive, but they do
allow for very high quality video as can be evidenced by DVDs.
Secondly, decoding MPEG-2 requires a license. Because of this and
because this is the format used in DVDs, media players that support
MPEG-2 are generally not available for free.
The following media players support MPEG-2:
* PowerDVD
* WinDVD
* (Mac Only) Quicktime w/ MPEG-2 Playback Component ($19.95 from
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/products/mpeg2playback/)
* More to be added later
Because these players (as well as MPEG-2 encoding programs) often
install a MPEG-2 codec on a system, it is then often possible to play
MPEG-2 files using normal media players with some or all of the
capabilities of that program. Often, however, there will be quality
and/or seeking problems when doing this.
.M2V files are video-only MPEG-2 streams. They are not posted in
AB(M)A.
MPEG-2 files should be posted to AB(M)A's sister group
alt.binaries.anime.vcd (ABAV).
What are SVCD (.MPG) files? [Keikai]
Super VideoCDs (SVCDs) are an extension of the VCD format to allow for
MPEG-2 and all of its advantages. They, however, are still burned to
CDs and therefore, because the media files are larger, fit even less
duration to each CD. Therefore you have a maximum potential of 74 or
80 minutes of multimedia on a SVCD, but it will typically be between
50-60 minutes.
Like VCDs, the MPEG data on SVCDs has specific restrictions that it
must follow, resolution in particular. The best site for information
on SVCDs is http://www.vcdhelp.com/. SVCDs find slightly less support
by standalone DVD players.
Most MPEG-2 files posted to the anime usenet groups meet the SVCD
restrictions and therefore can be burned as SVCDs using the proper
burning software.
SVCDs should be posted to AB(M)A's sister group alt.binaries.anime.vcd
(ABAV).
What are XVCDs, XSVCDs, CVDs, and miniDVDs? [Keikai]
These uncommon MPEG formats are best described at
http://www.vcdhelp.com/. They are not generally posted to the anime
usenet groups but, if they were to be, should be posted to AB(M)A's
sister group alt.binaries.anime.vcd (ABAV).
What are image (.BIN, etc.) files? [Keikai, Gorunova, ed.]
Image files are not a multimedia compression standard, but are instead
a file containing the exact or near-exact data from a CD or DVD.
Because (S)VCDs and DVDs contain other data besides simple the
multimedia files, posting simply the MPEG file will leave out some
other experiences, such as menus and "extras". Because of this,
occasionally images of the original CD is posted to usenet. This is
not common nor especially recommended because many AB(M)A denizens are
not equiped to easily deal with these. In cases when it is
appropriate, however, VCD and SVCD images should be posted to AB(M)A's
sister group alt.binaries.anime.vcd (ABAV).
DVD Images must NEVER be posted to AB(M)A, ABAV, or ABMAR. DVDs or
their contained MPEG-2 files must be reencoded to a more efficient and
bandwidth friendly format before posting.
Generally, image files are burned directly to CDs through the use of a
burning program such as CDRWin or Nero.
It is possible to extract files out of an image file with CDMage,
ISOBuster, or VCDGear (http://www.vcdgear.net).
Macintosh-Specific Information [Gorunova, xo, Yugo Nada, ed.]
Macs may need the MPG Quicktime extension to play MPEG files.
While it is less of a problem with more recent versions of MacOS, .DAT
files may not play properly. If so, use VCDGear
(http://www.vcdgear.net) to convert the .DAT into a proper .MPG. .DAT
incompatibility seems to have to do with the video hardware on the
system.
Linux/*NIX-Specific Information [Original, TheMan, ed.]
For Linux, check
http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/research/mpeg/mpeg_encode.html for Berkeley
MPEG Tools. Encodes and Plays. Many other utlities out there. Check
freshmeat.net. [TheMan]
Also, see mpegTV - http://www.mpegtv.com/download.html
Unfortunately it requires a $10 for the "full-featured" version,
although a free version is available. The free version includes a
time-limited demo of the "full-featured" version (mtv), *AND* includes
a unlimited command line version (mtvp). It can play in regular size,
zoomed, and FULL screen. It even plays the Tylor movie mpeg that many
where unable to play, and VCD (/dev/cdrom, or set by environment
variable). Biggest difference in the 2 versions is the availability of
a GUI interface to the registered version, fine tuning video,
tracking, and fine tuning audio.
11d. RealMedia
RealMedia (.RM) Format [Keikai, Jonah]
The official RealMedia site is http://www.real.com. RealPlayer, the
primary media player for RealMedia files, is available for free.
RealMedia provides excellent multimedia compression. It is especially
good at low bitrate and low resolution encodes. Its advantages
diminish with higher bitrates and resolutions, and therefore, this
format has fallen into disfavor in AB(M)A.
The primary disadvantage to the RealMedia format, however, is that it
is a "dead-end format". There is no direct method of converting
RealMedia files into other formats.
Another significant disadvantage is that RealPlayer is required to be
installed on systems in order to play this format. While RealPlayer in
some form or another is available for most common operating systems,
it is known to occasionally cause system-wide compatibility problems.
Because of the proprietary nature of RealMedia (.RM) files, creating
new encodes in this format is strongly discouraged.
Information on Linux/*NIX-specific versions can be found at
http://forms.real.com/real/player/unix/unix.html.
RealText section [Moomoo, ed.]
RealText is a simple way of subtitling RealMedia files. Instead of
adding subtitles directly to the video, however, RealText subs are
played in a separate panel at the same time as the video.
A posting of RealText subtitleded video would consist of 3 files:
* Multimedia file (.rm extension)
* RealText subtitles file (.rt extension)
* Synchronization file (.smil extension)
To watch a RealText subbed anime, open the .smil file using RealPlayer
instead of the .rm file
In order to write subtitles in the RealText format, there is a good
explanation and a tutorial at
http://www.lunaarts.com/realtext/index.html.
11e. Audio
*** This section not written yet ***
11f. Linux Notes
This section (and all Linux-related information) is scheduled to be updated
for the next revision.
Operating Specific File Format information - LINUX/*NIX [darkwire, ed.]
MPEG4v3 and most new AVI wrapped codes won't run under Linux, and
neither will ASF.
Solutions:
Mpeg-1/Rm will play under Linux, requires (glibc2 / libc.so.6)
* Smpeg + SDL - http://www.lokigames.com/development/smpeg.php3
* RealPlayerG2 Beta - http://www.real.com
it's listed as beta under the other regular players on the same
page
* Xanim - http://xanim.va.pubnix.com/home.html
Can play some older AVI and QT formats natively, currently looks
un-maintained
For playing ASF / AVI latest / or latest crap codec from MS
* VMware http://www.vmware.com/download/download_linux_pre.html
Virtual Machine x86, can install windows 9x, NT, 2k, whatever =)
then install the same tools as if under a real windows sessions.
This requires some change in perception, between real machine and
virtualized machine
AVI/ASF/WMV/DivX ;-) and Mpeg
Initial infos, getting these libraries and players up and running will
pretty much play I would say abt 95% of the files out there, including
AVI's with SMI files (RTFM for that), there are always a few
jackass'es that screw it up the encoding so bad it only plays on
windows though, albeit quite rare. DAT files are also kind of tricky,
esp if they arent burnt onto a CD unfortunately.
How-to get these working:
1. Build/Compile the following 2 libraries IN ORDER, or use a
prepackaged version.
+ ** If you are somewhat good at *nix, I would suggest
*COMPILING* these libs yourself, since u can pass in
configuration options for optimizations, and it'll build for
your cpu as well =) *IF* you go with compiling then go with
compiling each package, same holds if u go with prepackaged,
go with prepackaged all the way, or else stuff gets stuffed
all over the place.
+ libSDL, Simple DirectMedia Layer (analogous to having DirectX
installed) http://www.libsdl.org
+ AviFile, the *essential* library, they also have a zip of the
win32 dlls needed at this site http://divx.euro.ru/
+ SDL Mpeg player Library
http://www.lokigames.com/development/smpeg.php3
+ note about using plaympeg with VCDs, use the location,
vcd://dev/cdrom:2, instead of a filename.
2. After compiling/installing these two, you will have a program
called aviplay, which can be used to play avi/asf/wmv, with pretty
much the same interface as windows, with the quality/color/etc
adjustments too. While plaympeg is the cheesy commandline version
of the mpeg player. YOU ARE DONE! =)
3. In case you want to be more adventurous and have a slicker
interface, get these 3 additional packages.
+ XMMS, X MultiMedia System (similar to Windows Media Player) -
http://www.xmms.org
+ avi-xmms, avi-player plugin for XMMS
ftp://ftp.xmms.org/xmms/plugins/avi-xmms
+ smpeg-xmms, mpeg plugin for XMMS
ftp://ftp.xmms.org/xmms/plugins/smpeg-xmms
+ note about playing VCDs with smpeg-xmms, use open location,
then type vcd:/dev/cdrom:2
+ MpegTV, original, COSTS $$ mpeg player, but it plays dats
straight up =) http://www.mpegtv.com
File Conversions and manipulations
Fixing and converting MPEGS in Linux
Grab vcdgear, its just like the windows version -
http://www.vcdgear.com
Typical uses, the "-fix" swith is optional, depends on situation.
* converting pesky dats to mpgs: vcdgear -fix -dat2mpg input.dat
output.mpg
* fixing mpegs that had bad frame timings and the such: vcdgear -fix
-mpg2mpg input.mpg output.mpg
Converting to Divx
Use the tools from the avifile package (avi2divx & mpeg2divx). Both
are lightening fast, compared to the Windows counterparts.
Linux mini-FAQ
Note: before asking, please run the program in a TERMINAL window, so
you can at least see the HELPFUL information that is being displayed,
at the very least it can give a HINT to the culprit!
How come when I load an ASF it takes forever to play or just freezes?
The ASF parsing code is Microsoft IP, therefore the linux version uses
the ASF parsing code reverse engineered by Avery Lee of VirtualDub for
Windows fame. His code will parse the ENTIRE file once before actual
playback.
I compiled avi-xmms/smpeg-xmms, but when I run xmms to playback mpg/avi
files it just opens the Open File dialog box again!
It is highly probable that there was a version of xmms installed on
your system before, and when you compile these plugins, by default it
will install to the /usr/local subtree, instead of the /usr subtree.
To find out where your xmms is, type
whereis xmms
If it says something like /usr/bin/xmms, and by default compilation
stuff is put into /usr/local, which is a different PREFIX.
Then /usr/bin is your PREFIX, see the question about compilation for
further details.
How come my AVI plays REALLY REALLY slow under avi-xmms?
Keep in mind that AVIs are still played through the original win32
dlls, therefore there is a small tranlation layer involed.
Secondly, the guys who write avi-xmms, did not implement the CPU
Quality slider, therefore it will default either to 1 (lowest), or
whatever was last selected when you played the file with the aviplay.
So to reset this, run the file with aviplay and set your preference,
and then re-run it in with xmms. This is lame IMHO, complain to the
plugin writers =)
How come I did everything fine, but AVIs wont play?
Most likely, the binaries.zip from avifile website where not installed
in the correct directory. By *default* they need to be unzipped into a
directory /usr/lib/win32, this can be change if you so desire as well.
How come everything plays except VCDs?
Either its a bad VCD, or the permissions for the cdrom device where
not set correctly. Type:
ls /dev/hd*
This example is assuming your cdrom is Primary Master.
brw-r--r-- 1 root disk 3, 0 Apr 27 1995 /dev/hda
If it doesnt say this:
su root
chmod o+r /dev/hda
Also if /dev/cdrom does not work, either link the /dev/hd? to
/dev/cdrom, or if you are lazy just say /dev/hd? instead of
/dev/cdrom, substituting the ? for the correct device letter,
typically (a-d).
I dont know a thing about compiling, but I dont want to use rpms etc!
First, use the rpms =), it makes your life easier. If you are really
insistant, here are the basic tips, please READ the INSTALL and README
files for each package.
Basic Compilation Instructions assuming you made it in the
subdirectory the package untar-zipped to.
./configure --prefix=/some/starting/directory
make
su root
make install
ldconfig -v
exit
You can leave out the entire --prefix line if you want everything to
get dumped into /usr/local, and this is where you can change it to
--prefix=/usr if you want to install into /usr subdir
How come you just talk about stuff from a Linux point of view, when there
are many other *nixes?
A majority if not all these packages, are capable of being
cross-compiled over most popular unices, and they are even capable of
being compiled under Windows.
12. My server is missing files! What can I do?
News Servers
Why are so many parts missing? Everything is incomplete! [Original
Contributors, Keikai, Tekra, Spider-Man, ed.]
Most posts are done properly and propogate to news servers in their
entirety. If a user is experiencing many missing parts, especially
amongst posts from different posters, it is almost certainly the fault
of their news server. ISP (Internet Service Provider) news servers are
notoriously bad.
The best solution is to spend money to subscribe to a premium news
server. See alt.binaries.news-server-comparison for more extensive
information. A majority of regular AB(M)A users subscribe to at least
one commercial news service outside of whatever is provided by their
ISP.
Important terms to know in regards to the quality of a news server
are:
* Retention - This indicates how long usenet articles are held on
the server before "expiring". Usually binary articles are retained
for a much shorter duration than the much smaller text articles.
It is typical for different newsgroups on the same news server to
have different retentions.
* Completeness - This indicates how many properly posted articles
get dropped accidentally or never arrive. Even the best news
server will sometimes not receive an article simply due to the
nature of usenet. However, some news servers are very bad about
losing or never receiving a significant percentage of articles.
* Quota - Most commercial news servers (and many ISP news servers)
assign a quota to account holders. This is the amount of data that
can be downloaded from the news server over a specified period of
time. (e.g. EasyNews' normal plan has a 6GB/month quota, which
means between "anniversary dates" that are one month apart, only
6GB of data can be downloaded. Access to further downloading will
be denied at that point.)
* Throughput Cap - Some servers, instead of assigning a quota,
assign a throughput cap. This constricts the amount of data that
is sent as it is being sent. (e.g. Newscene had a plan that
allowed two connections to the server each capped at 8kB/s
allowing a potential for constantly downloading at 16kB/s.)
Popular commercial news servers include:
* EasyNews (http://www.easynews.com/) - Without a doubt, EasyNews is
the king of retention. Very good completeness can be found with
them as well.
* GigaNews (http://www.giganews.com/) - Often considered one of the
"Big 2" with EasyNews. Reportedly has very good completeness and
retention.
* Newscene (http://www.newscene.com/) - Decent retention. Very good
completeness.
* Airnews (http://www.airnews.com/)
* Newsguy (http://www.newsguy.com/) - Short retention. Very good
completeness.
* others to be added later
There are sometimes free, open news servers available around the
internet. This is not a good solution, however. AB(M)A are very high
volume newsgroups. Open news servers usually cannot handle the large
volume for long. Chances are if you find an open news server it will
either go down, or be closed not long afterwards. For more information
on where to find open news servers, see alt.free.newsservers. The
NewsPro (http://www.usenetopia.com/) news client has a utility
built-in to locate open news servers. Recently, it has become nearly
impossible to locate usable free news servers that carry binary
groups.
http://freenews.maxbaud.net/ has a searchable system for finding free
news servers. One caveat, however, is that the "Commercial News
Servers" section on that site pushes "usenet-access.com", which has
been found to be a poor news service by some users.
A Usenet newsgroups service and newsgroups search engine is available
at http://www.spidernews.com.
Special section for @home peeps [Original contributors, Firecaster]
The following 3 servers are particularly reliable in terms of new
posts and completeness.
* news.rdc1.on.home.com
* news.rdc1.sfba.home.com
* news.rdc1.sdca.home.com
The following 2 servers have much longer retention time (5-6 days)
than others:
* news.rdc1.tx.home.com
* news.kenner1.la.home.com
@home users are lucky in that they (unofficially) get access to ALL
@home news servers. Access to servers other than your default one is
throttled - you can only open about 5 connections to each one, and the
data rate on each one is limited - but it's still a very useful way to
look for missing parts. There is a list of @home servers that
occasionally gets posted. Ask for it if you can't find it with a web
search.
If you are willing to make the effort to check three or four
high-retention servers, you will probably end up making about 4 or 5
times fewer fill/repost requests. It's polite to make a reasonable
effort to find the files yourself before imposing on someone to repost
them for you.
news.rdc1.sfba.home.com doesn't seem to exist anymore as a result of
the @home bankruptcy. news.rdc1.sdca.home.com doesn't seem to allow
connections from "outside" @home/ex-@home servers anymore.
13. Where was that software again?
This section collects the download information for the software
mentioned in this FAQ. Note some of these URLs may be out of date. If
nothing shows up, try a web search.
Tools
QuickSFV
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Mouse/4668/
RAR
http://www.rarsoft.com (for Windows and some other OSes)
http://macrar.free.fr (for Macs)
Mac DAT->MPG convertor
http://www.versiontracker.com
Berkeley MPEG tools for Linux
http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/research/mpeg/mpeg_encode.html
VCDgear
http://www.vcdgear.com/
MpegJoin
http://extra.newsguy.com/~theprof/Readme.html
AVI/DIVX convertor
http://members.xoom.com/cheekyb0y/ac3decode.html
VirtualDub
http://www.geocities.com/virtualdub/index.html
V-dub filters
http://www.geocities.com/virtualdub/virtualdub_filters.html
GrabIt
http://www.shemes.com/grabit/
Newsreaders
Agent & Free Agent
http://www.forteinc.com
NewsGrabber
http://www.news-grabber.com
Xnews
http://xnews.newsguy.com/
PAN
http://www.superpimp.org/
Posting programs
PowerPost
http://www.cosmicwolf.com/
AgentPost
http://www.skuz.net/madhat/
Video players
RealPlayer
http://www.real.com
MpegTV viewer for Linux
http://www.mpegtv.com/download.html
DIVX/ASF player for Linux
http://divx.euro.ru/
Xanim
http://xanim.va.pubnix.com/home.html
Codecs etc
Mpeg4 support for Windows
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/en/technologies/tools.asp#Downloads
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/en/default.asp
Mpeg4 support for Mac
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer/en/download/macintosh.asp
Hacked DivX codec
http://divx.ctw.cc
Smpeg codec for Linux
http://www.lokigames.com/development/smpeg.php3
14. Appendices
Batch file for deleting trailing underscore: [inc]
Here's what the bat I have used for quite awhile. Note, it is pointing
to the directory where Agent puts the anime parts I dl - change to
suit yourself:
DEL_UNDL.BAT
c:
cd \media\anime
ren *.???_ *.???
If you want to go to different directories it would be easy enough to
change the path to a parameter ( %1 ) that you could pass within the
Shortcut, one for each directory you use.
The only bug is if you try to rename to an already existing name, the
bat aborts entirely.
Also, the whole thing can be one statement if you prefer (and with the
variable):
ren c:\media\anime\*.???_ *.???
or
ren %1\*.???_ *.???
called like:
DEL_UNDL. c:\media\anime
Files rename under *nix [Astrogeek]
Most MS Windows users take for granted the GUI's ability to easily
deal with any kind of file name. Basically, what you see on the screen
doesn't really matter as long as you know what it is... click-click,
done. However, when posting to any forum in which interaction with
other operating systems is a possibility, the use of more standard
filenames should be considered. For example:
[Anime Group] Kewl Anime.rar
Looks just like that on a UN*X directory listing, for example. But it
must be referred to as follows from the shell:
user@puter:/animeDL$ \[Anime\ Group\]\ Kewl\ Anime.rar
Not pretty, and definitely not easy to type quickly in a shell without
TAB completion. In addition, when attempting to uncompress these
files, the following error results:
user@puter:/animeDL$ unrar e \[Anime\ Group\]\ Kewl\ Anime.rar
UNRAR 2.50 freeware Copyright (c) 1993-99 Eugene Roshal No files to
extract user@puter:/animeDL$ _
In my experience, filenames with brackets, braces, non-English
characters, and funky stuff in general do not work with the command
line unrar utility. Since RAR is the compression format used in
alt.binaries.*.anime, and the command line unrar utility is the only
native method for unarchiving these files under Linux/UN*X AFAIK...you
get the idea. These files must be renamed to be used.
To summarize:
* [K-Rad Gruppe] Killer Anime.rar = YUCK
* K-Rad Gruppe Killer Anime.rar = *COUGH* (but it works)
* KRG_KillerAnime.rar = better
* krg_killeranime.rar = even better (if you're super nice :-))
* krgkanim.rar = 8.3 format, the best compatability. Any OS that
_requires_ this format probably cannot view your files
anyway...this may be redundant.
Filenames _within_ the RAR files are another issue. I have not yet run
into problems with any software besides unrar. However, if you want to
be nice, it probably wouldn't kill anybody if you used a clean
filename.
Windows and Linux/UN*X users CAN get along if we just try a little bit
:-) (PLUG) Please use DivX ;-) and not patented MS codecs! (END_PLUG)
14a. About the Annotated FAQ
The annotated version of the ABMA/ABA faq was inspired by the PHP
Manual.
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14b. Mirroring the FAQ
Mirroring The FAQ
The FAQ is available in various forms from this site
(http://abma.x-maru.org/faq/annotated/). The primary (annotated)
version is database-driven so is not amendable to mirroring at this
time. However, two other versions are more mirror-friendly.
The Plain HTML Version
The plain HTML version is available at
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Announcing your mirror
If you would like to announce your mirror, submit a note on the
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