Annotated :: Single Page/Plain :: Text :: Notes | ||
The new home of the FAQ is http://animeusenet.org/wiki/.This site exists only for historical/archival purposes. 1. PrefaceThis 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:
Current Maintainers/Editors:
Past Maintainers/Editors:
Original FAQ Contributors:
Contributors:
Previous revision dates2000-03-11 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:
Older versions of the web FAQ are available at these URLs:
Other NotesContributing NotesUser 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 BoardA 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 RevisionMany 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 RevisionThe 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] Also useful sites: A list of useful links maintained by AB(M)A regulars is available on the abma.x-maru.org bulletin board at: 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. uuencodeOn 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 uuencodeHere'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. MIMENow 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-onlyThis 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:
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 FormatsWhat 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:
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 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:
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 FilesWhat 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:
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:
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) For the technical details (not required reading), read the file specifications
at 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:
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:
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:
What are .NFO, .TXT, .MD5... files? [Keikai].NFO, .TXT: .MD5: .MD5 files can be checked with md5summer from http://www.md5summer.org/ [kloug] .NTX 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:
Linux/*NIX:
Mac:
News Client descriptions and usage notesAgent/Free AgentFor 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:
ZeoNewsUsage 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]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]
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 PracticesAB(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:
To determine if and when an episode has been recently posted, consult the anime usenet logs at http://www.animeusenet.org/. Binary vs. Text PostsUsenet 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. GuidelinesWhile 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:
It is important to observe both the rules and the guidelines. Binary PostsRules
Guidelines
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:
yEnc:
Explanation:
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:
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 LoggingBesides 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
Supplemental InformationAny of the following information can be included as supplemental post information:
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 PostsFills RequestsAlways, before requesting fills, determine if the poster has:
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
Guidelines
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 RequestsAny 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 RequestsEpisode requests can be broken up into several groups:
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 RequestsSeries 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. NotificationsWhen 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 PostsAB(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
9. What software is good for posting binaries?Posting SoftwarePower-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 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 SoftwareMore 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: 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:
Determining the codec inside a Wrapper FileTo be added later11b. MPEG4 (DivX, XviD, ASF, WMV)MPEG4 Codec [Keikai, Netgear, ed.]MPEG4 is the basis for many of the most popular codecs, including:
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:
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:
.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:
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:
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. OBSOLETE INFORMATION:Note: the information below mostly applies to MPEG-1; see the section on MPEG-2/SVCD for details on that format. See also the section on the MPEG-1 related VideoCD (VCD)/dat/bin formats. Questions about mpgs [TheMan]Q. I don't like having all these MPEG parts of a movie. I hate having to watch 10 mins of video then having to open another file! Can I make a 1 big MPEG?A. First off, you don't have to join together a huge MPEG in order to play back a movie continously without human intervention. You can get a nice software player (haven't looked, haven't bothered), or get a DVD player software such as PowerDVD or WinDVD to do it. Both of those softwares support playlist playback. So you can queue up all those MPEGs and then just play them back. I have found WinDVD's playlist playback to be better though, with less noticable interruption during file changes. Some very smart people out there have figured that they can "join" together those many MPEGs into one by using the DOS command "copy /b mpeg1.mpg + mpeg2.mpg bigmpeg.mpg". This goes the same with trying to use WinZip to zip up all the MPEGs in store mode. What is the problem with this? It will seriously screw up the MPEG playback hardware or software because the I/P/B frames are no longer in order. Whats worse is, if you use WinZip to join them, you will have a PK header at the begining of the file. Very smart indeed. I KNOW Media Player can play them back fine, but thats because Media Player is very forgiving. Many other players and editors out there do not. Try sticking the "MPEG" into VirtualDub and you can hope it can crash. If you really want to join together the MPEGs into one, use a utility to do it properly. One that I know of is MPEGJoin, and that can be found at http://extra.newsguy.com/~theprof/Readme.html. Please ensure that when joining the MPEGs that they are the same in spec (bitrate, interleaving, etc). If you join together a MPEG of different specs, some weird stuff can happen. This utility will join together the MPEG by properly interleaving the frames so that it will be compliant to the IEC/ISO spec (whatever number that is) and thus players and utilties will be able to handle the resulting file with little or problem. Q. How come I can't play the MPEG I copied off of a VCD? <insert player here> other than Windows Media Player won't open it!A. If you copied the DAT file straight off of a VCD, and renamed it to .mpg, then that is why you are getting those error messages. Basically, what happens when you burn an MPEG as a VCD is the authoring software (EZCD, Nero) inserts/pads some extra info to the original MPEG on the fly during the burn. The resulting DAT file on the VCD will have a 10-30% size increase (bloat if you think of it). But anyway, because of this extra padded info, it can confuse a crappy MPEG editor or player. The best practice is to actually "dat2mpg" convert it so that you can revert the DAT back to an original MPEG form. You should *always* do this if you have downloaded something off the net (here on ABA or ABMA, or some site) if the person claims it was from a VCD. Do a dat2mpg no matter what so that you can check to be sure it is really an MPEG before you actually do something with that file, such as burning your own VCD. This util, VCDGear can be found from http://www.vcdgear.org. VCDGear 2.0, which was recently released has a GUI interface. While for some of you people who may prefer a command line interface, can use VCDGear 1.5, which was released not long ago also. LinuxFor 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. RealMediaRealMedia (.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:
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.
Of all the popular formats, .rm gives the best compression for the same length of video. There had been people who complained about lack of quality of this format in comparison with others, however, in the hands of a capable encoder with a good machine, .rm can be very good. Also, there are good reasons for using .rm:
Also, even if every posts are perfect, a considerable of blank cds will be needed. For instance, the Nadesico series has 26 episodes (standard length for most anime series), it fits on 2 cdrs when in .rm format. If it were in something like mpg it'd take maybe 8-9 cdr's. Now multiply that with the number of series that's been posted in the past, the number of series that's currently being posted... That's a lot more cdr's to buy. .Rm is a nice compromise between file size and quality. |