Why WMV?? WHY!?!?

jade_eyed_angel · Post by **jade_eyed_angel** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 4:31 pm

Zarxrax wrote:I saw a question in the post along the lines of "why do people make their amvs in wmv format?" I didn't bother reading the rest of the post, but the answer to that question is, "because they make their amvs in Windows Movie Maker."

actually other programs make wmvs, too.. vegas can give you really high quality wmvs =D
wmvs play on almost everything, that's why.. haha

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 5:12 pm

jade_eyed_angel wrote:
Zarxrax wrote:I saw a question in the post along the lines of "why do people make their amvs in wmv format?" I didn't bother reading the rest of the post, but the answer to that question is, "because they make their amvs in Windows Movie Maker."
actually other programs make wmvs, too.. vegas can give you really high quality wmvs =D
wmvs play on almost everything, that's why.. haha

... You mean "everything that has Windows and the latest WMV codecs".

My main gripe with the WMV format is not its proprietary nature or its compatibility issues. Heck, it's not even video quality issues (because WMV9 can provide some pretty nice quality/compressibility).
The reason I don't like the WMV format is because it seems to be much less conducive to quick, accurate random seeking than the alternatives, and I don't know whether that's due to codec settings or the format itself, but.

trythil · Post by **trythil** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 6:11 pm

Scintilla wrote:The reason I don't like the WMV format is because it seems to be much less conducive to quick, accurate random seeking than the alternatives, and I don't know whether that's due to codec settings or the format itself, but.

Heh, if that's your only beef with it, I can make you hate just about anything modern by coercing codecs to use ridiculously high keyframe intervals.

jade_eyed_angel wrote:wmvs play on almost everything, that's why.. haha

No, they don't. WMV is a proprietary, locked format, and it's hardly playable on everything. They don't play on a default Ubuntu installation (patent issues prevent inclusion, and it's a proprietary format anyway), and WMV9 will not play on my AMD64 Gentoo Linux desktop (no native 64-bit decoder and I don't want to drop my media player to a 32-bit compatibility mode).

That's my gripe: I can't play it where I want to play it.

jade_eyed_angel · Post by **jade_eyed_angel** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 6:19 pm

hmmm yea, i guess i'm only thinking of windows and mac (or at least i know people who can play it on mac), sorry... but at least on windows with wmv you don't need to download codecs, and most people are lazy

Bakadeshi · Post by **Bakadeshi** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 10:52 pm

trythil wrote: Finally, (1) AVI is not a codec, it's a container; and (2) it sucks ass. Anyone in the know is moving to either MP4 or Matroska. If you want to know why, please ask coherently and succinctly.

more acurately, its outdated. twas good in the good old days, but just lacks the features and scalability of the newer mp4 and mkv containers.

Now if only micro$oft would include support for that automatically in windows, (or at least an easier method than trying to get Haali and FFdshow to work together) then everyone can switch to it without worrying about the newbs and computer illeterates being able to play the file.

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 11:08 pm

Bakadeshi wrote:Now if only micro$oft would include support for that automatically in windows, (or at least an easier method than trying to get Haali and FFdshow to work together)...

If the WMV format supports (or can be made to support) things like chapter stops, subtitle tracks, and multiple audio streams, I doubt that'll happen.

JaddziaDax · Post by **JaddziaDax** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 12:13 am

Bakadeshi wrote:Now if only micro$oft would include support for that automatically in windows, (or at least an easier method than trying to get Haali and FFdshow to work together) then everyone can switch to it without worrying about the newbs and computer illeterates being able to play the file.

Most newbs cant even get .AVI to work >.>

Willen · Post by **Willen** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 3:01 am

Time to go back to MPEG-1 .mpg files.

staces · Post by **staces** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 3:05 am

Okay. . .

Point #1
WMV files play in Real Player if you take a few minutes of time to download the little plugin thingy.

It also can play in other players, IE, my DVD playing program plays the files just fine.

Point #2
My sister is a Mac user, and the only format she can manage to get to work on her computer IS WMV, so I'm pretty sure that you could get them to play on yours.

Point #3
Dude, an ipod screen is like 2x2in or less right? . . . Why watch music videos that small in the first place dude?

Willen · Post by **Willen** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 4:52 am

It seems that most iPod video converter software can convert WMV files, although with varying success. I don't have an iPod, so I cannot confirm this but based on my forum browsing, it does work, sometimes...

staces wrote:Dude, an ipod screen is like 2x2in or less right? . . . Why watch music videos that small in the first place dude?

The iPod with Video's screen is 2.5" measured diagonally, 4:3 aspect ratio, 320 x 240 pixel resolution, which is decently viewable. Although my PSP's screen is much preferable at 4.3" measured diagonally, 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio, 480 x 272 pixel resolution.