[ExtractStream] Wintel Codec purgatory

[Roger Merchberger]

--- David Ranch <dranch@t...> wrote:
> 
> >Install: netcat, splitstream, winamp, DVD2AVI, the VSAPI avi
> >converter, NanDub & TmpgEnc on the Winders box.
> 
> Wow.. what a mess! No other really reliable mechanisms eh?

Not that I could find... I've tried Adobe Premiere - it might be the
do-all/be-all video application of Valhalla, but I don't speak
Norwegian[1]... ;-/ Hmmmm... and the price...

Everything I've found that's cheap, free, or somewhere in-between
either 1) needs several support programs, 2) is buggy beyond all
getout, or 3) doesn't do a good [or the right] job.

Obviously, the first 5 proggies have very limited, specific tasks,
but they do the tasks well, and they're free. This I don't mind, but
it adds extra labo[u]r to the mix. Thank %deity% for my 100+ wpm
typing speed & a love of the hobby. [It really is a hobby! most
everything I'm SVCDing is for my wife - I'm the super-hitech
all-digital VHS recorder... ;-) At least it got me a Dual-Athlon
upgrade!]

Nandub seems to do it's job well, is relatively crashproof, and
somewhat accurate, but from everything I've found, it only does Divx.
I've also heard reports [that I cannot substantiate] that it's
somewhat slow. Those of us who want to SVCD proggies, need a new
tool.

TMPGenc is reasonably fast, makes very nice looking SVCDs if you
tinker with the settings some... but the video editing utilities are,
at best, pitiful [and crash so much you'll get a "Chicken Little
complex." Not to mention the "it only works for 30 days - you need to
purchase thereafter" and *no* way to purchase it. [2]

All in all, if it were easy, we wouldn't have been the [relatively]
first folks on the block doing it, tho... - in 10 years, VHS will
really be a legacy device, and those of us can say "we've got *10*
year old SVCD's we made ourselves on pitifully slow 1GHz machines
that took 9 hours each!!!" and look like studs. ;-)

And 10 years from now, we'll still enjoy watching the [comparatively]
crappy video on our 10-year-old disks -- because we did it when few
others could.

Enough rambling... back to work on the videos! :-)
Roger "Merch" Merchberger

[1] No Norse electrons were harmed in the transmission of this email.
Honest! :-)

[2] cygwin is my new, best, Win32 Buddy! email me privatelike if you
wanna know why... :-)

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