Movie Formats

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Movie Formats

DivX/XviD

DivX

DivX is a brand name of products created by DivX, Inc. (formerly DivXNetworks, Inc.), including the DivX Codec which has become popular due to its ability to compress lengthy video segments into small sizes while maintaining relatively high visual quality. The DivX codec uses lossy MPEG-4 Part 2 compression, also known as MPEG-4 ASP, where quality is balanced against file size for utility. It is one of several codecs commonly associated with ripping, where audio and video multimedia are transferred to a hard disk and transcoded. As a result, DivX has been a center of controversy because of its use in the replication and distribution of copyrighted DVD's. Many newer "DivX Certified" DVD players are able to play DivX encoded movies, although the Qpel and GMC features are often omitted to reduce processing requirements. They are also excluded from the base DivX encoding profiles for compatibility reasons.

XviD

Xvid (formerly "XviD") is a video codec library following the MPEG-4 standard. Xvid features MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile features such as b-frames, global and quarter pixel motion compensation, lumi masking, trellis quantization, and H.263, MPEG and custom quantization matrices.

Xvid is a primary competitor of DivX (Xvid being DivX spelled backwards). While DivX is proprietary software, Xvid is free and open source software and, unlike DivX, can be used on many different platforms and operating systems.

x264


x264 is a free software library for encoding H.264/MPEG-4 AVC video streams. The code is written from scratch by Loren Merritt, Laurent Aimar, Eric Petit, Min Chen, Justin Clay, Måns Rullgård, Radek Czyz, Alex Izvorski, Alex Wright, and Christian Heine. It is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

DVD

DVD (also known as "Digital Versatile Disc" or "Digital Video Disc") is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. DVDs resemble Compact Discs because their diameter is the same (120 mm or 4.72 inches, or occasionally 80 mm or 3.15 inches), but they are encoded in a different format and at a much higher density.

All read-only DVD discs, regardless of type, are DVD-ROM discs. This includes replicated (factory pressed), recorded (burned), video, audio, and data DVDs. A DVD with properly formatted and structured video content is a DVD-Video disc. DVDs with properly formatted and structured audio are DVD-Audio discs. Everything else (including other types of DVD discs with video) is referred to as a DVD-Data disc. Many people use the term "DVD-ROM" to refer to pressed data discs only, but that is not technically correct.

DVD Video

DVD-Video is a standard for storing video content on DVD media. As of 2003, DVD-Video has become the dominant form of consumer video formats in the United States, Europe, and Australia.[8]

Though many resolutions and formats are supported, most consumer DVD-Video disks use either 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio MPEG-2 video, stored at a resolution of 720×480 (NTSC) or 720×576 (PAL). Audio is commonly stored using the Dolby Digital (AC-3) and/or Digital Theater System (DTS) formats, ranging from monaural to 5.1 channel "Surround Sound" presentations. DVD-Video also supports features like selectable subtitles, multiple camera angles and multiple audio tracks.

VCD

Video CD (aka VCD, View CD, Compact Disc digital video) is a standard digital format for storing video on a Compact Disc. VCDs are playable in dedicated VCD players, nearly all personal computers, most modern DVD-Video players, and some video game consoles.

The VCD standard was created in 1993 by Sony, Philips, Matsushita, and JVC and is referred to as the White Book standard.

Video CDs are authored (or "burned") using the Mode 2/XA format, allowing roughly 800 megabytes of VCD data to be stored on one 80 minute CD. (Versus 700 megabytes when using Mode 1) This, combined with the net bitrate of VCD video and audio, means that almost exactly 80 minutes of VCD content can be stored on an 80 minute CD, 74 minutes of VCD content to a 74 minute CD, and so on. This was done in part to ensure compatibility with existing CD drive technology, specifically the earliest "1x speed" CD drives.

SVCD

Super Video CD (Super Video Compact Disc or SVCD) is a format used for storing video on standard compact discs. SVCD falls between Video CD and DVD in terms of technical capability and picture quality.

XVCD/XSVCD

Designed to squeeze the most out of a CD is the DVCD or Double VCD where a non-standard CD is overburned to include up to 100 minutes of video. This format is seen only in China (although such titles can be found outside China, but they're extremely rare), and the DVCDs are playable on many DVD or VCD players though some CD-ROM drives and players have problems reading these CDs mostly because the groove spacing is outside specifications and the laser servo is unable to track it.

XVCD

XVCD stands for eXtended VCD. It uses a much higher bit rate (3.5 Mbits per second), so it is higher quality, but can't store as much on one CD. (Approximately one half hour.) It is not an officially recognized format, so it is harder to find DVD players that are compatible with XVCDs.

(x)VCD

There are many non standard variants of the standard Video CD. Those called (x)VCD and they supported by most (but not all) standalone DVD players.


Popular (x)VCD are KVCD (nothing more than a template for the ubiquitous TMPGenc MPEG 1/2 encoder), CVCD (a Spanish xVCD), S(x)VCD (a VCD but with vbr mpeg 2) and miniDVD. There is also SKVCD (or KSVCD) which does much the same thing as KVCD, but uses MPEG2 and adds some luxuries such as multiple audio streams and chapters. Some later flexible standalone players now support (K)SVCD, as the format has been endorsed by Philips, the custodian of all the CD standards.

Most commonly the players can have trouble with (x)VCDs.


SXVCD

Super eXtended VCDs are another hack of VCDs. They have the same bitrate as DVD (9.8 Mbits per second) and are read by most DVD players. The only major disadvantage is that very little video can be stored on an SXVCD.

CVD

The China Video Disc (or CVD) standard is a CD-based MPEG-2 audio and video format developed in 1997. It is almost identical to the SVCD standard, the only technical difference being a lower video resolution.

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Tag's for Movie Releases

CAM

A cam is a theater rip usually done with a digital video camera. A mini tripod is sometimes used, but a lot of the time this wont be possible, so the camera make shake. Also seating placement isn’t always idle, and it might be filmed from an angle. If cropped properly, this is hard to tell unless there’s text on the screen, but a lot of times these are left with triangular borders on the top and bottom of the screen. Sound is taken from the onboard microphone of the camera, and especially in comedies, laughter can often be heard during the film. Due to these factors picture and sound quality are usually quite poor, but sometimes we’re lucky, and the theater will be fairly empty and a fairly clear signal will be heard.

TELESYNC (TS)

A telesync is the same spec as a CAM except it uses an external audio source (most likely an audio jack in the chair for hard of hearing people). A direct audio source does not ensure a good quality audio source, as a lot of background noise can interfere. A lot of the times a telesync is filmed in an empty cinema or from the projection booth with a professional camera, giving a better picture quality. Quality ranges drastically, check the sample before downloading the full release. A high percentage of Telesyncs are CAMs that have been mislabeled.

TELECINE (TC)

A telecine machine copies the film digitally from the reels. Sound and picture should be very good, but due to the equipment involved and cost telecines are fairly uncommon. Generally the film will be in correct aspect ratio, although 4:3 telecines have existed. A great example is the JURASSIC PARK 3 TC done last year. TC should not be confused with TimeCode , which is a visible counter on screen throughout the film.

DVD-SCREENER (DVDscr)

Same premise as a screener, but transferred off a DVD. Usually letterbox , but without the extras that a DVD retail would contain. The ticker is not usually in the black bars, and will disrupt the viewing. If the ripper has any skill, a DVDscr should be very good. Usually transferred to SVCD or DivX/XviD.

R5

This is fairly new movie format. Basically the same as DVD Screener - this kind of release is legal DVD released in Russia to decrease the level of pirated movies in this country. Retail is rushed out by the studio, so there is little to no cleanup of the film after the telecine process. As a result, you can see some scratches, hairs or other mess on the picture, but you will hardly notice it while watching. External English audio is often used, as these are supplied with Russian sound by default.

DVDRip

A copy of the final released DVD. If possible this is released PRE retail (for example, Star Wars episode 2) again, should be excellent quality. DVDrips are released in SVCD and DivX/XviD.

WORKPRINT (WP)

A workprint is a copy of the film that has not been finished. It can be missing scenes, music, and quality can range from excellent to very poor. Some WPs are very different from the final print (Men In Black is missing all the aliens, and has actors in their places) and others can contain extra scenes (Jay and Silent Bob) . WPs can be nice additions to the collection once a good quality final has been obtained.

DivX Re-Enc

A DivX re-enc is a film that has been taken from its original VCD source, and re-encoded into a small DivX file. Most commonly found on file sharers, these are usually labeled something like Film.Name.Group(1of2) etc. Common groups are SMR and TND. These aren’t really worth downloading, unless you’re that unsure about a film u only want a 200mb copy of it. Generally avoid.

Watermarks

A lot of films come from Asian Silvers/PDVD (see below) and these are tagged by the people responsible. Usually with a letter/initials or a little logo, generally in one of the corners. Most famous are the “Z” “A” and “Globe” watermarks.

ASPECT RATIO TAGS -

These are *WS* for widescreen (letterbox) and *FS* for Fullscreen.