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ratDVD is top story at News.com
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arisia
Junior Member
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3. June 2005 @ 12:38 |
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Seems hollywood has a problem...
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I hate titles
35 product reviews
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3. June 2005 @ 13:17 |
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And they're linking to us, which is nice ;-)
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MHopcroft
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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3. June 2005 @ 16:17 |
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Being brought to the attention of a group that sues people for the most trivial of offenses is some strange new defnintion of "nice" of which I have been previosuly unaware. I imagine we can say "Thank you for giving the MPAA the ammuntion they need to shut down our site."
The technology does sound nice, but I'm wondering if we're heading for the day when everyone with an Internet connection is suspect.
Maybe in a few years the Internet as a whole is going to be shut down because of the MPAA and the RIAA. That is probably the only way Net piracy can really be stopped -- a sort of "nuclear option" for the entertainment industry.
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Staff Member
2 product reviews
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3. June 2005 @ 16:46 |
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Fortunately AD is based out of Finland, which seems to be one of the last bastions of sanity in the world of copyright law.
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I hate titles
35 product reviews
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4. June 2005 @ 09:14 |
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MHopcroft: vurbal said it already. Our company is based in Finland, where copying music/movies/books for personal use is legal (whether you own the original or not), breaking copy protections of immaterial you own in order to make a copy for your personal use is legal, etc.
Stuff like distributing copyrighted material without copyright owner's permission is obviously illegal also in Finland, so uploading/sharing copyrighted stuff to P2P networks for example, is illegal. But downloading from P2P networks is legal.
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A_Klingon
Moderator
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14. June 2005 @ 01:48 |
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It just goes to show you how perverse and warped the law is in regard to copyrighting, and what a quagmire it is currently wallowing in.
In other words:
*** It's against the law to upload/share copyrighted films.
On the other hand....
*** Once illegally uploaded, it is perfectly legal for you and me to download them.
So, one must first break the law in order that others may legally download *within* the framework of the law. (???)
(Hell man, I'm not even going to try to figure that one out!)
I'm happy to see that ratDVD has come to Win-2000 users now. As such, I have been tempted to try the software out.
But after going through the forums at cdfreaks as well as here, I discover more and more (and yet even more) problems with the software than you can throw a stick at.
This ratDVD encoding stuff is not for the faint of heart. Noobies need not apply. At first look, it seems like an awesome achievement! (An entire, fully-functional multi-menued DVD all scrunched-down into a single, transmittable, meta-tagged, picture-thumbnailed data file!)
In practice, things are beginning to look a lot less rosy.
** Crashes.
** WMP 9 and/or 10 not working properly, or not at all.
** Unacceptable pixellation/video quality.
** Extremely weak ability to de-interlace NTSC dvds properly.
** The not-often-mentioned necessity of installing 3 direct-show filter-replacements (ratdvd_filter.zip from developer's website) ....a) for AC-3 decoding; b) for Video decoding; c) for navigation within the file.
** Much more.
Opinions range all the way from euphoric to thoroughly disenchanted.
Just out of curiosity dRD, have you tried any rat conversions yet?
[Sigh.......] I *may* play with this thing later, but I think we need a few revisions first before this thing begins to take shape. Already the developer(s) are busily selling ratDVD merchadise (T-Shirts etc.) A bit premature, methinks. (Didn't DivX do this?) I don't exactly see DivX hardware everywhere I go, any how many years has it been?
T-Shirts and coffee mugs aren't going to make ratDVD a success.
-- Mike --
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Moderator
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14. June 2005 @ 01:56 |
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i tried it briefly, well for a few minutes. Incredibly slow to do anything after that few minutes. My machine should be more than quick enough but when i got stuff like DVD Shrink or Decrypter that take 15mins to get a movie to hard drive, until ratDVD can match that, for me personally there's no contest. Only time will tell, but what worries me is that it's surely coming at the wrong time, ie software that can potentially provide movies in virtually CD sizes, are no doubt gonna be stomped on by those greedy hollywood companies and the likes of FAST etc
Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS-WPA2/AES ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 3node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G2 v1. *** Forum Rules *** |
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A_Klingon
Moderator
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14. June 2005 @ 02:10 |
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Well, the overall processing time isn't a main concern for me, creaky.
I just got a new motherboard, 2.4 GHz cpu, 17" monitor and 200-gig hard drive 3 days ago. Nothing exceptional, no, but it ought to be plenty enough for ratDVD.
Maybe I'll try a *short* encode, but frankly, installing more ratCodecs (ratdvd_filter.zip) is not what I was hoping for.
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Moderator
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14. June 2005 @ 02:38 |
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i know where you're coming from.. but at least there's guys out there who will try it (such as yourself!) so ppl like me can sit back and watch the progress (or pain) other ppl have with new stuff
:)
Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS-WPA2/AES ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 3node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G2 v1. *** Forum Rules ***
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 14. June 2005 @ 02:39
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arisia
Junior Member
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14. June 2005 @ 03:02 |
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I don't understand what you are talking about. You haven't tried but you think it gives you too much problems? Well...
Anyway, just for your information, the filter are not needed - only if you develop a player and want to integrate ratdvd playback. See the ratdvd site:
Quote:
If you are familar with the DirectShow programming and want to integrate .ratDVD playback into your player, you can use this package of the three DirectShow navigation and decoding filters.
Everythig works fine without these filters. I never installed them and no problems at all.
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Moderator
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14. June 2005 @ 03:25 |
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don't get me wrong, i'm certainly not gonna knock it. I personally don't like spending hours copying or converting my films. I love the 15mins it takes me with my current methods. Just my opinion, i'm gladly open to other opinions
Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS-WPA2/AES ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 3node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G2 v1. *** Forum Rules ***
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milfzor
Junior Member
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14. June 2005 @ 21:17 |
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only thing about your "current method" compared to rat dvd...is like first off, if you DO actually crunch a dvd to the 4.7gb (well once this program will be able to properly spit out playable files over 4gb) the quality will actually be BETTER than your "current method" if you do DVD-9 to DVD-5 at least. Right now, my only real gripe about the program is the playback requirements...they are a little...steep. Once they get the playback requirements down SLIGHTLY (no, i dont expect it to run on a 400mhz computer or anything nuts) they will have themselves one HECK of a program.
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A_Klingon
Moderator
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15. June 2005 @ 02:37 |
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Quote:
I don't understand what you are talking about. You haven't tried but you think it gives you too much problems? Well...
Anyway, just for your information, the filter are not needed - only if you develop a player and want to integrate ratdvd playback. See the ratdvd site:
You are right, arisia. (I am still learning....)
Yes, installing the ratDVD software automatically installs the three codecs, but you know?.......
Whether it's related or not I don't know, but ....
Immediately fter installing ratDVD, I "lost" a critical Win-2000 boot-file (I forget the file's name). Win-2K would no longer boot.
A complete re-install of Win-2k was necessary - no option. Took a full day to put all my software back, configure and tweak-up again.
Coincidence?
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razmantis
Newbie
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15. June 2005 @ 03:22 |
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hey all, found your site and this forums by the news.com article and just downloaded this software. I am currently converting a movie and its working great so far. Very easy to use. Sure there is room for improvement especially when it comes to speed, but nothing that is impossible to fix. For a first release this is quite an achievement.
A_Klingon, because you talked about the setup killing your system I got cautious, after all these are just some anonymous guys out there on the internet and who knows what they put on your machine with that setup.
I logged the setup activities with several monitoring tools. While the setup was busy it only copied files over to the hdd and registered some dlls. So whatever it was that killed your system, it wasn't the setup IMO. Don't be afraid to install it again, you are missing out on a nice piece of software for video enthusiasts ;)
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A_Klingon
Moderator
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15. June 2005 @ 03:57 |
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I appreciate the feedback, razmantis. :-)
Well..... 2000 was working perfectly. I had no other programs running (natch) and I simply ran the .exe.
You need to reboot of course. It was during the reboot that ... (I couldn't) reboot!
(I found the error message) -
"Windows 2000 missing file: <windows 2000 root> \ system32 \ ntoskrnl.exe", whatever that means.
It may not be related of course.
(No,no) I don't believe the good (russian) gentleman who provides the program is malicious in any way.
Maybe I'll wait for the ext version, though ! 
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recca421
Newbie
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25. June 2005 @ 11:53 |
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Quote:
You are right, arisia. (I am still learning....)
Yes, installing the ratDVD software automatically installs the three codecs, but you know?.......
Whether it's related or not I don't know, but ....
Immediately fter installing ratDVD, I "lost" a critical Win-2000 boot-file (I forget the file's name). Win-2K would no longer boot.
A complete re-install of Win-2k was necessary - no option. Took a full day to put all my software back, configure and tweak-up again.
Coincidence?
Yes. Did a RATDVD install on a healthy(ish) win2k system.
Didn't need to reboot when I installed rat, for a start.
System still boots.
Rat works fine.
Quote:
Well..... 2000 was working perfectly. I had no other programs running (natch) and I simply ran the .exe.
You need to reboot of course. It was during the reboot that ... (I couldn't) reboot!
(I found the error message) -
"Windows 2000 missing file: <windows 2000 root> \ system32 \ ntoskrnl.exe", whatever that means.
Looks like your kernel file got buggered. I have no idea why, according to everything I've looked at re: the install of ratdvd, nothing touches your kernel file during the install.
who knows what went wrong... I've had win2k installs corrupt for absolutely no reason whatsoever. That's kinda why I iope the author can get past his reliance on DirectSlow and make this thing Linux compatible. Plus that would let me use my slower machine for video compression and keep my fast one free to have fun on.
[RECCA421]
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 25. June 2005 @ 11:56
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A_Klingon
Moderator
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26. June 2005 @ 20:54 |
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Thanks for the feedback, recca.
Indeed, my problem turned out to be a faulty (supposedly NEW) Hard Drive. It was loaded with bad sectors. No wonder ratDVD "failed". (Nero-Digital too).
Just put in a replacement 200-Gig Western Digital drive ($149). I'll see what happens.....
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djbandit
Junior Member
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28. June 2005 @ 07:37 |
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I only wish I could just replace my Hard Drive if if failed all of a sudden ( God Forbid ). I have to do everything within my power to keep my baby from failing.
I tried the ratDVD program. Took me over 4 hours to compress a 4.5 Gb movie. Not sure if the fact that I had already shrunk it with DVDShrink had anything to do with it taking so long. My only problem, besides the time issue, is that I have yet to find a program to play the dam file, pardon my french. I have tried WMP9, ashampoo, zoomplayer, BSplayer, fusion media player, vlc, moopeg, Media Portal and even powerdvd and have not had any success. I have win 2000 so WMP10 is out of the question, which I believe is very unfair. So I have no opinion as to the quality of the file.
I do find 2 things to be a bit dumb if you ask me. First why not make a player for this program? I mean depending on other programs to do it for you and give people, like me, greef to play these files is just plain wrong. Second since they didn't make any player and this seems to be a very popular program with some pretty good results why have none of the creators of several media playing programs like the ones I mentioned before havent already integrated the extention to their programs and make the world a better place once and for all?
Sorry for my ranting, I get carried away easily.
What comes around goes around.
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arisia
Junior Member
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28. June 2005 @ 11:39 |
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What exactly does not work with playback?
BTW: ratdvd is only one month old and already 10 players support it. Sounds good to me. I am pretty sure soon all players will support it.
A quote from the rat site:
Quote:
Why didn't you do your own player?
I think there are already so many good players available and creating another one for just one different type of file would only be confusing. In my opinion it would be best that every player supports every format (that makes sense). I think with the components that can be found here it should be very easy for everyone to integrate .ratDVD into every player. So everyone can use the player he likes best and still have the advantages of the .ratDVD format.
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A_Klingon
Moderator
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29. June 2005 @ 05:49 |
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djbandit;
Like arisia says, ratDVD is (really) just in it's infancy yet. In time, perhaps not long, a dedicated, small, efficient, tweaked-for-ratDVD-files player will come about. In the meantime we have to make do with what (compatible) players we have.
Re: Hard Drives....
I'm very fortunate that I have three hard drives now. It's not a luxury anymore; it really has become a necessity. (Hard drives aren't very expensive nowadays thank god). My C:\ drive is strictly for Win-98SE ("ewwwwww!"); my D:\ drive is strictly for Win-2K and a few media files (why waste 80 gigs on just programs?); and the new 200-gig E:\ drive is *strictly* for media-file backups. (NO programs or OS's!)
If/when either of the two OS's buggerup/crash, at the very least I won't have lost my DVD rips. That can become expensive or at least very exasperating. Example: I waited almost SIX months for my local library to come up with Columbo's two boxed sets of tv shows. (Season 1 and Season 2). I had ripped them earlier, then returned the originals to the library so as to avoid late charges. But when Win-2k got fried, it "took out" the rips as well. (They were on the same HDD as Win-2k). I just lost 6 months of waiting and 2 boxed sets.
At least with the new 200-gigger, my rips will be safe even if everything else screws up. Box sets, when rented locally, cost $15 each. Expensive, to say the least when you're compiling, say, 24-years's-worth of Star Trek episodes. (Which I DID!)
The trick is (of course) to get the damn things burned to a DVD-R/+R as soon as possible.
Re ratDVD:
It's a novel idea! Unheard of (by me) up until now. But like Nero-Digital (a competing format), what, really, is the point?
You wind up with (hopefully) smoothly-working, good-looking movies which are much smaller in size than the originals. This is useful, of course, for folks with hi-speed connections who wish to share files on the internet.
But at home, for the most part, just as with DivX, you must generally use your computer for playback. Relatively very few stand-alone set-top players exist for any of these formats, and those that do tend to exhibit all sorts of problems.
And I expect that with Ahead-NERO's financial clout, you'll see a stand-alone NeroDigital player *long* before you'll see a ratDVD stand-alone player. (If ever).
It seems to me that both ratDVD as well as NeroDigital (.mp4) movies are going to be of far lesser importance as we enter into the new Blu-Ray world, with it's 25- or 50-gig-per-disc capacities. There'll be a whole new mindset when this format finally hits the market en masse.
For me, at least initially, I will be looking at Blu-Ray's ability to archive my HUGE collection of DVDs down to a far more reasonable size. What I have sure takes up a whack of shelf space. At first I won't be as much concerned with Hi-Defintion video as I will be in preserving my large collection on dvds onto the new media in it's present form. (mpeg-2 mostly, of course). I don't want to have to re-encode everything to ratDVD or NeroDigital or DivX or ..... Hopefully, the new set-top blu-ray players will handle mpeg-2 (dvd) video as well as the new Hi-Def stuff.
(And don't discount the importance of adding a new <cheap> HDD to your system!)
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arisia
Junior Member
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29. June 2005 @ 08:50 |
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Re: Hard Drives/ratDVD...
I would say the big advantage with ratDVD is that your 200GB hard drive can store about 133 ratDVDs (at 1,5GB each) but only 26 DVD (at 7,5GB). And normal DVDs don't have a tagging system...
Re: ratDVD and Nero/xvid/etc.
Ratdvd has two big advantages. It keeps the whole interactive DVD and not just a part of it. And ratdvds can be converted back to a DVD which makes it compatible with every player. You don't even have to wait for a Nero compatible player...
Re: BlueRay (or is is HD-DVD?)
Will be interesting to see when they arrive and at what cost. I expect to stay with HDD to my ratdvd archive. The price for a 200GB hard drive is currently about 130 USD. If a HD-DVD/Blue ray drive will cost about 600 USD I can get about 700GB disc storage for the same price...
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camar068
Newbie
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7. July 2005 @ 12:36 |
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Anyone tried it on a dvp-642 yet? Yes it might seem to be a waste of time, but I would like to have the menus on my compressed movies...and have multiple movies on one dvd.
'Maro
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