Video Playback and Stuff

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DISCLAIMER: I have not updated this in about 3 years. The information present is old and outdated or misinformed. I'm also far too lazy to fix it so enjoy.

Assuming we aren't all totally devoid of understanding what media is, at some point or another, we will want to, yknow, watch media on our computers. Some of us do not mind Windows Media Player - fine. However, in the world of ever expanding and new and invigorating and intriguing algorithms to improve the quality to compression ratio of media, at some point we all have to settle for more... Or less, iunno.

Quite possibly, that up there was one of the worst introductions to an article ever, but it gets the job done. Now - to explain, typically with movies there is an encoded file in a container extension. Usually this extension will inform the viewer what the encoded file actually is.

For example, a lot of people complain they cannot view .avi files (not a problem in 2012, but it used to be a big one) and a lot more complain about .mkv.

.avi is basically the container. It can typically hold either xvid or divx encoded video. The quality isn't actually bad as people would assume, since a lot of avi files are labeled SD on the net, what it really is is that the xvid or divx encoding algorithms are... to say loosely, ill-defined. To get the same quality as a matroska video file (mkv), a .avi file has to be about 3 times as large (give or take).

As for .mkv, these are almost always encoded .mp4, or .h264 video. These are usually high quality - medium sized files, and often, people bang their heads screaming they cannot get them to play. It's okay! The options I'm about to present can play .mkv... And .avi... And basically any video you throw at them! There are literally tons of solutions to this playback issue, and a lot of people will cite off vlc immediately (found here) as the go to all solution. It actually works, but a fair number of people will look at VLC in disdain. There are a few reasons.

1) VLC runs well, but the video tends to be decoded poorly and suffers quality issues

2)VLC has very bad subtitle support - albeit it has 'improved' somewhat.

3)VLC does not support most filters that are arguably some of the most enriching assist to your eyes in the movie-going industry.

But in no way is VLC actually bad. Mplayer for Mac users would be my preferred option. Linux users, well hell, mplayer was originally for you as it is. PC users get a nice little gem called Media Player Classic Home Cinema.

I'm sure a thousand and one people are gonna applaud me for supporting this one - or attempt trolling a website with literally no comments section, it's okay, we get it. People like Media Player Classic Home Cinema. Why though? I can count at least on some quoting some obscure illegal torrenting website (Which I will say I neither support nor disapprove of to be fair) about how it's the best thing evar or something but when it comes down to it How much did those people really know?

An encoder who writes his or her own algorithms no doubt would know more than I do, but I can say I know more than the person who knows nothing. So why would Media Player Classic be so much more sugoi kawaii desu ramune! than say, VLC. Well you know those problems we had with VLC? Media Player Classic doesn't get those. What we do get though, is one stupidly confusing help us god interface. Now, if you just want to watch movies in .mkv, and don't mind a thousand codecs and filters piling into your computer, well, The Combined Community Codec Pack could easily have you set for life. By the way, that link will instantly start your download - and it comes with Media Player Classic - so you don't need to install both. I don't recommend it though. Most of those codecs will never be used, and although I support their project - it simply is too much stuff.

So what should we do then? Well, here's something interesting. Remember those encoding algorithms we were discussing? Yeah those. People have made the delightful discovery of 10 bit encoding. It's really just a prettier video with a better compression algorithm so don't ruin your shorts, but, that said, it is a brilliant piece of encoding mastery. How we should delve into this nugget of wonder however? Well that's a tutorial. A tutorial to be found at this page.