🚀 go-pugleaf

DG is a mighty pirate...

>> Ha! You are mixing up container formats with video and audio formats
>> here! A .flv file can contain video encoded with h.264 and audio with
>> mp3 for example. So your player needs to be able to 1) know how to
>> handle the container format, and 2) be able to decode both the video
>> and audio the file contains.
>
> Wasn't it originally or even predominantly used with a codec those flash guys 
> bought from somewhere? Wikipedia also mentions this as a h.263 like codec.

Yes, first they used a codec from Sorensen and afterwards from On2. 
Since H.264 is also supported these days, more and more websites 
offering video use that. Now if only online video playback as proposed 
in HTML5 would take off, we could do without Flash altogether. I would 
cherish that day, because I hate Flash with all my heart.

>> Container formats like mp4 offer nice additions though, such as
>> multiple audio tracks in different languages, chapters or subtitles.
>
> At any rate, try and find a standalone DVD player that will play all those 
> weirdo formats. You won't. Only a HTPC will.

You'd have to be either a weirdo or a noob to buy a standalone DVD 
player these days!

>> Even though I don't like it myself (it used to have problems with
>> embedded subs used in a lot of anime), it is what I recommend to
>> everybody else.
>>
> I agree that embedded subs will slow VLC down way too much. Yet SRT's and dvd's 
> play fine. So it's fine for 99.99% of users. And it doesn't mess with your sound 
> settings like Microsoft's media player does.

Quite a coincidence that I actually saw somebody using VLC to play a 
.mkv file with embedded SSA subs earlier this morning. After opening 
the file VLC said it was busy building the fontcache. When that was 
done however, everything worked perfectly. Quite a difference from the 
VLC Player a few years ago that would show the letters all over the 
screen in random order.

It's still beyond me why people would use any MS product!

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