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Old 13th August 2018, 18:47   #13  |  Link
hello_hello
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Join Date: Mar 2011
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghitulescu View Post
MKV is a great format to start with.
The problem is that it is well-supported best on computers. Outside ther world of user intervention, in the true world of standalones, the MKV is poorly supported, at least in some killing-features I would need.
Every device in our house capable of playing media will play MKVs. Two 8yo TVs with built in media players, two Bluray players of a similar age, and the cheapest LCD TV it's possible to buy. It has a small screen, terrible black levels, viewing angles don't apply.... but it's built-in media player supports all the common formats including MKV.

Here's a challenge for you.... try to find as many current model Bluray players as possible (or current model TVs with built in media players) without MKV support. I'd be surprised if there's many, and I'd be astounded there's enough to prove MKVs are poorly supported these days.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghitulescu View Post
Would a "current-age + 20" old man have the abilities to set up such a complicated device and tweak it to play obsolete formats - he might need to do the same job again (reencode the material), and again, and again....
That's a scenario that'll probably only ever take place in your head
My 83yo mother can cope with switching on the USB hard drive connected to her TV, waiting for the TV to recognize it and using the remote to scroll through folders and select a video.
My Bluray player supports far more formats than my old DVD player, software devices can be updated or new players installed, and the next generation of players will no doubt continue to support the same formats as before. Well... aside from discs... as that requires a disc drive.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghitulescu View Post
Remember the DivX story? DivX was not introduced in the players until Macrovision took the steer and licensed it - the manufacturers were happy to pay the fees, because they had finally a set of specs on which they could rely, instead of a free but chaotic billion-branched versions of "free" Divx.
I'm pretty sure there's been non-certified DVD players capable of playing mpeg4 for as long as there's been Dvix certification.
Manufacturers can conform to the mpeg4 standard without paying DivX anything, and the early DivX codec (version 3) wasn't even mpeg4 complaint.
I think the profiles were a DivX invention, but they're subsets of the mpeg4 specification. No doubt Divx had some influence at the time, but I doubt things would have progressed much differently had Divx not been around to make lots of money using their name for marketing

Did Macrovision really license Divx? I don't remember that one.
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