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Re: DU Updates: A couple of weird bits from Japan
08/22/12 09:13 PM
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Wow, such hate! 
Re: MP4 and various MPEG variants
This has been discussed many times. Heavily compressed formats and codecs are not suitable for several reasons:
- They don't support precise random access and playback modes. Good luck finding an MPEG player that can instantly skip forward exactly 30 frames, then play backwards at 2x, then 1x, then 3x speed, all at precise moments, without any pauses or glitches.
- One of MAME's primary goals is preservation. Using lossy formats goes against this, as it reduces quality and severely limits your options for conversion to other formats the future. (Think: priceless photographs archived as 256-color PC Paintbrush PCX format because it was "good enough" at the time.) If everyone just uses the lossy files, it's not being well preserved.
- The newer formats are heavily patent-encumbered. Even the "free" Theora codec has patents. This causes all sorts of licensing problems that the devs do not want to deal with.
- Disk space and bandwidth are going from cheap to nearly free. In a few years it'll be no big deal to push files of this size around.
This may be inconvenient for people who feel OMG MUST PLAY NOW THIS VERY MINUTE, but it's for the best.
Re: Resolution
720x480 is the broadcast standard, and most video gear works best at this resolution. Up or downscaling for display is simple, so it makes sense to store the original non-square pixels as-is.
Re: New format
There is an experimental format for Daphne and the Dexter hardware laserdisc replacement currently in development, but it's not related to what's needed for MAME and archival purposes.
However, I *am* hatching a plan to capture a much purer archival version of the video. I discussed it briefy with Aaron at CAX, and he seemed to like the idea, but I don't expect he'll be spending time on it. If there's anyone willing to help who's handy with SMD rework and/or FPGA programming, please PM me.
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Re: DU Updates: A couple of weird bits from Japan
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