Why is it such a pain in the ass to convert real media files

[RaMDaY]

There's about 8 million programs that convert quicktime, mpeg avi and just about anything else so why aren't like only 2 for real media files? I tried hypercam and trina and don't work for me. Is there something about real files that make then so hard to convert?

[Sefy]

Nope, I doubt it's that, it's because like with ASF, RealMedia forbidts the creation of tools that can convert their RM format, and just like Microsoft who warns developers (example: VirtualDub and TMPGEnc) not to create any convertion tools, so does RealMedia.

[RaMDaY]

So if I went ok and made one they would like try to sue me or something?

[Sefy]

They would most propably do, if they catch you, I have heard a DOS utility called Tinra, whic is able to convert RM to AVI, but I have no idea if it is still being developed or how good it is.

[Greg12]

Real Media is a highly destructive encoding.

anything you can re-create will look like crap/.


MPEG isn't as destructive and is sort of designed for reverse transcoding.

[Greg12]

Oh, and Real Networks will allow you to develop a program to reverse transcode.

YOu must purchase a SDK liscene.

[MegaSilver]

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On 2001-08-04 13:40:05, Sefy wrote:
They would most propably do, if they catch you, I have heard a DOS utility called Tinra, whic is able to convert RM to AVI, but I have no idea if it is still being developed or how good it is.

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TINRA? I guess it's as good as it can be, for what it is (not very many features, but it gets the job done). If you want to use it, you should probably consider getting the GUI. Greg was right, though: RM is very destructive, as well as having a variable frame rate, so after you get it back to AVI, it's a real chore to sync the video and audio.
If you're really despirate, it's possible to output the signal and input it to your capture card (how to output it, I'm not really sure).

[Greg12]

I didn't have sync problems. It was just so blocky.

You output to VHS by plugging the RCA TV out into a VHS.

It needs ability to access compresion Codecs

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Greg12 on 2001-08-04 21:15:11 ]</font>