The Digital Video Resource FAQ v0.58

Q: Why can't I download anything?

A: There is no quick answer to this one. It might be a problem with the server, a broken link or who knows what. The movies on this section, however, are stored on three distinct servers. NBCi Sharehouse, Filepool, Idrive, and my private FTP. By breaking down these three hosts I can confront some of the download issues and try and improve your download experience:

My Private Server:  

  • Most of my movies are hosted here. I like this server because I am able to host large files on it and I know that makes a lot of cable and xDSL users happy. If you are on a 56k or ISDN connection see the idrive section below. 
  • First of all, the links change every twelve hours or so. They also go down completely for about an hour every twelve hours. The best thing to do before you download is to check the date on the update/news box. If it's today's then all the links are 100% active. 

  • I recommend you use Getright or any other download manager because of the constant changes in the link status. If you have already started downloading and lost the connection because of the before mentioned phenomena please understand that you can't just press resume and have it continue downloading the file. You need to go to the movie links on this section and copy the new url and then paste it into your download manager. It will still resume if you pick it as an alternate url. Please wait for an update (date on update box same as today's) before you do this because there's no point in using the same old links as an alternate link.

  • One other thing, the traffic can get really out of hand sometimes and using a download manager will ensure you keep trying even through the busiest times and finally allow you to download the file. You can recognize the extremity of the traffic on the server by the amount of time that passes between your request for a file and the actual start of the download. 

  • Please note that sometimes you might have to wait up to 5 minutes before getting connected to the server. Please also note that the server may be down for longer periods of time as well.

Idrive: 

  • If you are on a slow connection or My Server is too busy you can use idrive's sideload feature to download the file to your idrive account. The obvious advantage of this is that you can download the files even when my server is offline straight from your idrive account. The fact that you can download a 15 meg file in approximately 30 seconds is a great plus as well. One more thing: the sideload feature doesn't use your account's space, so it's basically unlimited. 
  • If you can't download a specific file to idrive that usually means the file is down and will be fixed shortly.
  • All other basic uses of Idrive use has been discussed enough and if you still have questions visit the main Imagine Warez FAQ. 

Filepool: Because I have decided to no longer use Filepool and only have the old X-Men Telesync hosted there there is not much I can say to help you download from it. Following the FAQ on Filepool.com might provide some assistance though.

NBCi Sharehouse: You can download the files in two ways. Logon to NBCi first and then click on the file link or click on the file link and then logon. Whether you choose to use your own account or the one provided makes little difference. You will be able to download these files either way.

 

Q: What is a VCD?

A: VCD stands for Video CD. A VCD is an ordinary CD with video on it. It contain up to 74 minutes(80 minutes on 80 minutes CDs) video on one CD. Therefore most movies are on 2 CDs. A VCD can be played on almost all stand alone DVD Players, on Playstations with VCD-addon, on Playstation2, and of course on all CD-ROMs/DVD-ROMs with a software VCD/MPG Player. The quality of a VCD is like a VHS-movie. Yet the video and audio is digital and in turn provides better picture and sound. The audio is actually a lot better than that of a VHS tape because it's digitally encoded. The video is stored in MPEG1 format and audio is also stored in MPEG1. You can find more info here

Q: What do the terms screener and telesync mean?

A: 
  • DVD Rip

    This is the absolute best in quality because the video and audio was ripped from an actual DVD-Rom.

A DVD RIP VCD SAMPLE

Terminator 2 DVD Rip Sample

 

  • Screener 

    A Screener is a promotional tape or disc sent out by the movie industry for various reasons. Screener has perfect quality (audio/video). Almost all screeners feature surround sound.


Titan AE Screener Sample

U571 Screener Sample

  • Telecine

    A Telecine is a direct film transfer. Quality is perfect. Video is wide screen most of the time. Audio is mostly Dolby Surround:-) 

  • Workprint

    A workprint is a movie that's usually still in progress. It could possibly be missing scenes and/or audio tracks but will sometimes even contain scenes that won't make it to the theater (e.g. diff endings and stuff). Audio is perfect most of the time, video is dependant on the original source, from awful to near perfect.

  • Telesync

    A Telesync is a movie that was recorded in an empty movie theater using a digital camera on a tripod. Video is from good to perfect. Audio near perfect most of the time.

Loser Telesync Sample

Nurse Betty Telesync Sample

  • Cammed

    This category represents movies that were cammed in a theater with a STEADY BASE such as a TRIPOD or a handheld cam. The audio of these movies were taken from the mic on the camera, and is usually very hollow. The video can be with a straight angle or slightly tilted. Due to the simply auwfull quality of cams you will never see this category here.

Q: Why do you only have VCDs?

A: I know that DivX is a better codec, yet new releases just don't come out on DivX. The first format a theatrical release comes out on is VCD, which is considered the highest quality for this type of release. You may sometimes find DivXs made from VCDs but they are not better quality and only outweigh VCDs in terms of their smaller size. 

Gladiator TS VCD Encoded Into Divx

A DVD Rip DivX is considered the best quality. New movies just aren't released on DVD though.

Dark City Divx Example

Tigger Movie Divx Example

 

Q: What is a VCDVD?

A: A DVD ripped into VCD format. The best way to rip a DVD is to encode it into DivX. Unfortunately this takes a lot of time and computer power. The easiest way is to encode a DVD is into MPEG. And a lot of DivX are ended into lower frame rates because of the time difference it makes when encoding them and  actually play worse than VCDVDs.

 

Q: What does subbed mean?

A: Subbed is short for subtitled. This means the movie is translated into a different language, usually Chinese. The translation is displayed in text on the lower part of the screen.

Subbed Example

Q: Why is there a Z at the top of the screen?

A: Whether it's a Z or a NB symbol or whatever, these letters represent the groups that released the movie in china.

 

Q: Is it possible to play DivX on anything other than my PC?

A: Yes! All you need is a TV Tuner Card. You can output the whole screen through your video out or cache the avi file. I will try to provide more info on this soon.

 

Q: After I download the bin file how do I...

A: Visit www.VCDHELP.com or a mirror of it at www.VCDHELPER.com for all your VCD related questions.

 

Q: How can I get the best performance when playing MPEG video on my PC?

A: The first thing you have to do is make sure you have the latest codecs and drivers. Installing the latest version of media player will automatically update your codecs. Your video card also weighs in heavily in terms of video quality. The amount of ram you have on your board will determine how good the video looks. For example: the Diamond Stealth 2000 4mb board gave very pixilated results and couldn't utilize the whole 16.7 million color palette; the Diamond Viper 32mb board looked amazingly better with smooth colors and almost no choppiness in full screen mode. DivX movies require even more video ram. Installing the latest drivers from your board's manufacturer will help to ensure you get the most out of your card.

The player you choose is really up to you. I use Cyberlink Power DVD because it has more features than the windows media player.

 

Q: How can I help?

A: There are many ways you can help:
  • Click on the sponsors every time you visit. The current sponsor works a bit differently than the previous ones. In order for your clicks to count you need to click on the sponsor and then click on the banners on the top of the Business First site. In other words you have to click once to go to the Business First site and then click again on the banners on the top frame of that site.
  • Vote often.
  • Upload a movie to a free space provider like idrive and E-mail me the link.
  • Make suggestions to improve this section and the site in general.
  • Report links stolen by other sites.
  • And report links that have been broken for more than a week.

The only thing that keeps this section alive is you, the visitors. Your support is the only reward that we get. There are a lot of people out there that hate imaginers because we take away traffic from their sites. To them all we can say is this: Please stop sending us hate mail or deleting our free space accounts. If you want to have your own warez site that's fine but please don't blame us for your lack of visitors. We work hard and earn the respect of the people. We run a good clean user friendly site. If you do the same we guarantee you that you'll get hits. And to those of you whom steal our links: please stop. Not only do you take away credit from the uploaders but you flood the servers with traffic that slows down the download for everyone. 

As always we thank you for your support.

Thanks go out to #vcdz4free and www.vcdhelp.com

im@gine warez © 09/19/00