Okay.
So I am about an hour into downloading a movie from Bit Torrent.

I have had bad luck with bit torrent, so I wanna know exactly what I should do.

Right now:
20 hours, 25 minutes; 27 peers; 24.9kb of 709 mb.

When I look in the folder it created, I see files that look like "dvp-esotsm-repack.r00", and I have one named "dvp-esotsm-repack.rar". Having never downloaded something off bit torrent except a small program, what the hell do I do with these files? I know not to do anything now, but when the download is finished, what do I do?

Also, what does it mean when it says "54.0 mb up|26.5 dn"

ARGH, I'm a pirate in need of help!

I can help you on the rar files.

rar files are archive files (similar to a zip file) and the different file extensions (in sequential numbers) are called 'volumes'. the rar archive is split into these volumes, but it's really one archive. (so, to open it, you need *all* the volumes, without crc errors).

anyways...all you really need to worry about is, once your d/l is finished, install a shareware prog called 'winrar' (go google it) and use that to open the archive, using the .'rar' file as the one you actually open.
Then 'extract' the contents of the archive to a folder you specify.

hope this is understandable.

(oh, and btw, rar archives have nothing to do with bittorrent, it's a relatively universal type of file)

Actually, I'm running a Mac.
Damn, I should've mentioned that...

But thanks anyways.

http://macrar.free.fr/

Shareware, un Rar for Mac, hope that helps

I think my mac can handle rars...

Another question(question 2 of 10957349287):
What is seeding? I was reading about this on the bit torrent site, but I don't really understand it. On the site, it says I should leave the prog open.

Seeding is when you have completed the download and let people download off of you. The up/dn is how much you've uploaded/downloaded, you're supposed to get this ratio to at least 1:1, meaning you have given back as much as you have taken, although of course giving more is always a good thing. People who give less than they take are called leechers, and depending on the site that runs the tracker you can be banned from downloading off of them anymore. Suprnova is among the worst for leechers just so you know.

Alright.

More on the rar, when I open it, I should find my "file", right? Or is there a bazillion more steps?

Oh, and dont worry, this thread isn't just for the bit torrent anymore.

You see, what I wanna do, is take this divx "file" i've downloaded, and put it on VCD. I don't know what the file extension is yet, but I'll question further. Although, I would like some reccomendations for good easy interface macintosh VCD burning software.

I can burn VCDs without having to have a DVD-RW drive, right?

Open the rar file, and you'll see the movie file and possibly a .txt or .nfo about the movie. And yes, VCDs (and SVCDs) can be burned onto a CD.

Although if you're thinking that you want to watch it on your DVD player, you might not be able to. DVD players only support certain encodings. Just a heads-up.

Oh, btw, for anything having to do with movie-copying, DVD-ripping, etc. go to Doom9

once you extract your final video file, it will be encoded a certain way, using a certain CODEC. think of a codec as a set of instrutions, or an algorithm, that gives the video it's structure.

DIVX is a codec. It is NOT a VCD or a SVCD. There's a BIG difference. A VCD or SVCD (Super VCD, same as a VCD but higher resolution) is basically a video file that's in MPEG-2 format. Many DVD players can read this format, they'll be advertised as VCD/SVCD -complient, you'll know because they'll want to advertise this capability. Some DVD players however, DO NOT support SVCDs.

Most movies however, are encoded into DIVX format, or a variation of it. The reason is DIVX gives better compresion rates than an SVCD (a movie encoded using DIVX may take up 700mb, enough to fit on a single CD, while the same movie encoded into an SVCD format may require 2 CDs). Your PLAYER needs the DIVX CODEC in order to decode, and thus play the file. A standalone DVD player does NOT have this capability. Your computer has the capability to install the DIVX codec- so you can only watch DIVXs on your computer.

This is the problem with your goal of putting a "divx file" onto a "vcd". It won't work. In order to make the DIVX FILE into a VCD-format, you will need to CONVERT it, a very long process. But that's what you'll need to do if you want to make a downloaded DIVX into a VCD. Alternatives are to download the SVCD version (it will be larger) or to just burn the DIVX, knowing it will only play on computers.

Hope that makes sense.

(btw: divx's are usually a .avi format, while S/VCDs will be in .mpeg or equivalent)

What you do is..

Download CDRWin @ http://www.goldenhawk.com/cdrwin.htm

The demo is fine for what you need.. granted it takes an hour do burn a disc, but we shouldnt be spending that much time on the computer anyways.

I dont know if you can run in on a Mac, but you can always transfer the movie file(s) to a PC.


Ok, I'll get to the heart of this. After you have converted the movie file using Winrar you will have two files, a huge .bin file and a small(er) .cue file.
The .cue file, which you can open with Notepad, tells you how to set up/modify the burner so that the S/VCD youre burning burns perfectly.
If you dont change the settings around, you might come out with a bad disc.

What CDRWin does is changes all the settings and modifys the burner all by itself. All you have to do is load the .cue file and turn on some good music.

Ok, so youve downloaded CDRWin. Open it. At the top left of the little window, there is a icon with a 1/4 of a CD on it. Click it. Yeah, its at 1X speed because its a demo, but like I said, we shouldnt spend that much time on the comp anyways. On the left of the Record Disc window, it will say load cuesheet. This is the .cue file I was talking about, so go and find it.
If the .bin file isnt at the same place the .cue file is, go and reconvert the movie file so that both are at the same place.
Then, a few buttons down from Load Cuesheet, you click Record Disc.

Note: Alot of times when its done with a disc it will say there is an error. Often there is not, its just being weird, so go and try it in the DVD player before you throw it away.

if you unrar a .bin and .cue you can use fireburner to burn a vcd.

I use nero, but fireburner is a good free alternative. and it doesn't take long to do.

alternatively, you can use vcdgear to extract the movie file from the .bin and .cue....and it will get it done in about 45 seconds.

of course I'm speaking from a windows perspective. I have no idea if those progs are even available on mac. but that is the price you pay for using one.

Okay. Now I am fucking pissed.
So it finished overnight, and it seeded 1:1 like you suggested.

I clicked on the rar, but it says "An Error has occured while expanding the file. (Format Error)". It did create a folder called "dvp-esotsm-repack.1.rar" and "dvp-esotsm-repack.2.rar" and "dvp-esotsm-repack.3.rar". There's nothing in the folders though.

Oh, and then I tried using unrar, but it required me to use Mac OX 9, which pissed me off, but I kept my patience. I expanded or whatever, and it said "AVI Header Missing".

Okay, well I fuckin give up.

did you let the file finish downloading?

Okay. It's a good thing I had faith.

Here's what I did.
I found a nice little program called "Un Rar X" for Mac.
(http://unrarx.sourceforge.net/)
It handled the file GREAT, and logged the status of each volume file and generated the AVI.

Okay so now I have the file, but when I go to open it in Quicktime, it only gives me the audio, and say's that the right compressor could not be found. I have the divx codec downloaded, but it's about 6 months old.

Key, I read up on all that stuff beforehand.

Okay, so I need the proper video player for the avi, whatever program I need for burning it on to a VCD.

Thanks for all your help so far, fellow TFPers!

It might also be an XVID coded movie, which is just another codec. Go here

XVID Homepage

and download it, hopefully that might get it to work.

Actually, all I need now is a program to burn the VCD.

I looked on the other thread, but the suggested programs don't support Mac OS X.

Okay, NOW I need something to convert the AVI.

Here ya go

Edit: Btw, like someone said depending on your processor speed it can take a long while to convert, probably best to set it up before you go to bed and leave it over night.

Use this guide to convert your AVI to SVCD/VCD (very easy, but it takes a little while):

http://www.videohelp.com/tmpgencsvcd.htm

Yeah...

But I'm running a mac.

Sounds like the motto of most Mac users :D

Can they somehow ban people with dynamic IPs?

Not individually, but I've been to sites that would ban whole blocks for the actions of one person.

Okay, so any mac users out there got any info on converting a divx AVI into a MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 file?

That's all I need, and than I am set.

Coverting DIVX -> SVCD Guide

Download

It is a tremendous pain, coming from a mac user, although it is easier on OS X than it ever was in 9. Major's tutorial that Key linked to above is a good one.

Is there any real need to make the VCD? You're going to get a nasty quality loss probably as well as it will take forever.

I would just use the 3ivx codec (http://www.3ivx.com) combined with Divx doctor (will likely be needed to fix the audio in the AVI to make QT accept it) and play it that way.

Well, I didn't wanna store it on my HD.

And I was going to *ehem* lend it to a few of my friends for extended periods of time.