comparison DOCS/tech/formats.txt @ 2767:812e60e913a2

fixes suggested by atmos

2766:49c31fd18273

       enables -ni option if it finds non-interleaved content. but sometimes
       the stream seems to be interleaved, but with bad sync so it should be
       played as non-interleaved otherwise you get a-v desync or buffer overflow.

    MPlayer supports 2 kind of timing for AVI files:
    - bps-based: it is baed on bitrate/samplerate of video/audio steram.
      this method is used by most players, including avifile and wmp.
      files with broken headers, and files created with VBR audio but not
      vbr-compliant encoder will result a-v desync with this method.
      (mostly at seeking).
    - interleaving-based: note: it can't be used togethwer with -ni

    Headers: AVI files has a mandatory header at the begin of the file,
    describing video parameters (resolution, fps) and codecs. Optionally
    they have an INDEX block at the end of the file. It's optional, but
    most files has such block, because it REQUIRES for seeking.
    Btw usually it can be rebuild from file content, mplayer does it with
    the -idx switch. Mplayer can fix broken index blocks using -forceidx.
    As AVI files needs index for random access, broken files with no index
    are usually unplayable.
    Of course, cutting/joining AVI files needs special programs.

    Codecs: any audio and video codecs allowed, but I note that VBR audio is

    Asf uses fixed packet size, so it is seekable without any INDEX block,
    and broken files are playable well.
    
    Codecs: video is mostly microsoft's mpeg4 variants: MP42, MP43 (aka DivX),
            WMV1 and WMV2. but any codecs allowed.
            audio is usually wma or voxware, but any codecs allowed.

    FPS: no fixed fps, every video frame has an exact timestamp instead.
    I've got stream with up to 3 sec frame display times.

  - QuickTime / MOV files:
    They come from Mac users, usually with .mov or .qt extension, but as
    MPEG Group choose quicktime as recommended file format for MPEG4,
    sometimes you meet quicktime files with .mpg extension.
  
    At first look, it's a mixture of ASF and AVI.
    It requires INDEX block for random access and seeking, and even for
    playback, like AVI, but uses timestamps instead of constant framerate
    and has more flexible stream options (including network stuff) like ASF.

    Headers: header can be placed at the beginning or at the end of file.
    About half of my files has it at the begining, others has it at the end.
    Broken files are only playable if they have header at the beginning!
    
    Codecs: any codecs allowed, both CBR and VBR.
    Note: most new mov files use Sorenson video and audio, they are
    patented, closed, secret, (TM)-ed etc formats, only Apple's quicktime
    player is able to playback these files (on win/mac only).

  - VIVO files:
    They are funny streams. They have a human-readable ascii header at
    the beginning, followed by interleaved audio and video chunks.
    It has no index block, has no fixed packetsize or sync bytes, and most

2767:812e60e913a2

       enables -ni option if it finds non-interleaved content. but sometimes
       the stream seems to be interleaved, but with bad sync so it should be
       played as non-interleaved otherwise you get a-v desync or buffer overflow.

    MPlayer supports 2 kind of timing for AVI files:
    - bps-based: it is based on bitrate/samplerate of video/audio steram.
      this method is used by most players, including avifile and wmp.
      files with broken headers, and files created with VBR audio but not
      vbr-compliant encoder will result a-v desync with this method.
      (mostly at seeking).
    - interleaving-based: note: it can't be used togethwer with -ni

    Headers: AVI files has a mandatory header at the begin of the file,
    describing video parameters (resolution, fps) and codecs. Optionally
    they have an INDEX block at the end of the file. It's optional, but
    most files has such block, because it REQUIRES for seeking.
    Btw usually it can be rebuild from file content, mplayer does it with
    the -idx switch. Mplayer can recreate broken index blocks using -forceidx.
    As AVI files needs index for random access, broken files with no index
    are usually unplayable.
    Of course, cutting/joining AVI files needs special programs.

    Codecs: any audio and video codecs allowed, but I note that VBR audio is

    Asf uses fixed packet size, so it is seekable without any INDEX block,
    and broken files are playable well.
    
    Codecs: video is mostly microsoft's mpeg4 variants: MP42, MP43 (aka DivX),
            WMV1 and WMV2. but any codecs allowed.
            audio is usually wma or voxware, sometimes mp3, but any codecs allowed.

    FPS: no fixed fps, every video frame has an exact timestamp instead.
    I've got stream with up to 3 sec frame display times.

  - QuickTime / MOV files:
    They come from Mac users, usually with .mov or .qt extension, but as
    MPEG Group choose quicktime as recommended file format for MPEG4,
    sometimes you meet quicktime files with .mpg or .mp4 extension.
  
    At first look, it's a mixture of ASF and AVI.
    It requires INDEX block for random access and seeking, and even for
    playback, like AVI, but uses timestamps instead of constant framerate
    and has more flexible stream options (including network stuff) like ASF.

    Headers: header can be placed at the beginning or at the end of file.
    About half of my files has it at the begining, others has it at the end.
    Broken files are only playable if they have header at the beginning!
    
    Codecs: any codecs allowed, both CBR and VBR.
    Note: most new mov files use Sorenson video and QDesign Music audio,
    they are patented, closed, secret, (TM)-ed etc formats, only Apple's
    quicktime player is able to playback these files (on win/mac only).

  - VIVO files:
    They are funny streams. They have a human-readable ascii header at
    the beginning, followed by interleaved audio and video chunks.
    It has no index block, has no fixed packetsize or sync bytes, and most