Gaming Good resource for learning about video terminology?

[SifJar]

Does anyone know a good site where I can learn about video terminology? I mean things like bitrate, codecs, containers etc. I have become fed up with GUI front-ends for ffmpeg (which most video converters are seemingly), which I have found either slow and freeze-prone (SUPER), not easily allowing me to do what I want (Quick Media Converter), specific to one format (HandBrake) or simply not working at all (MediaCoder), and I want to start using ffmpeg manually myself (or write some .BAT scripts for conversions I do regularly), but its hard to understand what options I should use etc., so I would like to read about what the various terms really mean. The ffmpeg documentation doesn't really specify what each option does, just how to change it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Rydian]

Wikipedia.

No, I'm serious.

 

[SifJar]

Thanks. Any specific pages, or should I just search for the various terms I want to learn more about? (e.g. is there a page with a load of the terms on it, or just individual pages for each term?)

 

[JonthanD]

Wikipedia.

No, I'm serious.

I agree lol and it was what I was going to post...

To add maybe a bit more search for video on wikipedia and it will have links to things in the article leading to other articles.... I find more information that way by "worming" my way through

 

[SifJar]

Wikipedia.

No, I'm serious.

I agree lol and it was what I was going to post...

To add maybe a bit more search for video on wikipedia and it will have links to things in the article leading to other articles.... I find more information that way by "worming" my way through

That's what I did (and what I usually do on Wikipedia, whether I start out to or not

), and I think I've learnt a bit more than I knew before. Still, I'll need to spend a bit more time doing so, and if anyone has any more suggestions, please post them, always good to get a couple of angles on things.

 

[JonthanD]

Wikipedia.

No, I'm serious.

I agree lol and it was what I was going to post...

To add maybe a bit more search for video on wikipedia and it will have links to things in the article leading to other articles.... I find more information that way by "worming" my way through

That's what I did (and what I usually do on Wikipedia, whether I start out to or not

), and I think I've learnt a bit more than I knew before. Still, I'll need to spend a bit more time doing so, and if anyone has any more suggestions, please post them, always good to get a couple of angles on things.

I use Opera as my internet browser and one of the quick link things I use is Wikipedia, I know its not the end all and be all of information but when I need to check something quick and the answer is not life and death important..... It's "good enough" lol

I remember one of the collages put all the courses online... I wonder if they put up the media stuff... (checks)

Oh yeah here it is

it was MIT they put a lot of the stuff they teach online for free.

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/

I do not see any broadcasting or media courses though? Surely some of the engineering stuff has something on it though lol

 

[Rydian]

What the fuck is a codec?
*checks wikipedia*
"A video codec is a device or software that enables video compression and/or decompression for digital video. The compression usually employs lossy data compression."
Hey, "video compression" and "lossy data compression" are clickable... maybe I should open those pages in a new tab for a reference and further reading.
*reads down a bit*
Okay, so that's what a codec's job is. Now, let me look up what exactly video lossy data compression is...
*checks the page*
Okay, so there's lossy and lossless. Maybe I should check the intro of both pages to compare and contrast the two...
Ah, so that's the difference between lossy and lossless! Now I know why RARing a video doesn't do shit to reduce it's size!
I learned three things already! Let me click more links....


Like that.

 

[JonthanD]

What the fuck is a codec?
*checks wikipedia*
"A video codec is a device or software that enables video compression and/or decompression for digital video. The compression usually employs lossy data compression."
Hey, "video compression" and "lossy data compression" are clickable... maybe I should open those pages in a new tab for a reference and further reading.
*reads down a bit*
Okay, so that's what a codec's job is. Now, let me look up what exactly video lossy data compression is...
*checks the page*
Okay, so there's lossy and lossless. Maybe I should check the intro of both pages to compare and contrast the two...
Ah, so that's the difference between lossy and lossless! Now I know why RARing a video doesn't do shit to reduce it's size!
I learned three things already! Let me click more links....


Like that.

lol exactly like that.