This page is meant to help you with our encodes. Last update: March 17th 2007.

--Before anything, make sure to just simply update all your codecs, links at the bottom of the page if needed--

Quick Help To Get Things Working:

One thing to remember, 99% of the problems are individualy related! We test all files for playback, and even though me make the occasional mistake (yes we are human!) most problems are related only to your system...

1. Check if the files play in another player other than your normaly used player. Good ones are directshow compatible like MediaPlayerClassic, CoreMediaPlayer, Zoom or using a player that has an internal version of the opensource libavcodec like VLC or Mplayer.  (Links to all these players are at the bottom of this page!!)
1. If the files play in another DirectShow compatible player, then something is wrong with your other player! Try reinstalling it. 
2. If it only plays in a libavcodec internal player like VLC or Mplayer, then you have a DirectShow codec issue my friend! Go down to step 3 and 4 for more instructions...
2. CRC Check the file, get RapicCRC here if you don't have a checker.
1. The CRC value of a file checks if a file is corrupt after downloading. This can cause files to either not play, or play improperly! We provide CRC values in every file we release for this reason, they are the  alphanumeric strings at the end of each file i.e. ED4B95AE. TIP: This is also a good way to search for files in the main channel, use @find with a CRC value to find a specific file, CRC values are unique finger prints to each file :)
2. If it is corrupt, DON'T delete it yet! It may be able to be patched, just ask in the main channel for a patch to the file and someone might help you.
3. If you still don't have a working file, or skipped the above steps, take the time to download the VLC player here and check to see if the file works. If it does, then you definately have a DirectShow codec problem. 
1. Begin by first re-installing all necessary codecs or codec packs if you use one for play back (like CCCP). FFDShow here or CoreAVC here (not free, but is the best) for video play back. FFDShow also has audio playback, but if wanted you can get AC3Filter here for an alternative to AC3 audio decoding. Lastly, DirectVobSub is needed for subtitle playback, get it here. You also need a Matroska Splitter, Haali comes to mind from here. 
2. ****It is my personal recommendation to NOT simply reinstall these codecs over your existing codecs. I STRONGLY advice you to uninstall each one, or the codec pack used, and RESTART your PC. Then, install each codec, or codec pack, starting with FFDShow/CoreAVC, AC3Filter (if using) DirectVobSub (VSFilter) and then Haali media splitter. This will ensure a clean re-install and has the highest rate of success. Also, if you want a true smooth re-install, then un-install all codecs on your system that you can find in the Add/Remove Programs window, XviD and any other installed ones that you can find, restart, and install only the needed codecs/splitter to run the files.
4. If after this you still can not get the file to work, then something out of the ordinary is wrong, and you can now take it to the main channel and ask. 
1. **Remember to be nice, patient and say that you have gone though our little guide here (otherwise you will get a boot to this page). I can not give an end-all to all situations here, but the above will fix 99% of the problems you will have.
5. Also remember, if all else fails and it seems not even Jesus could get the file to play on your system, then there is always a nice clean fresh OS reinstall that can do the trick. Our systems become raped and used over the time we use them, and can become overly cluttered to the point where they just don't work anymore. If all else fails, this may be your only answer, but of course only as a last resort. 

Some Things You Should Know About Our Encodes:

• Our encodes are provided in the Highest Quality Possible, relating to the R1/R2 DVD Quality
• With the majority of people now owning DVD burners, it's time to get with the times. 340MB encodes provide a better fit to DVD-R disc, so you don't have to mis-match files as much. We can also provide higher quality video, and direct DVD audio using the AC3 tracks.
• Not all encodes include text based subs, only recently as of Feb. 07 have we begun to add SSA/ASS/SRT subs. All of our releases do include VobSub subtitles, which are direct from DVD subtitles.
• We use H.264 MPEG4 AVC video encoding, for the Highest Quality video around. This is a more demanding video though, so realize atleast a 1.3ghz recent generation cpu is needed for full playback.
• We also use VFR (Variable Frame Rate) video to provide smooth video. To properly facilliate all the above, we use the MKV container from the Matroska project. 
• Audio is labeled within the container partaining to their language or origin. Subtitles are labeled according to the relative Audio track that they go with. This is NOT the language that the subtitle track is in. We do this for a few reasons, but one reason is that Haali can be used to auto load Audio and Subtitles based on their container lablels. A picture below is provided to show this: 

Useful Links:

Here I am putting the links to everything you can imagine about our encodes. Its linkage dude....

Encoding Guides, Tips and General Resources-
http://www.doom9.org - The Ultimate Resourse Site.
http://www.x264.nl/ - Home to the X264 project that we use. (also contains best builds of ffdshow, ect.)
http://www.matroska.org/ - Home to the Matroska project, container of choice in our group.
http://www.vorbis.com/ - Home of our Audio codec of choice.
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=96059 - Complete explination on MPEG4 AVC (H.264)
http://rapidcrc.sourceforge.net/ - RapidCRC, a way to check the CRC value within the filename for a corrupt file

Things needed to get working -
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/FFDShow.htm- FFDShow. An All-In-One Video and Audio DirectShow codec set.
http://www.coreavc.com/ - CoreAVC. The fastest most efficient H.264 decoder to date. It is not free though.
http://haali.cs.msu.ru/mkv/ - Splitter of choice for matroska and ogm files.
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/DirectVobSub.htm - Place to get up-to-date DirectVobSub

Players -
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Media_Player_Classic.htm - Get latest Media Player Classic.
http://www.corecoded.com/ - Home to my personal favorite, Core Media Player.

If you are having Sync issues, or shuddering, slowness in play back, try these:
NOTE: These players do NOT depend on ffdshow,Haali,or others to play files.
http://www.videolan.org/ - Home to VLC Player, an excelent player for both Windows and Linux
http://ftp5.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer/releases/win32/ - Windows Build of MPlayer (Linux player of choice)