There is no doubt that Real Player has become quite a force in online video imagery. An alternative to the clumsy Windows Media Player and the atrocious Apple Quicktime. But they just pissed me off enough to blog about them.
My sister in law just got married on 08-08-08, and I watched the Vegas wedding via web cam as I was unable to be there in person. I watched it using Real Player. And rather helpfully, the latest version enabled me to record a copy of it for viewing later or sharing with others. Or at least I thought that's what it did. But it turns out the geeks at RealNetworks have been hard at work inventing yet another unnecessary and annoyingly proprietary file format known as the IVR (Internet Video Recording).
So while you can record those precious online moments, you are forced to only view them with Real Player and you cannot share them with commonly used online video services like YouTube.
WTF?
Why do we need to spend time and money inventing a special format that can only be used by one player? Why invent a format that cannot easily be converted? Why have a format that common video services online can't read?
But all their stupid time and effort was wasted. Because here's how to convert an IVR into a commonly used format in a few easy steps:
Converting an IVR file:
- Have Real Player burn a copy of the file onto a Video CD or DVD.
- Locate the .DAT file on the disc.
- Download one of the many free .DAT converters off the Internet.
- Convert the .DAT file into a far more usable and portable file format.
I don't know where these companies get off wasting so much time and effort when all it does is piss people off and within a few days has been figured out by some computer expert or hacker somewhere.
So that's my little rant. Thanks for wasting two hours of my life Real. Now please stop wasting yours with crap like this.
1 comment:
VLC! VLC! VLC!
:)
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