The other day I got bunch of media in the RMVB format. If you haven’t heard about it, it’s for a reason. By definition, anything that comes out of Real usually sucks. This format is no different. You know that your media format is obscure as shit if you can’t play it in VLC.
The only way to watch RMVB files is to use Real Player (which can be classified as “I can’t believe it’s not Spyware” ‘ware) on Windows or Media Player Classic with Real Alternative. I haven’t figured out how to play these on Linux or Mac yet, and I’m not sure if I even want to. I never want to see this shitty format again.
Why do people use RMVB? Apparently because of the “Variable Bit Rate” encoding, it produces a files much smaller than DivX or Xvid codecs. I have never really seen these files in mainstream use on US based torrent sites, but apparently RMVB is relatively popular in parts of Europe and Asia. Apparently people in these parts of the world, haven’t figured out that Real is evil and that it smells like ass and cheese.
As you might suspect, the “be all and end all” of burning software – the Nero Burning Rom won’t even acknowledge that RMVB exists. I successfully used my Nero to create VCD’s from AVI files, but the Real format would not work.
So I searched around, and I was unable to find a free and effective way to covert RMVB to some burnable format. Apparently this proprietary format is so obscure, and quirky that few people in Open Source community want to bother messing with it. Consequently, most of available converters are proprietary and non-free.
I started scouring burning forums, and found bunch of people saying good things about using WinAvi Video Converter with the RMVB files. Unfortunately it will cost you $30 for a license.
Now, while I do not endorse illegal file sharing, or copyright infringement, I will tell you that you can easily find a serial or a torrent for a cracked version out there. I’m not saying you should do anything illegal, but – you know. It’s out there.
If you work with RMVB files all the time, it’s probably worth shelling out the cash though, because the software works. I was able to convert all my files into a DVD format, and burned them without any problems. The sound was a little poor, but then again, that might have been just the RMVB quality.
[tags]rmvb, real, real player, real alternative, winavi, dvd, burning, vcd, media[/tags]
While i would normally agree that ANYTHING that comes out of Real is concentrated evil, i think you’re a bit too critical of rmvb.
“but apparently RMVB is relatively popular in parts of Europe and Asia. Apparently people in these parts of the world, haven’t figured out that Real is evil and that it smells like ass and cheese.”
I promise you we know about real and their spyware riden vaporware but im quite impressed with rmvbs’ quality:size ratio.
“I haven’t figured out how to play these on Linux or Mac yet”
Because MPlayer is so obscure? C’mon, anything that supports directshow should be able to handle rmvb, or to quote wikipedia “MPlayer is able to play RMVB files… through the use of WIN32 dlls.”
It also supports subtitles and lossless audio such as vorbis.
play nice! ;]
Well, I can totally understand the appeal of the format, but the fact that it was made by Real is a great reason not to use it ;)
Thanks for the MPlayer tip.
Why r u so critical of rmvb. I think it rocks.
Such small files and so easily playable on the pc with great quality.
All that is needed is Real alternative and mplayer classic.
I like ti store my movies and Rmvb is the best option.
I never use the official real player.
To encode I use Easy Realmedia Producer.
I like anything with good quality and high compression.
Just recently I the entire futurama into rmvb and it went down from a crazy 12gb to a mere 5.6gb….
Rmvb is for the future.
Yes, the compression rates are good but it is proprietary, nonstandard and unsupported by the most popular media players. That’s why I don’t think it is the format of the future.
Furthermore, the compression is not lossless which means that while it is good for file sharing movies to watch on your computer, it will never really be used for anything more serious than that.
But yes – it’s not that bad if you just want to compress the shit out of a movie. :)
I just downloaded a season of tv show that won’t start airing in Canada (where I live) for at least another 6 months or so; so I was very happy to get this season but the only problem is I use a Macbook so the rmvb files play fine using RealPlayer, but I would like to transfer them to my iTunes and burn them in as a DVD to watch on my 72 inch tv rather then my laptop so I would need to convert them to .mpeg files at the very least and from there I will have no problems getting what i need done. So if anyone has any ideas about any program that can do this for a Mac let me know. Thats about the only bad thing i found with the rmvb files, the size is great.
Hmm… Good question. No clue.
You might be able to get WinAvi running using Parallels on mac.
http://www.dvd-creators.net/rmvb-to-dvd.html, there’s a good article to show a step by step guide hwo to convert rmvb to dvd.
This doesn’t solve the RMVB->DVD problem, but alternatively, you could just connect your (mac) laptop directly to the TV and play it through there.
I used winAVI to convert the file, but movie has no SOUND at all ….
I’m having the same problem as Max, I used winavi to convert to vob format and burnt it on DVD, but there is no sound. Same thing happens if I convert rmvb to avi first, no sound. Any ideas?
Ultra RM Converter is a tool to help you convert RealMedia(*.RM,*.RMVB) files to AVI, DivX, Xvid, MPEG1, MPEG2, VCD, SVCD, DVD format.
http://www.topfreedownload.net/software/ultra-rm-converter.html