Making Sense of Movie Downloading

First there were Movie Theaters then camejargon you may come across.
Multiplexes and then home cinema arrived. FromMPEG-4: this is a standard for a file for video and
Betamax through VHS. From VHS onto DVD. Andaudio, compiled by the "Moving Picture Experts Group"
now digital and HDTV! We all know the story so far -(hence MPEG) and it is their 4th version of the
but may find it confusing!standard. So you can now download movies in
Are you up to date with the latest developments? AreMPEG-4 format - but this can take time as the files
you new to the Internet and totally bemused by all theare so large!
jargon?DivX: developed by DivXNetworks, this is a file that
Do you know your P2P from your DVD? Do youenables fast movie downloads without losing any
confuse your MP3 and MPEG4? Have you got yourpicture quality - and DivX is also based on the
codecs and plug-ins set up correctly and notMPEG-4 video file standard that we mentioned above.
exceeded your bandwidth? What does it all mean andCodec: although it sounds mysterious, this is a piece of
does it matter if all you want to do is watch somesoftware that enables file COmpression and
movies?DECompression to transfer it across the internet.
The terms get longer, the speed of change is faster,MP3: short for "MPEG Audio Layer 3" - from MPEG
the confusion increases. Whilst I watch aagain. This is for digital audio only, it uses a
downloadable film on my laptop my uncle needs tocompression method that means smaller file sizes.
help to program his old VHS recorder! This speed ofYou lose some information but most people can't hear
change is opening up a huge gulf between differentthe reduction in quality. So it's great for music
users and this gap seems to continue to grow.downloading and playing audio on an MP3 player. But
You can now easily download movies to watch whenthis is only for music, not for movies.
you want, with perfect digital quality. You can evenP2P: short for peer to peer. This is one popular
watch them where you want - perhaps downloadmethod of sharing and downloading millions of movie
movies to you ipod or burn movies to DVD and watchand music files. Peer-to-peer is a form of computer
on any laptop or on the TV as normal.network that does not rely on a server and client, but
But to do so it helps to learn the new language and ifeach computer is a peer or equal - great for
you are interested in joining in the movie downloadingdownloading and sharing home video and audio
then some basic knowledge of the essentialcontent. Even with compressed files it can take time
terminology will help.and sharing the load amongst several computers is a
So where to start? Let's start with something we thinkclever way to harness the power of the internet.
we know:So when you've downloaded the files - how do you
DVD: "Digital Versatile Disc" or "Digital Video Disc" -watch them?
these discs look like CDs (compact discs) but holdOn Windows PCs these files will usually play without a
more data and are now used for storing digital movies.problem on the standard Windows Media Player,
A rewriteable DVD can also be used for storing yourparticularly if you have the latest version.
music and computer files. There is no space here toFor Apple Macs QuickTime is both a file format and a
explain the difference between all these permutations -player. Designed by Apple Computers QuickTime has
DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R and the rest - that wouldbeen around a while. You can download the player
be a separate article in itself!from the Apple website and you can run it on a
Clearly when a movie is downloaded you are notwindows PC.
downloading an actual DVD! So when you download aHaving mentioned Apple it would be difficult not to
movie what do you actually download? It is quitemention the iPod. But playing movies on iPods and
simply a computer file - but of course they come inother portable players is another topic entirely!
many types! Here are the main bits of movie file© 2006 WhatMovieDownload.