Why are RMVB Offerings Only Made Available as Torrents?

[jugulear]

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I have noticed this phenomenon for a long time. RMVBs are no longer popular in the Direct Download world as they were years ago, but in the rare times they are made available, only Torrenters are able to make use of them.

For example, in a search for the recently-made-available-in-the-archives ADN 020, we see the pattern of the DDL'ers first jumping into action, with a 3+ GB version, and the next day followed by another version for half the size.

A few days later... and this is unusual, because from what I've absorbed, this next step can take weeks, if not months, to materialize... a torrent pops up for a 387 MB RMVB version, and the following day, yet another for a 388 MB RMVB version.

Given that at times the uploaders can get in a panic to rip off new uploads, I find it remarkable that a "newly released" RMVB version almost always gets ignored in the DDL world. What do you suppose the reason for this would be? Is it because they figure the smaller sizes would not be as popular as the so-called HD versions, and therefore not worth the effort?

I have also noticed torrents, in general, are not always as giant-sized as the movies made available in the DDL world - for the usual film formats, not RMVB. I'm wondering why that may be as well.

With a nod to your generously provided enlightenments.


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[Casshern2]

I'm generally (not generously) void of torrent knowledge...in general. I tried my hand at it once but didn't know what I was doing. I was after a full 4GB DVD ISO of a Miki Sato title. Sadly, and I mean SADLY, that was something I lost with a hard drive crash some years ago. [insert plug for backup software] At any rate, if I was looking at the torrent client correctly I ended up grabbing my 4GB prize, but by others grabbing from me I uploaded to all of them a whopping 10+GB. Lesson learned. But I gathered then that the torrent scene was very very patient. Can't remember how many days (yes days) to complete the ISO download. Compared to a DDL, which these days I can get in the time it takes me to eat a sandwich, torrents are still comparably slower.

It could be that with today's immediacy people aren't prepared to wait days to see a title in so-called HD. But still, those so-called HD titles are probably sourced from torrents, which is another indication I don't know what I'm talking about. Smaller is faster in the torrent world, as in the DDL world. But maybe light versions are popular among that scene now for that reason. As to why the RMVB format, I couldn't say. I'm not partial to that format.

Did I mention I didn't know what I was talking about? Hopefully someone with knowledge will chime in, at which point I'll give you my mailing address in the likely event you'd want to mail me my 2 cents back.

BTW, 388MB is a very attractive size if the picture quality is okay.

 

[Electromog]

Torrent download speeds depend on how many people are sharing at which speed and how many others are trying to get the same file. DDL speeds only depend on your speed and the DDL site's speed. So torrents can be very slow if few people are seeding and lots are downloading. However if many (or a few with very fast connections) are sharing, I've seen download speeds of several megabytes (not megabits) per second. So torrents don't have to be slow. If I get a 1 GB tv show that aired yesterday, it usually takes only a minute or two to get.

As for you uploading 10 GB while only getting 4 yourself, you can set seperate up- and download speeds in most torrent clients. You can just lower the upload speed if it messes up your other downloads. I personally try to keep a ratio of at least 2.5 meaning that for every GB of a file I download, I give others at least 2.5GB. I see it as my way of doing something back, as I am not somebody who posts new movies. This isn't mandatory, but if everybody tries to do that, people don't have to wait as long for their files as they do now.

Why people use rmvb, I don't know. Like I said, I don't post movies myself.

 

[Casshern2]

Great reply, Electromog.

 

[ding73ding]

Right, I think C2 and the great Jug doesn't quite understand the ins and outs of torrents. Which is fine.

As a cheapskate, I don't have premiere membership with any DDL site. And the successive shutdown of everything from Megaupload to Ryushare somewhat vindicate my position.

Torrents are highly manageable if you take a little time to learn it. And with new (and popular) releases, it's shockingly fast. Also it's more "free" (as in freedom, not free of charge), since money doesn't move. There's no pure leechers (paying or not) and uploading doesn't make any monetary profit. You never have to deal with captcha.

If there's a choice, I always go for BT. Also BT has a slight advantage in longevity. If you are looking for an old vid, there's a decent chance of finding some nice Samaritan still seeding it. In that case, yeah you might have to wait for days to finish the download. Since, presumably, said Samaritan is probably sharing thousands of old (> 6 months) vids and so each connection can only get a tiny share of his bandwidth. For many old vids, I have waited close to a month to finish it, and amazingly there's a decent chance it will eventually complete. You might think waiting a month is mad, but considering most DDL sites (especially the non-premium files) delete the files after some months (definitely after 1 yr or 2), I'm plenty grateful that some old vids can still be had, even if it requires days or weeks. Yes there are fake or dead torrents and cases when I got stuck after a good portion has been received, but DDL is no less annoying, in my experience.

I should explain I don't run BT on my computer, I have a network appliance which is my file server and BT client, it's on 24/7 (unlike my computer which is turned on only in daytime) and never interferes with whatever work or game I am doing on my computer.

As for Jug original question, I don't have an answer, I don't get a lot of RMVBs so I can't form an opinion. And I'd somewhat contradict you in big files tend to show up on DDL more. I have no problem finding huge files, if anything I found too many unnecessarily huge vids on BT.

But oh... perhaps the money aspect is the cause. Do uploaders get money based on how many GB get downloaded? And/or how many paid member downloads a file? Folks who download RMVB tends not to pay for DDL sites so there's incentive for DDL sites not to attracts these smaller files.

 

[Casshern2]

Thanks for that nice breakdown.

 

[je666]

The main users of the rmvb appears to be Chinese, there are JAV DDL links just not really on common ones we may see. Those DDL sites are mainly Chinese, at least those I came across (don't know if they are the proper files or fake).

I don't get JAV in rmvb, but I get them for Chinese TV shows as its still common format for the Chinese (I don't know why). I can say the format is watchable, much better than it used to be.