[FAQ] for a.b.m.e.a., Version 1.6.1, Updated 5/23/2002
Primary URL: http://www.vcdjavtrade.com/
Mirror: http://javcentral.javtrade.net/

Welcome to the ABMEA (alt.binaries.multimedia.erotica.asian) FAQ.

The (somewhat outdated, but good for starters) VCD posting guide can be found at http://www.vcdjavtrade.com/vcd_posting_guide.html.

NOTE ABOUT THIS FAQ:  Yes, there is already a FAQ for ABME and some people will tell you that's all you need.  While that FAQ is very informative, this one is more specific to this newsgroup.  ABMEA is a bit different than most other ABME* newsgroups, hence many of us feel it deserves its own FAQ.

So, this is the "official" FAQ of ABMEA.  What makes it official?  It was the first ever made specifically for this newsgroup.  If someone makes a new, more comprehensive one from scratch, I'd be happy to call that one official instead.

This is a very basic set of questions, with a very basic set of answers. When possible, URLs are provided which contain more detailed information to help you with specifics.

Regulars - if you have any suggestions or additions, TELL ME!

New in 1.6.1: Converting SVCD/MPEG2 to VCD
New in 1.6: New RAR file naming
New in 1.6: New REV files
New in 1.6: Fixing bad MPEGs - Remultiplexing
New in 1.6: SVCD/MPEG2

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==== Table of Contents ====

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SECTION I: INTRODUCTION (IMPORTANT FOR NEWBIES)
- WHY ARE SO MANY OF THESE CLIPS CENSORED?
- WHAT IS JAV?
- WHAT IS HK3/CAT3?  WHAT IS AN "EDIT"?
- HOW CAN I TELL WHETHER OR NOT IT'S CENSORED?

SECTION II: ABOUT RAR
- WHAT ARE THESE .RAR, .R00, .R01, .R02, ..., .S01, .S02, ETC. FILES?!?!?!
- WHY RAR?
- WHERE DO I GET RAR?
- HOW DO I USE WINRAR?
- BUT RAR DOESN'T COMPRESS MULTIMEDIA!
- RAR SUCKS, USE SOMETHING ELSE.

SECTION III: OTHER TYPES OF POSTS
 - WHAT ARE .PAR, .P00, .P01, ETC. FILES?
- WHAT ARE .REV FILES?
- WHAT ARE .001, .002, .003, ETC. FILES?
- WHAT ARE "SUPPORT" FILES?
- WHAT ARE NFO FILES?
- WHAT ARE SFV FILES?
- WHAT ARE DAT FILES?
- WHAT ARE BIN AND CUE FILES?
- WHAT ARE NRG FILES?

SECTION IV: VCDS & BURNING TIPS
- WHAT'S A VCD/SVCD?
- HOW DO I MAKE A VCD?
- WHY CONVERT FROM DAT TO MPG?
- WHY CAN'T I MAKE A VCD FROM THIS MPEG?
- HOW DO I CONVERT SVCD/MPEG2 TO VCD?
- HOW DO I BURN A BIN / CUE OR NRG?
- VCDS AND NEWSGROUPS
- DETAILED VCD / MPEG / BIN AND RELATED QUESTIONS

SECTION V: CODECS
- WHY CAN'T I VIEW THIS MPG?
- WHY CAN'T I VIEW THIS AVI?
- WHAT'S A CODEC?
- WHAT'S DIVX?
- WHERE CAN I GET CODECS AND DIVX TOOLS?
- I INSTALLED DIVX, WHY ISN'T IT WORKING?

SECTION VI: MISSING PARTS & OTHER DOWNLOAD SOURCES
 - WHY DO THESE POSTS ALWAYS HAVE MISSING PARTS?
- HOW CAN I GET MY MISSING PARTS?
- IRC?
- HOW DO I CONFIGURE MIRC?
- WHAT'S AN FSERVE?
- WHAT OTHER WAYS CAN I GET FILLS ON IRC?
- WHAT ABOUT THE WEB?

SECTION VII: GENERAL
 - HOW DO I PREVIEW A CLIP WITHOUT DOWNLOADING ALL RAR PARTS?
- WHAT'S YENC?
- HOW DO I DECENSOR A JAV?
- WHAT'S A GOOD NEWSREADER?
- I WANT TO POST. HOW?
- MY QUESTION IS NOT COVERED. I NEED HELP!

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==== Questions and Answers ====

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SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION (IMPORTANT FOR NEWBIES)
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First and foremost, you need to learn to read. Sure, we're all here to download movies. But before you post ANY question or request, you better make sure you read all pertinant NFO files as well as this FAQ. Otherwise you will likely go ignored, possibly even ridiculed.

When a person posts a movie, they will usually post some information along with it. It might be included in the 0/# post, or it might be in an NFO file (which might be in support.zip). Read through all that information carefully, as it will often include instructions on how and when to make repost requests, what the movie is all about, whether or not it is censored, etc. READ BEFORE YOU DOWNLOAD.

Unless you know you are using a good news server, don't bother asking for massive reposts. If the first try didn't make it to your neck of the woods, most likely the repost won't either. If you REALLY want these movies, you should be prepared to subscribe to a third-party commercial news service.

If anything in this short introduction didn't make sense to you, keep reading the rest of the FAQ! :-)

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Q. WHY ARE SO MANY OF THESE CLIPS CENSORED!!!!????
A. Because that's the way JAV and CAT3 movies are.  Always read carefully, including the NFO file, to see whether or not a movie is censored.  Although posters should offer sample previews, they sometimes forget.. so in this newsgroup you should generally assume a movie is censored unless it's stated otherwise. 
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Q. WHAT IS JAV?
A. JAV stands for Japanese Adult Video.  In almost all cases, unless otherwise stated these videos will be censored (to varying degrees) with what is called a "mosaic".  In Japan, the law states genitals can not be clearly shown.  Other major countries have similar restrictions - often even more restrictive than Japan.

Some may ask "Then why do people like JAV?".  Well, I suppose it's an acquired taste.  Of course, many of us just have "a thing" for cute Japanese girls, which you can't easily find in adult video outside of Japan.  Also, the Japanese culture is rather unique and it shows in the content of many of their movies.  Finally, JAV does not often have that "fake" feel that other porn does.  No funky porn-music, no ridiculously oversized breast enhancements, etc.  Sometimes the scenerios may be a bit fantastic, but it rarely detracts from the enjoyment of the film.

It's been said that since you have the mosaic blocking the action, they can actually "fake" having sex.  While this has happened with many actresses to varying degrees, lately it seems to happen less often as the girls are more open in nature.
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Q. WHAT IS HK3/CAT3?  WHAT IS AN "EDIT"?
A. Category 3 is actually a rating, similar perhaps to R or NC17 in the USA.  Like the JAV mosaic, CAT3 movies are made in countries where genitalia is forbidden to be shown on-screen and simply avoid showing anything very hardcore.  In most cases, there is no actual sex going on.

HK3 (Hong Kong Category-3) movies are popular due to their high production values and interesting stories.  They're often very good movies that just happen to have a good number of erotic scenes.

"Edits", known as both "JAV Edits" and "HK Edits", are typical JAV movies with scenes removed and/or extra censoring in order to conform to HK laws, which are a bit more restrictive than in Japan.  Blowjobs and cumshots are edited out entirely, which usually reduces the movie's length to 40-45 minutes.  Usually, edits will also have Chinese subtitles.  Most collectors will NOT collect an edit; they would rather have the original JAV version of the movie.
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Q. HOW CAN I TELL WHETHER OR NOT IT'S CENSORED?
A. Download the support file and view its contents.  Alternatively, download the first few RAR parts and unrar.  If it's a DAT/MPG file, you can view the broken file.
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SECTION II: ABOUT RAR
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Q. WHAT ARE THESE .RAR, .R00, .R01, .R02, ..., .S01, .S02, ETC. FILES?!?!?!
A. They are RAR files. Within RAR archives posted in this newsgroup you will usually find either a full VCD (VideoCD, averaging about 600MB) or a video clip (ie. MPEG, AVI, ASF, etc.).

RAR is a compression program, similar to PKZIP. RAR archives here are split into multiple parts. To get a full video clip which was split with RAR, first download ALL the parts. Your RAR program will take care of the joining of separate files.

In older versions of WinRAR, the naming convention was FILENAME.RAR, FILENAME.R00, FILENAME.R01, ..., FILENAME.R99, FILENAME.S00, etc.  Beginning in version 3.0, the naming convention has become simpler:  FILENAME.part#.RAR, where # is the actual part number.
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Q. WHY USE RAR?
A. First, the short answer: It makes it MUCH easier to successfully download large clips and MUCH easier to do reposts. RAR is used in the vast majority of binary newsgroups; we did NOT just pick it at random.

Now, a bit more technical.

Some news servers will not allow large files to be uploaded or downloaded. Most posting programs have an option which will automatically split a large file (such as an MPEG) into smaller articles. Then when someone downloads the file, their newsreader (if it's worth a damn) will usually combine them automatically. Inexperienced users don't even know this is happening.

The problem here is if one of those small articles doesn't make it all the way to your server, you're screwed. Your only hope is if someone would be kind enough to repost the ENTIRE MPEG. And there's no guarantee that the repost will make it to your server in-tact, either.

Can you imagine downloading a 600 MB VCD, then losing your connection right near the end? It happens frequently to many people. If you're downloading RAR parts, little time is lost. And if you miss a RAR part, it can be easily reposted or acquired from friends.

What if your connection is not lost, but you're able to download the entire MPEG.. what happens when you get a CRC error? The MPEG might be completely unplayable. If rar'd properly you can recover from CRC errors.

For more specific reasons why RAR is used instead of other methods of splitting files, continue reading.
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Q. WHERE DO I GET RAR?
A. For Macs, http://macrar.free.fr/
For all other major platforms, http://www.rarlabs.com/
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Q. HOW DO I USE WINRAR?
A. Assuming you know how to use Windows Explorer, this is actually very simple. Once you have RAR installed, in Windows all you need to do is to double-click on the .RAR file, then select "Extract To". Ta-da!
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Q. BUT RAR DOESN'T COMPRESS MULTIMEDIA!
A. Sure it does.  Surely not as much as it would compress a text file, but it does compress nonetheless.  It can range from anywhere between 20MB-100MB saved for a VideoCD.  Average is probably 40MB.  It may not sound like much, but that's saving 40MB in bandwidth for many many users, and 40MB saved on each of the thousands of news servers out there.
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Q. RAR SUCKS, USE SOMETHING ELSE.
A. While it's true there is no perfect solution for every task, RAR is what most fits the bill in this case. Again, RAR has become the standard in CD image and other large-binary newsgroups.

All posts that are nothing but gripes WILL BE IGNORED. If you want to be taken seriously, please offer a viable alternative. This topic has been debated to death and beyond.

A few common suggestions, and a few brief answers why they are not being adopted by all posters:

* "Why not 'Peck's Power Post' or other software that lets you repost individual articles?"

- Only the original poster can repost the missing part.
- Not available on all platforms.
- Corrupted parts are not easily identified.
- Not all newsreaders will handle it well.
- Skill level required is higher than RAR.

* "Why not SplitIt?"

- Only works with Windows 95/98.
- Many splitting programs like SplitIt use proprietary methods for basic CRC checking

* "Why not another splitting program that just splits into multiple MPEGs?"

- When burning VideoCDs you need the cleanest possible MPEG as possible.  This includes having no errors in the stream, as they can cause playback in some software and hardware to crash.  When using RAR, you'll know if there's been an error and you can replace the part.  When using the splitting programs, it's not always so obvious.

* "Why not ZIP?"

- The idea here is multiple volume archiving. ZIP is lacking in this area.

* "Why not ARJ?"

- RAR offers solid archives.
- RAR offers better potential compression.
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SECTION III: OTHER TYPES OF POSTS

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Q. WHAT ARE .PAR, .P00, .P01, ETC. FILES?

A. Missing RAR parts are a part of everyone's experience using binary newsgroups like ABMEA.  PAR files can actually generate fills for missing RAR parts.  For example, say you're missing kaori.r21 and kaori.r24.

If the poster posted kaori.p01 and kaori.p02, using an application such as SmartPAR you can generate your missing parts.  It sounds like magic, but it works.  However in order to work, you must have at least as many P## files as you have missing RARs.

Note: any combination of valid par files will do.  For example, in the above scenerio if you only had kaori.p02 and kaori.p04, it would work just the same.

Most popular PAR software for Windows: SmartPAR (http://www.disc-chord.com/smartpar/), FS RAID Toolkit (http://www.fluidstudios.com/fsraid.html), Mirror (http://www.wehlus.de/mirror/).

MAC & UNIX: PARchive (http://parchive.sourceforge.net/)
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Q. WHAT ARE .REV FILES?

Beginning in version 3.0, WinRAR now supports recovery files similar to PAR.  To use these files, simply double-click a REV file and WinRAR should do the rest.  To generate these files when creating a RAR archive, click on the Advanced tab and select the number of recovery volumes you'd like to use.

A major disadvantage of using REV files is they must be made when the actual RARring is being done.  Unfortunately, PAR files and REV files are incompatible.
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Q. WHAT ARE .001, .002, .003, ETC. FILES?
A. In this newsgroup, they are usually RAR files. To open them, just run WinRAR.  In other newsgroups these are sometimes associated with programs like MasterSplitter, which is a program that simply splits one large file into multiple parts.
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Q. WHAT ARE "SUPPORT" FILES?
A. When someone posts a VCD, it is highly recommended they also post "support" files along with them. Sample video captures (JPEG pictures), VCD cover scans (JPEG pictures), NFO files, and SFV files are all examples of support files.
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Q. WHAT ARE NFO FILES?
A. NFO files contain all available relevant information about a post. Examples would be the movie title, actresses, duration, description, rar sizes, etc. NFO files can be read with any textfile reader, such as Notepad.
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Q. WHAT ARE SFV FILES?
A. For all its great points, RAR has one drawback: if there's a corrupt part in a multiple volume archive, it won't always correctly tell you which one is bad. If there's just one corrupt byte, if the poster enabled the correct options when compressing, your RAR program might be able to correct it. However if there are multiple corruptions, you will need to re-get that file.

The problem is, sometimes it's hard to tell which RAR part of a multiple volume archive is bad. For this reason people have come up with various programs to do CRC checks. The most popular format is SFV, although SFV is only for Windows systems. WinSFV is frequently posted in the alt.binaries.multimedia.utilities newsgroup.
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Q. WHAT ARE DAT FILES?
A. As said above, DAT is the format used for VCD movie files. It's actually a variation of a standard MPEG. Windows users who can not successfully play these files using Media Player should go to Microsoft's website and download the latest version.
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Q. WHAT ARE BIN AND CUE FILES?
A. Combined, they are a perfect image of a CDROM (in this newsgroup, it will usually be a Video-CD). The BIN file is the actual data, and the CUE file tells the CD-burning program exactly how to use the data.

BIN/CUE files are to be used with CDRWIN (Win95/98/NT), which can be found at http://www.goldenhawk.com/.  Alternatives: Nero is probably the best alternative, and it's an excellent piece of software.  Get it at http://www.nero.com/. 

While obviously you need a CD Recorder to make a CD from the BIN/CUE files, there are programs which will extract the MPEG files (these are the video clips) from the BIN file to your hard drive. VCDGear seems to be the most popular of these utilities (Fireburner should also do the trick).  Please note that while this works most of the time, there are occassionally images of VCDs where the MPEG can NOT be extracted.
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Q. WHAT ARE NRG FILES?
A. These are CD image files to be used with Nero (see above).  VCDGear has recently added support for extracting the video files from Nero images.
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SECTION IV: VCDS & BURNING TIPS
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Q. WHAT'S A VCD/SVCD?

A. VCD, short for VideoCD, has for some time been a common way for movies to be distributed in some Asian countries.  Its quality is nearly as good as VHS.  VCDs can be played on your computer as well as most newer DVD players.

While VCDs can be played on the computer, they have their own special format.  Putting a DAT file on CD in the regular way does NOT make it a Video-CD.

Sometimes you'll see movies taken from DVD posted as SVCD.  If made correctly, these are of much higher quality than VCD - in fact, they're rather close to being as good as DVD.  However you'll need special codecs to view them, and in some circumstances can be problematic for standalone DVD players as well as slower computers. 
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Q. HOW DO I MAKE A VCD?

A. Here's a brief rundown on how to make a VCD from DAT/MPG files posted on ABMEA:

- Download the movie and unrar
- If it's a DAT file, convert it to MPG using VCDGear (www.vcdgear.com)
- Run Nero (www.ahead.de) (find your CDR recording software at www.cdrsoft.cc)
- From the wizard, select Video-CD and click the New button
- Drag the MPG file to Nero window.  When it's finished, burn! 
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Q. WHY CONVERT FROM DAT TO MPG?

A. Many will say that since the newer versions of Nero accept DAT files, there's no point in converting to MPEG.  First, this is only true for VERY recent versions of Nero (somewhat older versions would accept the DAT files but actually burn a VCD which was incompatible with some players).  One other good reason to convert is if you use VCDGear, you can often tell when there are errors in the original file.
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Q. WHY CAN'T I MAKE A VCD FROM THIS MPEG?

A. To create a VideoCD, your MPEG needs to conform to certain standards including video resolution and audio quality.  Sometimes everything appears to be in order, however Nero will reject the file.  Often in these cases you can fix the file by "remultiplexing".

Ok, that's an intimidating word.  The good news is with the right software, it's a snap to do.  Download and run TMPGEnc (http://www.tmpgenc.net/).  If it starts out in Wizard mode, get out of it.  From the menu, click File, MPEG Tools..., and go to the Simple Multiplex tab.  Change type to "MPEG-1 Video-CD", load your Video file.  Audio should be selected automatically.  Select a new output file, and click Run.  If all goes well, the new file will be VCD compatible.
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Q. HOW DO I CONVERT SVCD/MPEG2 TO VCD?

A.  In short, you use DVD2AVI to decode the audio and make the file "readable" by your encoder (takes just a couple minutes).  The best choice of encoders is TMPGENC, and will take roughly 1-5 times the duration of the video to convert (completely dependant on the speed of your machine).  Full instructions for the entire process can be found at VCDHelp.com: http://www.vcdhelp.com/mpeg2tovcd.htm
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Q. HOW DO I BURN A BIN / CUE OR NRG?
A. First, load the CUE file into a text editor (like Notepad), and make sure the foldername matches where the BIN file actually resides.  For example, if it says "M:/FILES/POSTING/HOTSEX.BIN" you should change it to "HOTSEX.BIN"

If using CDRWIN, then click the first button, load the cuesheet, and burn away.

To burn a disc image using Nero, click File, Burn Image.  If you're burning a BIN/CUE, you will need to choose All Files (*.*) in the "Files of Type" list.  Find your CUE file, and away you go.
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Q. IS THIS REALLY A VCD NEWSGROUP?
A. Although you see them here all the time, alt.binaries.multimedia.erotica.asian was not made for full VCD postings.  Attempts have been made to start another one or two newsgroups to help alleviate all the congestion and confusion, but they were met with opposition from news admins.  Without their support, actually pushing those newsgroups into existence would result in few news servers carrying them, which would result in more confusion. 

Other existing newsgroups recommended for full VCDs (not necessarily Asian): alt.binaries.erotica.vcd and alt.binaries.vcd.xxx
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Q. DETAILED VCD / MPEG / BIN AND RELATED QUESTIONS
A. Obviously, these are just the basics. There already exists a fantastic website for VCD-related questions, including some really nifty software links and notes on how to use it.  If you're really into VCDs, make sure you check out (and bookmark!) VCDHelp!: http://www.vcdhelp.com/
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SECTION V: CODECS
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Q. WHY CAN'T I VIEW THIS MPG?
A. Although it's possible you have a corrupted file, more often than not you just don't have the right codec.  MPEG2 is the format used for SVCDs, and needs special software or a special codec for Media Player to view.  For more info, please refer to VCDHelp.com (http://www.vcdhelp.com/play.htm#svcd).
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Q. WHY CAN'T I VIEW THIS AVI?
A. Although it's possible you have a corrupted file, more often than not you just don't have the right codec.  The latest version of Media Player comes with many of today's codecs, so if you're a windows user you should start there.  For more info, please refer to VCDHelp.com (http://www.vcdhelp.com/play.htm#divx).

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Q. WHAT'S A CODEC?
A. Oversimplified, codecs are specific formats for digitally encoding movies.  All you really need to know is that as better formats are created and used, you'll have to download the latest codecs to enjoy the movies.
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Q. WHAT'S DIVX?
A. Many of you might be familiar with the failed DVD format called "DIVX".  Well that has NOTHING to do with the DivX codec (a.k.a. "DivX ;-)"), which is also referred to as MPEG4.  While DivX offers outstanding video quality and/or great video compression, those who use it to post clips on the Internet often use too much compression and the result is a rather blocky video.  This codec is most commonly seen in AVI and ASF files.
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Q. WHERE CAN I GET CODECS AND DIVX TOOLS?
A. Windows users, before venturing out on your own and trying to find the right codec, choose the "Windows Update" feature on your computer and download the latest Windows Media Player.

Codec sites:

DivX codec for Windows, Mac, Linux, and BE-OS: http://www.divx.com/
The Codec Zone!: http://codeczone.home.att.net/frames.htm
Codec Central: http://www.codeccentral.com/

DivX Tools:

Convert DivX to VCD (Windows): http://www.vcdhelper.com/avi2mpg.htm
Convert DivX to VCD (Mac): http://mac.divx.st/vcd/index.html
Convert (DVD, VCD, capture...) to DivX: http://www.divx-digest.com/
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Q. I INSTALLED DIVX, WHY ISN'T IT WORKING?
A. Apparently the recent incarnations of the DivX codec are sometimes incompatible with older versions, such as DivX 3.11 Alpha.  This problem has generally been addressed by the creators of DivX.

Another explanation may be that the DivX AVI you downloaded was made with a bastardized DivX codec.  Some people out there "tweaked" their versions of the codec which made them somewhat incompatible with the standard.
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SECTION VI: MISSING PARTS & OTHER DOWNLOAD SOURCES
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Q. WHY DO THESE POSTS ALWAYS HAVE MISSING PARTS?
A. Most likely, your ISP's news server sucks. Your options are to either switch ISPs, subscribe to any one of a handful of commercial news services, get your fills from your peers (such as on IRC), or any combination of the above. Many serious newsgroup surfers choose to subscribe to commercial news servers.

A few popular options:

http://www.newsguy.com/
http://www.newscene.com/
http://www.airnews.net/
http://www.giganews.com/
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Q. HOW CAN I GET MY MISSING PARTS?
A. Be patient. Sometimes it takes posts a couple days to completely reach their destinations, depending upon what news server you use and from what news server the posts are coming.  Also learn to use PAR; this will help greatly.

Many flock to IRC to pick up their missing parts and to find traders for full VCDs.

If you are not able to find your missing parts this way, you can post a request for a REPOST to the newsgroup. PAY CLOSE ATTENTION to the newsgroup after this, as someone might tell you where on freediskspace.com you can find your fills.

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Q. IRC?
A. Dalnet IRC, to be more precise.  IRC is a chatting program, and Dalnet is the particular network we use.  Windows users, grab the IRC client known as mIRC: http://www.mirc.com/.  Read the mIRC site to learn how to properly download and use the client.  Be sure to read the areas about DCC and FSERVE - this is important terminology when it comes to file transfers. 

While there are probably 10 Asian VCD channels, there are a few public ones worth mentioning:

One popular channel for fills is #Asian-Mania.  If you're mainly looking for filles, this is your best bet.  A recent offshoot of #Asian-Mania is #JAVMania.

Finally, we have #JAVTrade.  If your goal is not to only leech but to make contacts for trading VCDs not posted to ABMEA, make sure you hang out in this one along with any others.

A couple other channels worth mentioning are #japanav and #AVCC.

Everyone has their preferences, and some routinely enjoy multiple channels.  Whichever you choose, please be courteous to the channel ops and your fellow peers. 
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Q. HOW DO I CONFIGURE MIRC?
A. Ok, here's a crash course.  This is not meant to be thorough!

Once you've installed mIRC, click on File, Options.

In the Connect window, enter your full name (no, not your real one!  make something up!).  Enter something (anything) for your email address.  Now enter the nickname you would like to use (pick something very unique, as most common names are most likely already taken!).  Finally, enable "Invisible Mode".

Now select the subcategory Local Info.
Check the box for Local Host.  Lookup method: Normal.

Now select the Identd subcategory, and check Enable Ident server.  Enter a user ID you want to use (can be anything).

Now select the DCC category.  Go to the Folders subcategory.  Click the Edit tab, and select a folder.  This is where all files sent to you will be stored.

This should be enough to get you started.  Now go back to the Connect category, and select a server on DALNet.  Hit the button that says "Connect to IRC server".

Once you've connected to a DALNet IRC server, click he third button to the left (the Channels folder).  Enter your channel of choice, such as #japanav.
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Q. WHAT'S AN FSERVE?
A. Time for another crash course.  This is not meant to be thorough!

In the VCD channels, the main way people get their missing RARs is through the fservers.  Fserves are actually very easy to use once you understand a few basic concepts.  If you have any experience in Unix or DOS, you'll pick up on it right away.

To connect to an fserve, you'll need to type its trigger.  When you enter your channel, type "!list" and everyone offering servers will show you their triggers.  For example, you might see:

-OuttaSoCal- «Fserve Online» Trigger: «!All Hail SoCal» Online: «0/4» Sends: «2/2» Queues: «15/15» Note: «F-I-L-L-S only please, no title leeching. I bet you ignoreme and leech anyways.» --- Accessed: «12295 times» Snagged: «52.599 G» [ §îMÞLÉ §Ç®ÍÞT ] 

If you want to use his fserve, in the channel type "!All Hail SoCal".  (Most of the time triggers will begin with an exclamation point.)

Now you'll receive a DCC Chat dialog.  Accept it.  Now, depending on who's server you chose, you'll be told the rules - and possibly the commands you can use and what they mean.  These will vary, as there are a few types of fserves out there.  The basics are:

dir - This will give you a directory of what's available.  If you see no obvious file extensions (.rar, .r00, etc.), you're looking at subdirectories.  
cd - Short for Change Directory.  If you need to get into a subdirectory, this is how you do it.  For example: "cd AIKA MIURA-DREAMSHOWER10.BURNED".
get - Once you're in a subdirectory and you see files you want, this is the command you use to get them.  For example: "get aika miura-dreamshower10.rar".

Once you've chosen your file(s), your selections will most likely be added to a queue.  The server will send your files when it's your turn.  While you wait, STAY IN THE CHANNEL or you may be removed from the queue.
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Q. WHAT OTHER WAYS CAN I GET FILLS ON IRC ?
A. Some people choose to share their files by offering via FTP.  FTP is a whole-nother-can-o-worms and will not be covered in this FAQ at this time.
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Q. WHAT ABOUT THE WEB?
A. Putting lots of large files on the web is usually quite expensive, plain and simple.  When VCDs were first posted to ABMEA, a service called MYSPACE.COM was used to help share fills and reduce the number of requests and reposts in the newsgroup.  Some people manage to still use such services for distribution of videos, but it's not common enough nor reliable enough to be worth mentioning in this FAQ. 
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SECTION VII: GENERAL
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Q. HOW DO I PREVIEW A CLIP WITHOUT DOWNLOADING ALL RAR PARTS?
A. If you want to see a preview of a rarred MPEG clip, just download the first few parts (RAR, .R00, .R01, etc.) and unrar. Tell your rar program to keep broken files (in WinRAR, check the "Keep broken files" in the "Extract to" dialog box).

Those who post VCDs are encouraged to post sample video caps or clips as a preview (most often seen in the "support.zip" files).
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Q. WHAT'S YENC?
A. First, a bit of history.  Usenet (a.k.a. "the newsgroups") was never intended to be a forum for binary files (ie. MPEGs).  The most common process of encoding these binary files for Usenet, called UUEncoding, adds an extra 30-40% to the overall filesize.  So if you download a 600MB movie from the newsgroups, in actuality you need to download around 1GB of data.  Most newsreading software does this automatically, without the viewer ever noticing.

Over the years there have been a few attempts at building a new encoding method, however none have seen much success.  Recently however a new process called yEncoding has become popular, so much so that within a few short months many newsreaders began including it in their software.

yEnc is supported in most of the major news applications, including Agent 1.91 (if you have an earlier version, upgrade now!).  To read more about yEnc and to download a client that incorporates it, check out www.yenc.org. 
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Q. HOW DO I DECENSOR A JAV?
A. In most cases it's impossible to remove a mosaic from a JAV. I've heard two theories on the most recent ones that are popping up as "decensored".

First says there's no "decensoring" going on, but the movies we're seeing are in fact pre-release versions. I don't buy this theory for these particular movies because the picture quality/coloring/contrast varies greatly from movie to movie.  (Pre-release versions were common underground items in previous years.)

The second theory is they really are decensored using very expensive software, and only movies from a select few publishers can be done. For many underground movies in the past I'd say this was bullshit, I think this might actually be the case now. My guess is the original movies used an unconventional type of censoring that resulted in very little loss of data.

Either way, I wouldn't expect to find software for your PC anytime soon.
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Q. WHAT'S A GOOD NEWSREADER?
A. Not Outlook Express, not Netscape. For the Windows platform, Agent (or Free Agent) is probably the most popular. Xnews is a comparatively less-known reader, but is free, full of features, and improves on a weekly basis.

AGENT: http://www.forteinc.com/
XNEWS: http://xnews.3dnews.net/
For more newsreaders (and other Internet applications): http://www.stroud.com/
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Q. I WANT TO POST. HOW?
A. This is not a simple question. Please refer to the beta version of MystMan's VCD Posting Guide: http://www.vcdjavtrade.com/vcd_posting_guide.html.
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Q. MY QUESTION IS NOT COVERED. I NEED HELP!
A. Before you ask a question, be sure you have read this FAQ and the suggested web sites in each section. If you have a question about any particular software, please read the help files before posting.

If you've read everything and still need help, please be as specific as possible. For example:

WRONG: "I can't get [application name] to work right. It sucks!!!"

RIGHT: "In [application name and version], I get the error message '[error message]' whenever I use menu options [keystroke activity]. I am running [operating system].

People in this newsgroup are willing to help. Just give them the chance. :)
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