meRobs wrote:
Hence, I agree with the sentiments of dumpy: to keep the Guide simple (for beginners) with minimal jargon, in simple English and be free of personal opinions where possible. If a statement is only an opinion it should be prefaced by comments like 'As far as I know', 'Based on my tests' or "It seems to me that', etc.
Because of all of the comments, I'm currently planning on using the following sign whenever I write an opinion
No, but seriously: I intend to write the main text using opinions if necessary (for easy reading or to avoid confusion) and to nuance those in a separately marked box (the way some textbook mark "additional info"). While I try to keep things unbiased, I'll even more try to keep things simple. And that sometimes means I sometimes need to call upon the evil sorcery of stating opinion as semi-facts.
A metaphor: I currently study at a university in the Netherlands. They let us tough nothing but Java for the first half year. Not because they think Java is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but they did think it was a relatively complete programming language with "the greatest common divisor". They wanted us to fully grasp programming (with Java) before explaining others. Not because they wanted to indoctrinate us, no, on the contrary: they didn't want to tell us "C is good for speed", "Functional programming is great, use Haskell", "PHP is an easy scripting language but has the potential to cause messy and bug-ridden code". No, they wanted us to fully understand the differences so we could understand it ourselves. That is exactly what I want to do with my guide. And since H.264 is (to me) the most promising current codec I'll use that one. That does not mean this guide will be solely about H.264, it
does mean that this guide will use H.264 to explain general principles.
Of course, when possible I will simply state facts.
I've sent the following PM to several people PM'ming me. I will also post it here. The tone is a bit harsh:
dtechnology wrote:A long post. I I have the time or willpower to read through more direct-attacks that look fully like they are going to a flamewar.
I've scanned it quickly and saw nothing too new or interesting.
I will clearly reiterate my statements. I expect the matter will be done with this. If you have serious remarks, you are welcome to make them in the topic or by PM. Otherwise just leave me alone until the guide is finished.
As I will be releasing it under CC you are free and welcome to make your own version of it.
- I did not (nor do) claim that I am 100% right. I'm not on a level that allows me to list the x264 options with description out of the top of my head. I am simply someone with moderate to advanced knowledge who would like to share it by making a guide
- I did not (nor do) claim that I intend to only intend to explain H.264. I do claim that it is a modern, flexible and widely supported codec (especially on modern devices) that has almost all of the bells and whistles any other code has (or has not). It also is a codec beginners get stuck on and are interested in. Because of this reasons, I felt it was a good idea to describe general transcoding through this codec
- The current version of the guide is hardly a draft, hardly a complete set-up even. While the style and some contents will make it to the final one, it is intended merely as an appetizer and a way for me to receive feedback early on. (and you seem to have a broad definition of feedback)
- I will mention all modern and well-used containers and codecs in the guide. I simply will also state their advantages and disadvantages. My personal opinion is that, at this moment, the combination H.264, .mp4/.mkv and LC-AAC has the best compromise of quality, flexibility and compatibility. That is my personal opinion
- I do agree that other codecs might be better to use in different situations. However, since this is a beginners guide, I will not confuse them by explaining them in detail (I will add a few scenario's add the end that explain/require/recommend different codecs, but they will not be part of the main text of the guide). Rather I want to give them the tools to find out themselves.
- I, again, am not perfect. Nor do I claim to be. If I thought I was perfect I wouldn't have openend the topic and asked for feedback.
I plan to have a full table of contents and an initial draft of a large portion of the guide by the end of this week.