On Sat, 24 Nov 2018 16:13:26 -0700, "Bill in Co"
surly_curmudgeon@earthlink wrote:

default wrote:
On Sat, 24 Nov 2018 13:11:17 -0700, "Bill in Co"
surly_curmudgeon@earthlink wrote:

default wrote:
On Tue, 20 Nov 2018 23:46:15 -0700, "Bill in Co"
surly_curmudgeon@earthlink wrote:

Anybody else lamenting the waning of the mp4 file format as an almost
defacto standard on the web (and elsewhere)? Why?

Well, for one, most of the tools we had for working on these files are
now useless, like tools to mux and demux the file, cut and edit the
file, etc. All those programs... I can't tell you how many times such
mp4 tools have come in handy for working with mp4 video files, like for
cleaning up and restoring the audio tracks from some Youtube clips, as
just one example (and boy do some of them need some work).

And two, and perhaps of more importance to most people, many TV sets
won't even play these new video formats - unlike the mp4 files. Sure,
they can still play mpg files, but that's pretty limiting, to say the
least!

But I'll have to concede that mp4 was proprietary format, unlike webm
and its vp9 video codec, so here we are, whether we want it or not. I
still think it sucks. :-)

Know what you are on about...

Makes a lot more sense to buy a dumb TV then just get a TV stick/box
that can be replaced when the standards change than relying on the TV
maker to put out an update.

I was reading somewhere that some 60% of people with smart TV's also
own TV sticks so they can use the apps that the TV manufacturer
doesn't offer.

I don't have a smart TV, and skipped getting one, because I figured the
Roku would give me more flexibility, in part for the reasons you just
mentioned. However, this Samsung TV, which is just a few years old, has
*native* mp4 capability built in, so when I select USB, it reads the
plugged in USB flash drive, and shows all my mp4 folders and files just
like a windows explorer interface, so then I can click on any one of
them and play the mp4 file. I don't know how many other TV
manufacturers have built that capability into their TV sets, but I'm
guessing this is more the exception than the rule, at least for mp4
(video) files.

That sounds like mine. Samsung dumb TV but can read media files (mp4,
avi, mkv) from a USB flash drive.

I just replaced my "MXq Pro" TV box with an "H96 max" TV box so I can
watch HEVC 265 format videos.

How do you like the Roku (what do you like about it) and what
model/year do you have?

I had to look that up. I guess that's another streaming media player like
the Roku?

Well, the Roku has been great, since it seems to have thousands of channels,
and a nice GUI interface (at least on the older ones). I'm using the older
Roku 2, because I can't stand the new "upgraded" GUI that comes with the
Roku 3 for a lot of stuff. What they've done with the newer version(s) is
made the main GUI interface "more slick" (so they think) to appeal to mass
consumers, who just love more bells and whistles thrown in their face,
instead of functionality. My term for it is: "dumbed down for the masses to
keep their attention". But I may be an outlier, and it may not bother most
people :-) I could perhaps make an analogy with Firefox and the new
Quantum version, or Windows 7, without Classic Shell. To me ALL of it is
just dumbed down for the masses, full stop :-)

Thanks for the info. Yeah it is another media player like the Roku.
There are lots of different TV sticks or boxes for sale these days,
and quality control on some of the Chinese stuff is pretty bad. I had
to send first "H95 max" back because the remote control range was less
than 12"... I only buy that stuff on Ebay or Amazon with the caveat
that "buyer pays return shipping."