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I'm interested to know how XBMC RAR support is implemented. As you know XBMC has the unique ability to play, fastward, rewind video stored in a Rar file without first extracting the content to disc. How is this possible? Xbox has so little memory so the entire video can't be stored in that.
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spiff
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it depends on stored rars (i.e. no compression)
i hooked the rar lib into our vfs (virtual file system). the unrar lib runs in a separate thread, controlled through events. the vfs is the important part here - without it you cannot do it like i did.
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gronne
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Yeah, it's an amazing feature! I haven't understood it either so I'll try and read up. This feature, afaik, isn't implemented in any other media players I know of. I was quite surprised vlc couldn't do it if an xbox program could. Anyway, you should have MAJOR kudos for it, Spiff!
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How exactly doe it work without compression? Doesn't winrar compress?
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spiff
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not if you tell it not to
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spiff
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in the case of videos; no
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I guess I'm just not seeing the purpose of having videos in .rar format then ... I'm lost on that I guess.
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spiff
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1) storing large files on weak filesystems - such as fatx which can't handle > 4gb files. you simply use rar as a container to split it in suitable pieces
2) authenticity - you know nobody has tampered with the file (scene releases)
3) ftp racing
, but isnt the purpose of adding something to a rar to save space?
