Below is a short guide covering some of the common questions we get asked. It is by no means exhaustive and you may think you can do better, but it is simply designed to help you understand some of the terminology in our world.
OneDDL
There’s an Executable in my Download | What is linksafe.me ? | Avatars | RAR
The Scene
Nuke | Dupe | Repack | DirFix | Proper | P2P | NFO
Movies
StandardDefinition Release Types
Cam | TS | TC | PPV | Screener | DVDScr | Workprint | R5 | R6 | DVDRip | BDRip/BRRip | DVDR
HighDefinition Release Types
720p & 1080p | BDSCR | RC | BD5/BD9
OneDDL
There’s an Executable in my Download:
We include a file in our archives. It’s a word play based on .com being a Top Level Domain Name and an MS-Dos COMmand file. Opening the file will simply launch a site in your default browser. It’s there to help stop people reposting links as their own.
linksafe.me canhaz.it rsmonkey:
These are simply redirection services we use to help protect our 1-click links. It is not a phishing attempt. If you have automatic downloads enabled they will begin as normal. Some download managers, such as jdownloader can see through the redirection service.
Avatars:
How do i get an Avatar next to my name? You can get an avatar, picture, next to your name in the comments by registering the email address you use to post with Gravatar.com, this is the same with other WordPress sites.
RAR:
All files uploaded in more than one part will be RAR’d. RAR is a compression or archive similar to zip. The files can be un-RAR’d using WinRAR or most other archive utilities.
TheScene:
‘The Scene’ is an affiliation of groups all competing with each other to be the first to release new stuff, be it software, music, films, TV, pr0n, games etc. In order to compete fairly the scene has very strict rules on the way that releases must be formatted, packed and presented. There are no shortcuts that can give one group an advantage. The rules run to 1000s of words and are too long to go into here, but they cover for example the resolution and size of video files, including samples, the bitrate of MP3s, what formats and codecs can be used how releases must me labelled and so on.
Nuke:
Nuke is the term applied by The Scene to a release that for one reason or another does not meet the scene rules. The Nuke may be applied by other members of The Scene or may be requested by the release group themselves. The reasons for the nuke can be anything from something fundamental like the audio and video being out of sync or parts of the video are missing to something technical such as not including a sample or say that the original release was not RAR’d correctly. Typical reasons include oversized, mislabelled, stolen from P2P, bad crop, bad aspect ratio, downsampled audio, bad ivtc and so on. If you see something has been nuked then you should always check the reason. It may not affect you.
Dupe:
Similar to a Nuke. The release has been cancelled due to being a duplicate. Sometimes this is because two groups released it around the same time; sometimes the dupe is from years ago. And sometimes for more technical reasons.
Repack:
When a release is nuked for packing reasons, rather than to do with the content it will usually be fixed by way of a Repack, the same content but repacked.
DirFix:
Often used to fix nuke reasons such as mislabelling. This is like a patch to fix the problem rather than a full rerelease.
Proper:
When a release has been Nuked this invites a fix by way of a Proper. A Proper is a new release by another group to replace the original. If a Proper is itself Nuked it’s replacement may be called Real.Proper
P2P:
We are a scene release blog and 99% of what we post is from The Scene. In this context P2P refers to anything that is not a scene release, so called because non-scene groups tend to issue their releases through well known Peer to Peer sites. A release being labelled as P2P does not mean that there is anything wrong with it. But P2P releases are not subject to the same rules as The Scene, or any rules in fact, and cannot be Nuked if there is anything wrong with them. This can be a good or a bad thing. But they may be viewed as lacking a certain quality assurance.
NFO:
An NFO file is issued with all scene releases, although we only publish them to NFOmation.net for non-TV posts. This information file contains details of the release as well as, usually, some ASCii art. For games and applications it will also contain the install instructions, for music it will contain the track list. Most questions you might have about a release will be answered in the NFO, and you should read this before asking.
Release names are given in the following format
Movie.Name.Year.ReleaseType.Codec-GroupName
E.g. Avatar.5.2017.DVDRip.XviD-DiAMOND
For standard definition the codec will always be XviD in an .avi container. (Except for DVDRs.) Scene releases will be 1 or 2 CDs insize, ie 700MB or 1400MB. For 2 CD releases the film will be split into two files; these can easily be rejoined, there is a guide in the forum.
CAM:
This is usually the first copy available. It is filmed in the cinema with a camcorder. Quality varies and it is worth checking the samples. Camera shake, screen at an angle, focus drifting in and out, poor contrast, background noise, ghosting, can all affect Cam copies. That having been said more recently we are seeing the use of HD camcorders and they can occasionally be quite good.
TS:
Telesync – the video is exactly the same spec as Cam although may be from a later, better recording, but the audio is recorded not with the camcorders microphone but from a direct source. Typically a headphone socket in the chair, possibly for the hard-of-hearing. Sometimes the FM transmission from a drive–in movie theatre. Again, well worth checking the samples from OneDDL before downloading.
TC:
Telecine – the video is recorded using specialist equipment which transfers from the film reels. The lack of cinemas using film, and the cost of the necessary equipment mean these are quite rare.
PPV:
Pay Per View – In the Scene this tag is most often used with premium sports events. P2P groups may misuse this tag for things that don’t fit into another classification; for example copies intended to be viewed on a plane, or bedside screens in hospitals.
SCR:
This is a VHS copy of the film handed out to various people to preview the film. It is not the same as a DVDScreener. Quality varies with the quality of the tape and the capture. Additionally there may messages on screen ‘This is the property of…’ and other things such as time codes. Realistically there aren’t that many VHS preview copies being handed out these days, so something labelled as SCR may be some other form of analogue captured prerelease copy.
DVDSCR:
DVD Screener – Like screener this is a promotional copy of the film. It may have on screen warnings, short periods of black and white etc., but other than that these should be close to the final DVD copy of the film. They are particularly common coming up to awards season at the beginning of the year.
Workprint:
A work print is intended to be distributed internally within the production company. It is a work in progress. The film may be incomplete lacking scenes and special effects. These are quite rare.
R5:
Region 5 – All retail DVDs have a region. Region 1 covers North America, Region 2 Europe and Japan etc. DVD region 5 covers parts of the world that have poor copyright control, including Russia and Afghanistan. Some, though not all of the movie studios release their films on dvd in Russia before the rest of the world in the belief that if they did it the other way around they would sell no copies in the region 5 countries due to piracy. R5 copies are very close to the full western DVD in quality, often indistinguishable although they may, for example not have the full anamorphic widescreen. DVDs released in Russia, not unreasonably, tend have Russian audio. So English audio has to come from somewhere else. Typically R5’s will be released as R5.Line, meaning the audio is from a line source as it is with TS. Typically a headphone socket in the chair, possibly for the hard-of-hearing. Sometimes the FM transmission from a drive–in movie theatre. If it doesn’t say it will be CAM audio. You may also see Studio Audio, meaning there was an English track on the DVD.
R6:
Similar to R5, although much less common, Region 6 covers China and HK. Region 6 rips often have English audio and Chinese Subs hardcoded into the video. The details will be in the NFO. Occasionally other regions may appear.
DVDRip:
What it says. The full film ripped from a DVD.
BDRip/BRRip:
BluRay Rip – In XviD form the BDRip or BRRip is encoded to the same specifications as a DVDRip. This is only allowed by The Scene when the BluRay becomes available before the DVD. BDRip is encoded directly from the disk. BRRip is re-encoded from an HD encode originally taken from a BluRay disk. In theory this could could be interpreted as meaning that the BDRip would be higher quality than the the BRRip, but in reality both the BluRay directly and the HD MKVs contain so much more information than is in the XviD that the distinction is not necessary. Some non-scene groups such as WHiiZz use this opportunity to create a very high quality encodes at a high bitrates and higher resolutions suitable for playing in the same way as a DVDRip. These make an excellent choice for watching on DivX standalone players or converting to DVD.
DVDR:
This copy is a full retail DVD, the video quality will be superior to the Xvid DVDRip. Usually retail DVDs are on Dual Layer or DVD9 DVDs. The DVDRs will be compressed to fit on a DVD5 or Single Layer DVD. It is at the discretion of the encoder how this is done. Copyright and similar warnings will always be stripped; additionally extra languages and some or all of the extras may be removed. The main movie may also be recoded to be smaller. What exactly has been done will be given in the NFO.
High definition releases follow the same format, for example
Avatar.4.2014.1080p.BluRay.x264-LCHD
HD releases always use the .h264 codec, encoded with x264 into a .mkv container. These can not be played back on standard DVD players and only some BluRay players. The .mkv container can also hold subtitles, they are not released separately.
720p& 1080p:
720p and 1080p refers to the number of progressive horizontal lines that make up the video. A film with a 16:9 aspect ratio at 720p will have a resolution of 1280x720 and the same film in 1080p will have a resolution of 1920x1080. In order to maintain the same quality a 1080p movie file will need to be twice as big. Unless your TV is very big and you are very close to it, it is debatable whether you will see any benefit in going for 1080p over 720p.
720p movie releases are typically encoded to fit on a DVD5/Single Layer DVD and 1080p releases on a DVD9/Dual Layer DVD, though this is not required.
BDSCR:
BluRay Screeners, like their DVD Screener counterpart are promotional copies of the film sent for preview purposes. Again these may contain on screen warnings such as ‘property of…’ but are generally a very good copy. These are still very rare.
RC:
Region C is the BluRay equivalent of the DVD’s R5. For BluRay the world is divided into 3 regions, region C being parts of Asia, Eastern Europe and again Russia. This would be the Russian BluRay release, similar to R5 it maybe a professional TC, but will be close to the quality of the region A and B BluRay releases. Audio may be CAM, Line or ripped from the disk, see R5 for details. RCs can also me released in XviD form like BDRips. Currently these are extremely rare, though becoming more common.
BD5/BD9:
BD5 and BD9 releases are designed to fit on a standard DVD5 or DVD9 (Single Layer or Dual Layer DVD,) respectively and to be played back on a standard BluRay player. The download will consist of a slightly undersized .mkv file together with an executable. When run the executable will convert the .mkv into a disk image which can be burned with the likes of imgburn. This format is technically called AVCHD although is sometimes referred to a miniBluRay, DVDBluray etc. and has a high compatibility with standalone BluRay players.
We post a lot of comics. Comics are presented in either .cbz or .cbr format, usually the latter. They are actually a zip or a rar file respectively and can be viewed by changing the extension and un-rarring or un-zipping and simply viewing the images. But more normally they are read with a special comic reader such as ComicRack, MangaMeeya, STDUViewer or Coview.
PC:
The installation method for PC Games varies and specific instructions will be contained within the NFO. However a typical NFO will say something like the following.
1. Unpack release
2. Mount image or burn it
3. Install
4. Copy the content from the crack folder on the DVD to your installation directory and overwrite
5. Play the game
This means after un raring you will be left with a disk image. Usually an .iso or .bin and .cue files. The disk which these are an image of can be recreated using an image burner such as the free imgburn. A common mistake is to burn the image file to disk as if it were data, this results in a disk containing one image file and is not what we want. Your burning program must be in burn image mode and will recreate the original disk. Alternatively and more commonly the disk can be mounted using a tool such as Daemon Tools Lite. This will add a virtual drive to your computer, a non physical drive that appears to the operating system as if it were an extra optical drive with this disk inserted.
From here with our example you install the game as normal, just as if you had bought the game on a disk. After the installation completes we would then browse the mounted or burned disk and look for the Crack folder. Sometimes this folder will be named after the release group as per the NFO. The contents of this folder must be copied to the games installation folder, and the files already in that folder of the same name over-ridden. The games installation folder will vary but is typically going to be C:\Program Files\Manufacturer\GameName or C:\Program Files (x86)\Manufacturer\GameName. If you are unsure, you can find the install location by right clicking the game’s shortcut or entry in the start menu and selecting ‘properties’ look for the directory associated with the ‘target.’
Note this is just a typical installation routine. You need to pay close attention to the NFO.
Console:
Console Games require a modified console. The exact nature of the modification depends on the console. There is plenty of information in the forums about this and it is a little beyond the scope of this guide.
Applications have as many installation methods as there are applications, the details are as always in the NFO. Some are very similar to games requiring the burning or mounting of a disk image. A lot of apps require you to generate a key using a keygen. It is not uncommon for these keygens to be flagged by virus checkers. More often than not this is a false positive due to runtime packing. Runtime packing is a method where by an executable can be compressed or encrypted and unpacked as it is run. It’s used to hide the code from prying eyes, virus scanners don’t like it because they can’t see inside it and so it is often used by virii. If you are unsure about running any executable it is always a good idea to run it in a sandbox, such as Sandboxie. This is an application that will ensure your executable is run in a ring fenced environment and can make no changes to your system.
Apps may also be double RAR’d and zipped. It may be necessary to unRAR the release, then unzip all the parts individually, then unRAR the multipart archive.This is a Scene thing.
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