[MEncoder-users] Using SI units in mencoder

[asym]

At 11:59 2/8/2005, Tetsuo Yokozuka wrote:

> > No, mencoder uses kilobytes.  Just because hard drive manufacturers have
> > a long-running scam to rip-off customers by redefining terms, doesn't
> > change their meaning.  Just because a US government agency was
> > presumably bribed by the industry to legitimize the scam, doesn't mean
> > we should go along with it.
>
>We should go along with freakin' standards. A kilo is 1,000, any kind
>of scientist will tell you that.

Agreed.  HDD manufacturers haven't been ripping off customers, they've been 
using the proper definition.  The confusion comes because the software 
industry arbitrarily decided "hmm, 1024 is close to 1000, so I'll just call 
it 'kilo' and go with it."  Obviously the difference between powers of 2^10 
and 10^3 gets larger the more you compound it on up into "mega" and "giga."

kilo-* was around and was always M*10^3 long before software tried to 
hijack the meaning and redefine it to mean M*2^10.

HDD manufacturers won't change.  It would be a competitive disaster for 
them to do so, marketing their "37.25GB" drive for the same price as the 
competitions "40GB" drive, and there is no compelling reason for them to do 
so -- they are using the correct nomenclature.

Software won't change either, too much of it from too many different 
authors for it to be corrected within our lifetimes.  And software 
developers, like the one responding, have "staked a claim" that they are 
unwilling to give up.  Years ago the IEEE recommended people call 1024 
bytes a "kibibyte" and abbreviate it "KiB" but to this day nobody does.  SI 
doesn't want people calling it "KB" because in SI, capital letters mean 
something -- K means Kelvin, B means Bel, which is why the magnitude is 
always in lowercase when dealing with SI.

What can you do as an open source author?

#1 provide the choice as was suggested, and make it default to the correct 
behavior -- either use the powers of 2 and call them KiB, or use powers of 
10 and call them kb (or kByte, but not kB or KB).

#2, stop calling these things by their contested and contrived names and 
just express the values in a non-interpretive way.  I for one have no 
problem mentally dealing with something like "1.5 * 10^6 bytes/s" and it 
would remove absolutely all doubt about just what the value is.


>Reading the other replies in this thread, I can't even argue. You guys
>are so stubborn. Fortunately, the GPL allows me to modify the program
>and to publish those modifications. I've made a patch against MPlayer
>1.0pre6a that turns every unit into SI units. Anyone interested in
>hosting it may contact me by e-mail. Even if it's just me, at least I
>won't bug you with this issue anymore.

You want to host what, the patch, or the whole distribution?  I could 
provide space for either one no problem, just want to clarify.

-asym