[MEncoder-users] Using SI units in mencoder

[Trent Piepho]

On Tue, 8 Feb 2005, asym wrote:
> 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 

Probably because the use of kilobyte to mean 2^10 bytes was around for decades
before IEEE came up with a new name.  The IEEE basically told programmers that
they need to stop using the terms they've used since bytes were invented
because hard drive manfacture's marketing departments want them.

> 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.

Not so, M = mega, m = milli, P = peta, p = pico.  For example, Mm are
mega-meters.