As of this writing, the MultimediaWiki has catalogued just north of 100 video codecs. I believe these each to be legitimate, unique video codecs. I know that the original FourCC list has dozens upon dozens more FourCCs. However, my base criteria for adding a new codec is proof that it exists, either by a binary (or source code) codec module or by collected samples. There are a few codecs for which the MPlayer archive has samples but we only know their FourCCs. These include AVUI and ViVD. I know that binary codec modules exist in a number of web collections that would verify that some of those more obscure FourCCs exist. But many of the websites seem to be slow, inundated by pop-ups, and written in some kind of Cyrillic text. I don’t have the patience for any of that. But if you do, the Wiki could use your help.
Yearly Archives: 2006
The Sappiest FMV
“Sappy” may be a bit unfair– this stuff probably contains no sap at all to speak of.
Brute Force Word Puzzle
I used to think that it would be too far-fetched to write a computer program to determine the solution(s) to one of Pickover’s more linguistic puzzles, such as the puzzle for 2006/03/22; find letters to fill in positions 1, 3, and 5 to form an actual word:
1 n 3 i 5 n
I decided to call in the help of a program I had only heard of — Ispell — that I previously had no use for because I’m the most awesome spehlurr I personally know. However, I researched it, installed it, and determined that I could use it to come up with a list of plausible puzzle solutions.
Big Number Puzzle
Big Brain’s puzzle for the weekend of March 11-12 was essentially an anagram puzzle. Using the following 12 letters:
e c m a o n s a d e l k
form an 8-letter (English) word and a 4-letter (English) word. One word tastes good and the other carries stuff. Usually, I am at a loss to write a program that can re-sort letters and find what look to be valid words. However, I recently found an anagram generator. Go to the homepage of the GNU MP Bignum library, scroll way to the bottom and find “Demo 2 — Find Anagrams”. One day, I hope to understand how big numbers pertain to computing anagrams. Anyway, insert those 12 letters and you will find an impressive list of anagrams, including the correct answer for the puzzle! For added enjoyment, insert your name or those of your friends (the Guru’s name anagrams to “Hemimeridae larceny”).
Your reign of terror-logic will not last long, Pickover. We have technology on our side.