I guess they didn't think about it. Usually DVDrips are re-encoded, unless you are sharing the original DVD image or VIDEO_TS folder. It doesn't make sense not to re-encode them, to save disk space and bandwidth. This is why mp3's were invented. Can you imagine uploading audio all in WAV or raw format?
MakeMKV is nice because it puts the video in a nice mkv container and preserves things like subtitles, chapters, etc, but like I said it only copies the H.222/MPEG-2 after that you have to use another program to re-encode it if you want to reduce the file size.
Still it was nice of them to take the time to share it, like you said it does seem somewhat rare to find on the net.
I am checking right now, and I see that the whole series is made of different quality. The first episodes are VHS quality, while the later episodes are DVD quality. Also, on some streaming sites the series is completely unavailable. I donìt see the logic, since it's a cult series.
I wish the COPS tv show would come out on DVD - you would think that they would do that already.
The ones I linked on 1337x are all 480p. Sometimes when they get re-encoded they reduce to 352p or some shit like that - hate it.
I just downloaded Sliders off of usenet, all 5 seasons. That show aired at the same time as The Pretender.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112167/
I checked usenet for The Pretender btw. Season 1 is mostly there. No season 2 at all. The rest is a few here and there. Those are about 500mb each which is about what size the x264 episodes should be after getting re-encoded from the 2gb MPEG-2 files. Many old shows are harder to find on usenet, if at all.
(post is archived)