Soltek customer support solved the CPU mystery. What my board is trying to tell me is that it cannot initialize the GFX card upon starting when the 1.2 T-bird is in the board so I'm still using the 800 Duron atm. At least that is stable.

I have lots of software for you today: DVD Decrypter 3.0 latest beta so that you won't have to ask for it in the forums al the time. The latest Sasami2k player removes a few memory leaks and should be fully DivX4 compatible. ZoomPlayer 1.81 doesn't require DirectX8 to work but is otherwise the same as 1.80. If you're into beta testing you can always get the latest ZoomPlayer 2.0 betas in the Inmatrix forums. Gordian Knot 0.16.1 adds a dialogue for avisynth script creating, including VCD and SVCD resizing (read the readme for a how-to), you can now play the movie in the d2v window, then there's an experimental alternative end credits treamtment (refer to the readme again) and a bugfix regarding wrong lenghts of the d2v file. FUBatch 0.5 adds the option to use Nandub to merge AVI and MP3, adds an option to delete the mp3 and avi files and the progress message now tells you what's being done at the moment. Divxmanager is a database program to keep track of your DivX collection, and the latest TSCV features a demo menu generator for SVCDs and many other goodies. And last but not least: the latest DVD2SVCD which should fix the CCE freeze bug and the wrong audio selection bug. And now I have to add that all to 2 software pages. Rabidfrog, how is the status concerning the PHP stuff? I could really use some automtization for this.

Ookami has updated the programmers corner. Check it out. Also, stay tuned for the release of DivX4.01 which fixes most of the issues being talked about in my DivX4 forum lately.

Woah, almost couldn't make this update. Those who read my forum already know about all the crap I'm currently going thru with my hardware. I've never experienced somthing quite like it. Not only the CPU stopped working, I also had a lot of data corruption lately, progs that used to work just fine would suddenly not work anymore, especially those I use to make and upload this site. And the version stored on my software collection didn't work either.

ChapterXtractor 0.94 re-allows the use of negative offsets and warns you from chapters shorter than 5 seconds (these are usually invalid and shouldn't be taken as chapters). Micro DVD Player Menu Maker is a very good menu maker for Micro DVD Player. Making MDVDP menus was never easier. TFM Audio Filter 1.03b adds AGC after the compressor and now properly saves the setting to the registry.

TFM Audio Filter 1.0b2 is another dynamic range compression filter with a couple additional extras like additional channel effects. PowerDivX Next Gen 3.07 adds DeDynamic 0.2, a custom DS filter insertion, list of subtitles, a bit of code optimization, fixed command line and the loading/cancel button has been fixed. Then we have Micro DVD Autorun 1.81 which has the possibility to add more codecs (DivX4 anyone?) and Azid GUI 0.7d which fixes a run-time error bug and should work in crappy operations systems (in other words: Win9x and WinME - make sure that "close on exit" is checked in command.pif). Then there's the latest IVTC plugin test for AviSynth which fixes the incorrect FPS problem. Keep in mind that this is a beta for testing if the new algorithms work.

On the hardware front we have no news, the other fan is not strong enough so I'm getting a 1.7GHz certified one along with an additional fan for the case (don't worry, I connect it to the PSU not the MB). That should take care of any remaining heat problems. Now that AMD prices have been slashed again I might even be able to afford the 1.4GHz chip as well ;) And while we're at hardware: Some of you may have read the P4 2GHz reviews at Tom's Hardware Guide or Anandtech and noted some discrepancies. I have my theories on that.

DeDynamic 0.2 now saves settings in the registry. VirtualDub 1.4.7 fixes some more MPEG-1 decoding bugs (though I must say I don't see the sense in converting an already inferior format and lose even more in terms of quality) and the latest VirtualDub subtitler plugin should be faster and support more SSA features. The latest TSCV should fix many bugs (and probably introduces new ones). You can also find updated guides on the official homepage.

And Mediatrix has released MPEG-4 encoders and a player.

Micro DVD Autorun 1.79 fixes a W2K problem. Normalize GUI 0.2 supports batch mode and adds language support via ini files. And then there's the latest IVTC plugin for Avisynth. For more info on this filter please refer to the IVTC thread in the DivX3 forum.

Has it ever happened to you that after a while the computer, under heavy stress, simple "loses" mouse and keyboard? It has happened to me a couple of times on this new hardware and I believe I have a hint about what's going on. Whenever I touch the back of the pc after the freeze the area around the keyboard and USB plugs, which is close to the fan on the board is very hot. Seems like I have a heat problem, or perhaps the fan, which is larger than the socket so it comes pretty close to these devices causes the problem. I'll have to re-open the pc to verify this theory but it sounds plausible since the pc actually continues working even after the controls got "lost". Good thing I have a spare fan which is smaller so I can test if this will give any relief. If not I'll have to put another fan in. No big deal since I can connect like 4 fans to my MB ;) Oh, and please, comments on this into my forum, the weeks starts again and I don't need a flood of emails about this issue coming my way. Keep the email for what it is: suggestions on site content, program submissions and ripping help.

Talk about a problematic upgrade. After installing ForceASPI W2K stubborny refused to boot up even in safe mode and as the emergency shell doesn't allow access to other directories than the Windows directory I lost all emails I got yesterday and program attachments, and it's also the reason why this update is so late as I had to reinstall everything (and re-download the page from one of my servers). From now on downloaded progs and the Site will be stored on a non-system drive. I guess I didn't take backing up my data seriously enough since W2K is so stable. A little hint: If you ever do a hardware upgrade, before you install Windows make sure you deactivate all on-board stuff that you don't need in the BIOS, especially things like Soundcards or Floppy drive controllers.

To the author of CCParser: Can you re-send the source? It's one of the files that got lost.

Azid GUI 0.7b now automatically searches for the optimal gain. DVD2SVCD 1.02b9 fixes a lot of bugs, adds a range check, the TV format detection has been fixed and the program should now also work with multiangle movies. DVDx 1.3 now supports premiere plugins (only 1 pass mode atm), has more input and output settings and auto-settings for VCD/SVCD.

Aargh, what a day that was. Upgrading my PC didn't quite work out as well as I had planned. First the damn thing freezes twice during W2K install (and last time I put in such a CPU and had a freeze it meant the death of the CPU so I had two emergency pull-the-plug sessions), then the brand new SBLive 5.1 just won't show up. Might be correlated to having forgotten to disable on-board audio in the first place. We'll see how it turns out. And no, I don't need help, I'm just writing this as I'm still in the middle of the upgrade. But while we're at it: Have you ever bought a MB which had software worth more than the actual board coming with it? If not, get a Soltek board. According to THG they perform great and they come with a great collection of software: Anti Virus soft, Virtual CD soft, Drive Image 4 and Partition Magic 6. The Anti Virus might come in handy especially for those people still sending me sircams and even though my email provider's filter catches a lot of them some still get thru.

I've also been talking with the developers of DivX4 and it looks as they're still heavily working on the codec despite the final stage. I just got a new build that fixed the awful turn-to-green effect that I had in some clips sent to me. The final release was more a marketing decision than a development decision, as some companies do not consider codecs that are labeled beta no matter how good they are.

And now for the software: Azid GUI 0.7 includes an option to find the optimal gain parameter.

And last but not least: Here's another example of how bad the DMCA is and how it threatens each and everyone of us. Basically we're all guilty until proven innocent.

What have I started here? A true flood of new programs is coming my way: CDRecord is another free CD recording program, XDuplicator a GUI for CDRDAO and VCDComposer another GUI for VCDImager which looks rather promising. And while we're at the subject TSCV 0.7b2 now saves options, has visible chapter selection, chapter to BMP support, a new structure for the XML generation, jump to chapters by keypress, chapter to menu support and last but not least some bugfixes. Then we have AlwRip 0.2 which is an all-in-one solution for SBC rips and FUBatch 0.4 which adds audio conversion. Last but not least I forgot to mention Xmpeg 4.0b which fixes some GUI bugs and now comes with the OpenDML plugin. And if that still isn't enough for you check out Bruce's latest Rippack (v3b15.5). Now he plans to add CD burning as well. With all these make-your-life easier tools the wishes of many to have a simple and stupid DVD backup program might soon become reality.

And this is just in: The first ripping app to include CD burning is already complete: DVD-RIPP is a CLI wizard tool to do anything from ripping to burning DivX CDs, including auto-run. Don't worry about the French page, there's an English version available as well.

And I just have to add this comment: where's the fun in this ;) I love my 20 tools way.

And something audio related: Azid GUI 0.6 adds azid 1.7 support, drag&drop and batch encoding mode, all the names in the GUI are now correct (no more references to lame) and the GUI has been split over 2 screens.

DivX4 final is out. By now I guess I won't have to say anything more about it. By the looks the noisy edges problem has been fixed, and we'll see about the luma noise stuff when I have finished my U-571 session. But even without having tested this again I feel like this has been a premature release. You can already read of still unsolved problems on IBM Thinkpads and G-400 cards and even though I'm not a fan of that kind of hardware (I hate Matrox since the Mystique and I'm more of a Dell notebook guy) I still think people having these types of hardware deserve compatibility as well and the problem has been known well before the release. Also, some discoloring in DivX3 playback can still be found, even though it's only present in a special clip I was sent, all movies I've watched since build 171 were just fine. One thing: unless you use a bitrate calculator that has specially been made for DivX4 (doesn't apply to any on this page) you will have to multiply the bitrate you get from the calculator by 1.024 since the final assumes 1kbit = 1000bits, not 1024bits as in DivX3.

Other than that the first beta of the DRC direct show filter has been released. This filter can compress the dynamic range of a soundtrack on the fly so you won't have to turn up the volume even with tracks that were made without DRC and gain/normalize.

And one more thing: it seems as if Sircam is on the up again. I've been bombed with infected mails in the last 48 hours. If this goes on I will have to deactivate all email accounts gain. Too bad my email provider doesn't have filtering by email content. If anybody knows a free email provider that offers pop/smtp access and that kind of filtering let me know. And to the moron that send me a 5mb file via Sircam: You better not expect any support from me until the end of time. You can be happy I don't publish your email so that people can flame the living shit out of you.

PowerDivX NG 3.05 supports DivX4, asf, non-roman subtitles (untested), command line support, easy chaptering and contains a lot of bugfixes. DVDReaper 3.1 adds VBR DivX3 and DivX4, better audio decoding tools and multilanguage support. Or alternatively: EasyDivX 0.7 also supports DivX4 including 2 pass VBR and audio gain. And while we're at it, Rippack v3 beta15 is another mpeg2avi based rippack that supports DivX4.

Also, for those interested on how my DivX4 testing is proceeding I suggest you visit my DivX forum. I post daily reports there. After having 2 1 CD rips that matched the size goal perfectly I now have a file that's almost 50MB undersized (2 CD stuff).

Gordian Knot 0.16 adds manual curve correction, splitting and merging stats files, some different curve algorithms have been added (for experts only), the minimum bitrate to be set in Nandub is now always 270 regardless of what you use in GKnot and deinterlace support has been added (adds VerticalReduceBy2 to the avs). Until I have time to update the guide please refer to the included documentation when dealing with the new features.

Furthermore there are 2 issues which you should be aware of: The first pass has to be done in full processing mode as fast recompress gives wrong luma-noise values in the stats file and makes luma correction impossible. And Nandub can currently not handle ecf files that are larger than 3MB.

DivX4 build 178 has been released. The codec finally considers 1kbit to be 1024bits, the purple areas problem should be gone and the log file format contains some additional info that might be used for SBC-like operations. So far I've only tested the playback parts but it appears the fast forwarding bug is gone.

DVD2SVCD 1.0.2build3 fixes a subtitle bug and the azid gain autodetection should now work on all platforms. DVDx 1.2 fixes a crash at the enc bug and the bad looking subs. It adds SVCD and LPCM support and faster MMX quantization. There also is a guide on DVDx now.

Edwin has released the new video server plugin which allows you to connect FlaskMpeg to all the encoders that do not support AviSynth because they use different reading routines. The plugin also allows to route the audio output to a different encoder or dump it to a wav. He also released Avisynth 1.04 which basically fixes bugs from the old released and includes MMX optimized filters. And then there's FlaskMpeg multipass Xis which is based on FlaskMpeg Xis 3.0e but supports multipass encoding in TMPG and CCE. You can get it all @ videotools.net. FlaskMpeg Xis itself is available in v4.0alpha at the moment, which features a new GUI, fixes some audio and subtitle problems and now goes by the name Xmpeg.

I've been a bit bored so I decided to work on the FAQs. I've gone over each entry and updated it where it was necessary (which was often the case), splitted the FAQs up in smaller categories so that they're easier to read and sorted all entries alphabetically. In the future I'll add links to the FAQs in the guides pages where appropriate. Also, you can now get to the FAQs directly by entering faq.doom9.net in your browser.

I've changed the screenshots in the Codec Comparison Update. Why? Because apparently some people got the very wrong impression that since in some screenshots the old test showed SBC as better as in the new one, I was biased on the 2nd comparison. I was never insulted like that before. I redid the SBC clips to ensure that SBC gets a fair chance using the parameters which are supposed to give the best results. And after reviewing both clips I have to say that first of all it's hard of not impossible to see a clear difference, and second the difference can go both ways. Frame 483, 2207, 7553, 11641 and 13765 are better in the old file, frames 2114, 3818, 8798, 9220, 11906 and 12007 looked better in the new file. And generally the old file was a bit blurrier. TheWEF was the first one to point out what is most likely the reason for the difference: Motion based curve modulation which I used for the new clips. It lowers the bitrate in demanding scenes to make the low motion scenes look better. As an example you will get one worse looking high motion frame but 3 better looking low motion frames in return. And indeed, we got blurryness in return for a few better looking high motion frames.

Looks like what I said yesterday was wrong: There's one DivX4 build a day and they are numbered by days that have passed since the first OpenDivX release on January 15th. ATM the latest I have is build 175 which didn't fix the forwarding bug I mentioned in the DivX encoding forum. Also, the latest builds will now be put on the DivX page one day after they've been released.

SVCD fans rejoice: TSCV 0.53b allows you to make chapters and menus using VCDImager 0.77 (or later). Check this place for a guide - sorry no Doom9 production so far, I don't have time atm.

I've updated the DivX4 guide with some interesting technical info. Unfortunately no new DivX4 builds today but 173 (I only have the decoder v174) still gave me a 60MB undersized copy of SPR. To be continued... By the way: As there may be many builds a day it makes no sense calling them by date, and not all builds get released to the general public.

Lame GUI 0.2b fixes the runtime error 76 bug. Hopefully the 3rd server is properly integrated now without any 404 errors. ZoomPlayer 1.80a allows you to capture frames during playback and a couple other options.

Testing on DivX 4 goes on and we're up to build 174 now. On the encoding side another 2 pass VBR bug has been fixed which should hopefully prevent any more undersized rips, on the playback size the repeating bug and VobSub crash bug are both solved. There's a new issue but something that has been okay in earlier releases so I think that will be fixed pretty soon. If you're interested in more actively testing just check the DivX encoding forums on my board, from time to time the developers will post a link to the latest version. And we'd all be very interested in hearing your 2 pass VBR experiences using hard sources, like Saving Private Ryan, Gladiator, U-571 and anything that DivX 3 has problems compressing. And especially how it all compares to SBC. Of course, that requires that you're familiar with SBC...

Dolby going after free ac3 decoders? Sure looks like it. Read the sad story.

Normalize 0.24.1 adds a don't abort flag and is now open source.

I finally have enough: I've started putting people who still haven't learned about Sircam and taken appropriate steps on a permanent shitlist. All your mail goes directly to the trash can in the future, it won't even be downloaded from the server.

Also, I've installed WinXP RC2 and tried to watch a DivX3.11 movie using DivX4 build 171, but after 3 crashes within 10 minutes RC2 is history and I watched the rest of the movie in W2K using the same filter with no crashes at all. Tomorrow I'll give it another try using the DivX3 filters. And I'm still wondering why SPR got smaller in DivX4 than I wanted it to be.

Subresynch helps you synch your subrip subs with the main movie. Lame GUI 0.2 supports drag&drop and batch encoding and fixes a few bugs, and I have a recompiled ac3fix version for you that doesn't need the cygwin.dll. IDm4c 5beta12 comes with a installer, resize wizard and fixes a lot of bugs. adds support for MS MPEG-4 v1/2/3.

I've found a couple more bugs in DivX4, most notably some discoloring during DivX3 playback. On the other hand the latest build (check my divx encoding forum) fixes a few issues that have been reported. Keep on testing, I'll do so too.

The GDivX Player 1.9 fixes a number of bugs, has better VCD support including playlists, subtitles now work even in fullscreen mode and the playlist has more functionality.

Slow news day. I've updated the conclusion of the codec comparison update. DivX4 beta3 is a serious test candidate but it's not perfect yet. There seem to be a few stability problems with outdated hardware (K6 and P2) and still some issues with DivX3 playback. But generally I'd say the feedback is rather positive.

On another note we're still looking for translators, especially for the French and German version. Please help us and your fellow countrymen/women out. There's many people out there that cannot take advantage of the knowledge gathered on this page because they are not familiar with the English language, but you can help change that.

And a sad story: Despite being mentioned in the mass media (TV, Newspapers, Computer Mags, Online News sites) and my autoresponder on my primary mailbox sending out warnings I still get at least 2 copies of the Sircam trojan. It's safe to assume that each and everyone of you has been warned about the dangers of that critter and so the people who have not undertaken any action in all the time the warnings have been repeated and still swamp other people's mailboxes with useless trash: this is very careless and inconsiderate behavior, and that's still nicely put. As a result each and every email address from which I will receive an additional copy of Sircam will be permbanned for all eternity. And here's your last change to get rid of Sircam: AVP's Sircam page and Symantec's Sircam page.

You've all been waiting for it and here it is: DivX4 beta3. It fixes the codec monopolization problem (playing DivX3 content even when you answer no when being asked), the noise problems in high bitrate 2 pass VBR, the lines problem in DivX3 playback, a P2/Celeron crash problem, and a not-multiple-of-16 quality loss problem. It's 2 builds higher than what I tested but let's hope they haven't broken anything in the meantime. Now that these issues have been resolved, let the large scale testing start. As usual report results to the DivX encoding forum. Now I have to re-write the conclusions of my codec comparison.

The latest MiniDivX launcher fixes a hanging but in W2K, crashing when no AVI was found, searches for AVI files in the directory where it was started from and their subdirectories and when searching takes longer than 3 seconds a screen will tell you to be patient.

Some updates to the Lame guide and I've finished a guide on dual language AVIs. If everything goes by plan we should have a new beta of DivX4 by the end of the day, fixing all the issues I mentioned in my quality comparison article. I've also updated the AVI/AC3 guide again. Now enabling SPDIF output is much easier.

TMPG 12i fixes a drag&drop bug when batch encoding, enables pre-encoding of the first frame for higher quality and fixes two bugs in the MPEG-Tools (in Merge/Cut). Don't forget the VFP plugin.

That is pretty interesting: Sigma Design's latest chip does not only include MPEG1&2 decoding but MPEG-4 as well. I'd love to have that chip in my H+.