HDTV2MPEG2 1.11.86 fixes a few bugs.

VirtualDub 1.6.13 supports passthrough of PCM audio with more than 2 channels, has limited support for VBR audio, includes a few improvements in the hex editor and capture module and it fixes a bunch of bugs.

In Canada, the levies on blank media are currently under review. The unchanged 21 cents per disc, coupled with insufficient fair use provisions, ends up making you potentially pay more to the movie and music industry for a blank media purchase, than to the disc maker.

Apple is rumored to compete with Google video. Apple has previously made some inroads into the movie business with TV episode downloads for the video iPod, but it has no offer for bigger screens yet. Will there be a bigger screen video iPod as well?

DGMPGDec 1.4.7 beta 2 fixes a problem with a commandline option and the transport stream detection has been made more robust.

Koepi's multithreaded XviD build is now available.

Dr. DivX 2.0 beta 7 has a graph of the output frames in the job status window, uses an XML based file for all settings instead of the registry (did megui introduce a trend there? ;), has a watch folder, supports drag & drop for file input, has a video preview in the advanced mode, performs a quick analysis when a file is loaded and does the intensive analysis in the background, allows changing of the codec even while the intensive analysis is still running, the output filesize is now part of the profiles and there's an information widget that shows up-to-date information on the encoded output.

I've been saying it for a long time, but now some industry players are catching up with it: the head of Yahoo Music, struggling with incompatible DRM systems, is raising the questions whether it wouldn't be better if the industry sold songs without any DRM, which would allow for more competition in the market and would allow consumers to buy anywhere and play the songs on their players, regardless of player brand.

Last weekend, the NY Times had a lengthy article about Sony and their struggle to introduce a major line of new products (Blu-ray, PlayStation 3) and how it relates to past experience (VHS Vs Betamax, and the introduction of DVD).

XviD is now officially multithreaded. The number of threads to be used can now be set in the VfW, akin to how x264 is being configured. Multithreading is already supported in an unreleased build of MeGUI, with the usual automatic detection of the number of threads to match the number of logical CPUs you have.

PgcEdit 0.6.4 beta 4 supports the new testmode option of ImgBurn 1.2.0.0.

The man behind Apple's major DVD authoring packages is calling for a HD boycott because the new formats first and foremost screw customers out of their rights. I find myself very conflicted about the HD prospect myself. On one hand, HD looks great and I have a perfectly good 30" display to whom I'm not really doing justice with SD content, on the other hand, the mere option (I normally don't make much use of it) of being able to back up my DVDs is something I'm not willing to give up (just as I'm unwilling to give up the ability to play music on any device I want.. hence despite the iTunes account I never have bought a single song from them.. I just can't get myself to do so as for me it signifies giving in to DRM).

On the other hand of the spectrum, Sony is about to launch the first 20 Blu-ray titles in the next two months, with 130 more coming until Christmas.

Here's an award that's well deserved: The UK presidency of the EU has been awarded "villain of the year" by the Internet Service Provider's Association. They singled out Charles "Big Brother" Clarke's push towards the universal persecution of hundreds of millions of innocent EU citizens. What used to be the standard in non democratic countries - governments snooping into legitimate people's business - has now be made law in Europe, and thus bringing us over the edge towards a state where everybody is a suspect.

The content industry has bought heavily into the French government: they managed to get the French ministry of culture onboard for their draconian and unfair reinvention of copyright. A new proposal that's circulating effectively bans private copying of DVDs. Now, I actually have a use for the perpetual surveillance: keep tabs on all of our politicians so their dirty deals with the content industry (and all other interest groups they represent in the years between two elections) will be known to the world.

Last but not least, the MPAA is on a suing spree right about now and has P2P index sites and Usenet operators in their crosshairs.

DGMPGDec 1.4.7 beta 1 allows to specify different AVS templates for AVS script generation.

ImgBurn 1.2.0.0 has a changelog too long to even begin to process it. So just download and you can find the changelog here.

QuEnc 0.62 beta 3 is available for testing.

VirtualDubMod 1.5.10.2 build 2542 fixes two audio bugs.

Here's another AviDemux test build that supports Virtualdub style editing of MP4 files (and of course AVI as well).

The first version of AACS that will be used in the first HD DVD and Blu-ray discs, version 0.91, won't lock us all out from high definition content and currently will not enforce the HDCP video path for all HD content. So if you, as the rest of the world, has a GFX card that is not HDCP compatible along with a display that never heard of HDCP either, you'll escape the mandatory downscaling for the first few years.

As you may have read here in the past, the MPAA is currently trying to "plug the analog hole", as they put it, or slap copy protection on all analog recording and playback devices. The bill proposal that is currently circulating on the hill, includes a component that's apparently a big secret: VEIL content protection.

Last but not least, closer to home the German IFPI (that's RIAA international for you), is seeking its teeth into upcoming changes in German copyright law. They want to get ISP subscriber data without court order, to prohibit recording of online radio and TV except for timeshift purposes (which they see as record once, listen to/watch once) and ban recording software that allows to separate songs. How about being honest for once and ask for what you really want: a complete ban of all recording devices along with a camera and listening device in every room in every home?

Phew, a whole week without any news, when was the last time that happened? All that really happened was a bad case of the flu though (call it the MPAA bug perhaps?)

MPEG2Schnitt 0.8 has a new UI, contains a few minor improvement and fixes a number of bugs.

PgcEdit 0.6.4 beta 3 can copy button positions, can increase/decrease the number of buttons and fixes a few bugs.

Now that the AACS has been ironed out, there's no stopping the launch of HD DVD and Blu-ray. It's time to start counting days until another scheme that gives the customer the finger has been broken and balance is restored once again. And in case you didn't know already: managed copy requires mandatory Internet access (they want to know when, how and who does it), and it's an optional feature they can charge you for. And the first HD DVD titles will appear on March 28th in the US.

UMD movies aren't doing so well. The proprietary, heavily DRM'ed movie format for the PSP is not enjoying the success the studios had hoped for. Of course, a reasonable consumer would have to ask why he should buy the same movie again for a rather hefty price, if he already owns the DVD which offers higher quality and can be watched on a lot more devices. But I suppose you can't expect the Sonys of this world to ever get that..

As if the industry trying to lock us out from our own computers via "trusted computing" (also known as enforcing DRM the hard way), now the government is asking for a backdoor. Since we're all terrorism suspects, they want a way to access those "trusted" computers via backdoor. I wonder how that jives with the "your computer is safe from undesired access". How long to these people think it'll take somebody to figure out the backdoor and use it for unintended purposes?

Speaking of "trusted computing" and its real intentions, here's an example just how effectively it is at enforcing DRM.

As part of the current DMCA review, here's what RIAA and MPAA have to say on the subject. Fair Use? What's that?

DVDFab Decrypter 2.9.7.2 supports a bunch of newer ARccOS titles (when will they see the futility of corrupting discs?).

VobBlanker 2.1.1 beta 2 allows reruns without reloading the project and fixes two bugs.

ShrinkTo5 2.0.1 has an improved compression engine which supports higher compression ratios, can detect bad sectors (ARccOS and Co) and has a new GUI.

BSplayer 1.38 saves its config file in the user's home directory and fixes many bugs.

DVD isn't quite dead yet: Plextor's PX-760A DVD burner writes DVD±R discs at 18x and DVD+R DL discs at 10x. Being a Plextor product it is also available with a SATA interface (a major plus in my book.. it's about time we got rid of those clunky IDE cables and master/slave settings for good).

And speaking of the formats that are supposed to replace DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray are being further delayed. As usual, it's copy protection that keeps the formats back (kinda reminds you of DVD.. in the end Hollywood really only cares about copy protection and to make as much money off you as possible) - AACS is still not done so forget about a March launch.

And speaking of HD formats, the headlines that predicted that you need a completely new PC for HD content and Windows Vista weren't so far off. Firingsquad checked into HDCP capable screens and GFX cards and found that there's little of the former, and not a single (well.. there's one model that you can't buy) GFX card that actually supports HDCP. So much for the high definition future, eh? Not only will you need a new drive, but a new screen and a new GFX card as well, or you get a severely downscaled output. Hollywood claims people won't see the difference, but then why should anyone even need HD? Oh yeah, my 3007FPW does HDCP but there's not a single dual link DVI and HDCP enabled device out there either... single link DVI with HDCP is likely to show up eventually, but nobody knows about dual link yet.

Last but not least, trusted computing now aims to lock you out from your harddisk as well. There are plenty of HD encryption tools if you really need them, but a "trusted computing" HD ties your HD to your computer so if the computer goes bust, you're locked out, and then there's logging for forensic purposes (translation: the drive will keep a log as to self-incriminate you in case you've ever done something wrong with your computer and gotten rid of the evidence).

I've previously reported on the BBC collecting questions on digital video to be presented to a panel of industry experts. Now here are the answers. They include gems such as DRM being guidelines on how digital content can be used (don't we have copyright law for that?) and how the MPAA twists their initial doomsday predictions from the time when video recorders were introduced.

And in yet another example of why the entire patent system requires a major overhaul, AT&T all of a sudden discovered they hold some patents on MPEG-4 and now try to get the entire industry, which is already paying the MPEG LA licensing fees, to cough up more money.

MyTheatre 3.33.8 fixes a subtitle problem.

ProgDVB 4.71.4 includes a few small bugfixes.

DVDSubEdit 0.90 can move subtitles to the left/right when possible, can load and save sup files, contains improved OCR code and a few bugs have been fixed.

The first preview of Zoomplayer 5.0 has been released.

How much will the next generation of DVD cost? While Blu-ray players appear very pricey, the discs themselves appear to be only moderately higher priced than corresponding DVD releases.

Chairs may be flying again not in Redmond central but the RIAA and MPAA headquarters as a French court ruled that not only downloading copyrighted content for private use is legal, but uploading as well.

Then we have the EU commission opening formal proceedings against the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC). That is the association of companies that get their cut from any public showing of copyrighted work as well as all the levies that are prevalent throughout Europe. The EU commission thinks that these societies are violating the rules of the free market by limiting licenses to specific countries.

Finally, it appears that popular CD/DVD drive emulation layers might be making use of rootkit-like mechanisms themselves - to thwart the attempts of copy protection software of rendering them useless.

HC 0.17 has more CQ encoding options, supports GOP options as well as frame and chapter commands from the commandline, can create a chapter list based on scene changes and fixes a few bugs.

YAMB 1.5 supports cuesheet files for splitting, supports another MP4 tagger, can write copyright commands while importing, support the MOV container and supports splitting by hh:mm:ss timecode. On top of that, tracknames have been tuned and a few bugs have been fixed.

Last but not least, AutoQ2 is a Q factor predictor for CCE (that has been around for a while).

DGMPGDec 1.4.6 final is out. There appear to be no changes since the release candidate.

MyTheatre 3.33.7 supports 16:10 and 5:4 aspect ratios, automatically switches to DVD mode when opening a file that is in a folder called VIDEO_TS and the CPU hogging has been fixed.

Aud-x is an MP3 based 5.1 audio codec compatible with current MP3 decoders.

First there was Arccos, then Ripguard, now Alpha-DVD. In addition to corrupting the disc structure, Alpha-DVD pulls a Sony on you and installs software you really don't want to have installed. While no security issues and rootkits have been found (yet??), the software they try to make you install has negative effects on system stability and the use of burning devices and drive emulation layers. Uninstallation is also a major hassle and requires an Internet connection.

The French P2P legalization project is still on track. Next Wednesday, a parliamentary commission will question the French Culture Minister on the proposal. Meanwhile, RIAA and MPAA don't get tired repeating how such a law would destroy their industry. I guess a guaranteed income is indeed a very bad thing..

ZDNet has compiled a nice FAQ on search engines and privacy. The article also includes a few tips how to somewhat thwart your search engine's attempts to keep data that can be traced back to you.

ProjectX 0.90.3.01 contains some improvements in teletext handling and subtitle demuxing, has a slightly adapted GUI and fixes some bugs.

The EU is going to have a field day with this: Microsoft's corporate VP of the Windows Digital Media Division openly admits that their DRM licensing is meant to ensure that small companies and hobbyists don't stand a chance, and that there will never be an open source implementation.

DVD2One 2.0.3 is faster, automatically sets the UI language at startup, can be run on Intel and PowerPC Macs and fixes a few bugs.

We RIAA just doesn't know where to stop: they've sued another person who couldn't possibly have shared songs online. And while we're on the subject, perhaps they ought to have a look at this RollingStone poll. If your customers don't think they get a fair deal, they're more likely to look for alternative venues...

Libraries are waking up to DRM, and they don't like it. If your job is making content available to anyone, and we have DRM that ties a work to a specific hardware, that's not going to work out with some major changes on current restriction mechanisms.

Speaking of DRM, a German association of independent labels has launched a campaign for restriction free music. Time to buy some songs for them to make it pay off, as the only way the majors are ever going to change their stance is if they see the DRM free model works out.

Last but not least, here's an outlook at what major telcos and cable companies want to shape the Internet into: An island of private networks where you pay for everything you do. You want to visit an independent newssite? 5 bucks please. You want to shop at another online store than your ISP's preferred one? Another 5 bucks please. You want to browse to doom9.org? That's free but we'll send your subscriber data to the MPAA...

berrinam has taken time from his busy schedule to bring you the first MeGUI guide. And speaking of MeGUI, I think I just discovered a nice side effect from using AviSynth for audio encoding: since source reading / decoding and encoding are done in two separate processes, you get a nice speedup on dual core systems :)

Sony didn't sue, but the next spyware maker is threatening to: Software "protection" company StarForce doesn't like if you speak ill of them. Now how's that with the right to make a backup copy of any software you legitimately own? StarForce effectively infringes your right to making a backup, and that right is enshrined in many countries. Of course, if you wouldn't buy games and download the warez copy instead, you wouldn't have to deal with copy protection and spyware at all.

A French court just put another thorn in the RIAA's foot: A Paris court ruled against Warner three weeks ago in a DRM case. While the fine is not substantial, Warner may no longer use any copy protection mechanisms to prevent people from making copies of their CDs.

The BBC is currently collection questions on how the movie industry is handling the digital age and they'll be presented to a panel of industry leaders, including the head of the MPAA.

Last month's news can be found here.