I've added DVDFab to the software archive, along with a 3rd party plugin enabling you to process CSS encrypted files. And while I was at it, I also wrote two DVDFab guides: One about DVD-9 -> 2 DVD±R including menus and extras and one about splitting the main movie only.

There's some news for the your rights online section as well: In Brazil, a consumer has successfully sued EMI and Sony for releasing audio CDs containing copy protection mechanisms, which prevented the guy from playing back his legally acquired CDs on his car CD player. You can find the Portuguese article here. And apparently, my rambling about out of proportion damages 2 days ago has prompted a US court to come up with something even more ridiculous: A man was sentenced to 5 years of prison and pay $180 mio damages for attempting to create and sell a device designed to decrypt digital satellite TV. The guy didn't actually sell so much as one single device, so the damages are purely hypothetical and based on a "what if" scenario and the plaintiffs haven't lost so much as a single dollar, yet they get paid a whopping $180 mio - well, that too is hypothetical because they guy won't live long enough to cough up the entire amount. Now if you feel that this entire idea sounds vaguely familiar, you have probably watched the movie Minority Report, where people get arrested before they can commit a crime. Hypothetical damages make me wonder if pre-crime is about to become a reality. Either way, here's the full story.

DVDFab 0.15.2 includes a French translation and the PGC autoselection failure should no longer occur. Also, after getting a lot of criticism about the timebomb in VCDEasy 1.1.5.1 the 1.1.5 series is now available without timebomb and nagscreen as v1.1.5.2 but this will remain the last freeware fully featured version of VCDEasy.

I have been doing some more testing after updating my standalone DivX player. DivX3 is effectively supported, but as with any other such device, the support is limited and in high bitrate scenes the movie gets choppy or you even lose picture. Also, there's definitely an issue with the XviD decoder as there tends to be a couple of times the image gets discolored before a keyframe - just like when using an old ffdshow version to decode XviD created with an up-to-date build (this is of course not a general problem with XviD and ffdshow but is has happened before).

The RIAA is brining out the big guns. Since they've been granted permission to get user data from ISPs without due process and their request to shut down Kazaa has been denied in court, they have decided to go after the end users of P2P systems now, threatening to sue thousands of users. I found a very funny quote in that press release: "every time you swap that music with your friends a new artist doesn't get a chance". Of course, maybe you're that artist and wondering why none of the majors will sign you up, but then again, that has always been a problem, even before the Internet was invented ;) Also, I've finally realized how the industry is calculating their massive losses they make due to piracy. If you have to pay $150'000 damages for each song traded, it only takes 6667 traded songs to get to a billion... though it makes me wonder how those stiff fines are justified against the price of a CD or DVD. For instance, if I were to be caught without a valid train fare, I'd have to pay a fine that is in the region of a very expensive ticket. So, if you get caught it's more expensive than if you had bought the ticket, which of course makes sense. But if the penalty was $150'000 when the ticket vending machine broke and you just had to take that train because you were on your way to an important meeting, then all hell would break loose. Translate that into music and movies now. A CD costs somewhat around $15, and if you subtract advertising, distribution and manufacturing cost let's say a song costs $1. Thus, the fine for not paying one dollar is 150'000 times that much? Is it just me or are the proportions somehow wrong? Even for a DVD where the price is more in the $20 - $30 region, $150'000 seems way out of line.

Last but not least, it appears that some CPU reviews do not forget about our kind: the hardware review actually include tests of DivX5 encoding via AviSynth / VirtualDub and AC3 encoding using HeadAC3he and the appear to be encoding entire movies. Unfortunately there's no AviSynth script nor indication of DVD2AVI / mpeg2dec version and parameters and the AviSynth version.

ChopperXP 2.7 can display video for any DVD, has an option to associate itself with VOB files and the positions are accurate up to 1 second in the display real-time output mode.

Here's the link to the AnandTech review of the P4 3.2GHz. The DivX encoding performance is pretty impressive (though I do not agree with the way the test was performed).

There has been a firmware update for my elta standalone DivX/XviD player which officially supports VBR MP3 and DivX3. Though, the chipset used is only rated for VCD resolution DivX3 and at very high bitrates you're likely to get choppy video, just like on every other existing device using the same chip. I'll perform some DivX3 tests shortly and I've also received some tips which might provide fluent playback even when using more than 1 consecutive B-frame in XviD. Also, according to heise.de, there's a number of players using the same hardware and firmware (German), thus a player has no DivX3 capable firmware, you can simply flash another one. In fact, one of my forum moderators has already tried a different firmware on his elta player and there were no significant problems (two buttons on the device were disabled but what's a remote for?).

elby has released yet another update for CloneDVD. Version 1.1.7.1 has a revamped and optimized I/O subsystem and the Clone 1 errors should be gone.

Yesterday was release day for both Microsoft and Intel. Microsoft has released Windows Mobile 2003 (formerly known as Pocket PC 2003 - the operating system for PDAs), whereas Intel has launched the P4 3.2GHz, the fastest (and most expensive) x86 CPU at this time. Now I'm just waiting for the Anandtech review of the CPU (and I'm still wondering when they'll start using AviSynth & VDub for an encoding test, and calculate an average fps instead of indicating the value when the progress bar hits 100%).

DVDFab 0.15.0 is the first real release since the product was renamed. It has a new splitting function to copy complete DVDs which is both faster and more stable than the old one.

I've also spotted a couple of new DVD burners: Iomega has released a standard dual format DVD recorder that does the usual 4x ±R, 2.4x +RW, 2x -RW and 16/10/40 for CD-RW and as a first of its kind, a DVD recorder that supports all 3 standards: DVD+R/W, DVD-R/W and DVD-RAM. DVD write performance is the same as for the dual format drive, DVD-RAM can be written at 3x and CD-R/W speed is 24/16/32 (CD-R/CD-RW/CD), making it the DVD burner that burns regular CDs at the highest speed so far. Last but not least TEAC has also announced a new burner supporting both DVD+R/W and DVD-R/W and having the same technical data as the dual format Iomega burner. Their model is called DV-W50D.

Both BenQ and Lite-On are supposed to start producing 8x DVD±RW drives in volume as early as September according to digitimes.com. Here are the links to the individual articles: BenQ, Lite-On. elby has already released an update for their CloneDVD software and Pinnacle has another update for InstantCopy, brining the version number up to 7.11. The update features major speed updates (they claim 30-50%), better target disk usage and batch processing functionality. And another of the 1 click companies has announced a new product: 321studios has combined DVDXCopy and DVDXCopy eXpress to DVDXCopy Gold, which can now split DVD-9s to 2 DVD±Rs and transcode a DVD-9 to fit it on a single DVD±R. But while we're at the subject, you can get all that functionality for free: DVDFab does the splitting, DVD Shrink the transcoding.

I presume that you've heard it already. Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah seems to support development of software to remotely destroy computers of copyright offenders only then to publish a sort-of retraction statement the day after the initial statement. It makes one think though. There's not a word about due process so that could mean that the mere rumor that something illegal is going on will eventually lead to your PC exploding. Being a copyright owner myself, it also makes me wonder if I could blow up the computers of people who are putting my guides on their websites without my permission...

ZoomPlayer 3.10 RC3 is out. The changelog can be found in the Inmatrix forums as usual. VCDEasy is no longer available as freeware :( There's still a free version, but some features have been disabled and some nag screens have been added. Additionally, there's commercial version which costs $15.

Yesterday I tested SVCD compatibility of my elta standalone. Result: I was able to switch languages but nothing really happened, and CVD subs are not supported.

Okay, mail is back up. Those who had an @doom9.org email account, please get in touch with me so that I can restore your account. Though while we're back up, depending on the policy of the mailserver you're using, if you sent us email within the last 6 days it might well be that those have gone lost forever.

DVD2One 1.2 has a new compression engine that can use a constant compression ratio for the entire movie, better size estimation thanks to pre-scanning, the encryption detection is now limited to the files DVD2One actually uses, unused padding data in the videostream is removed and the program is now available in Japanese. There's also a new Mac OS X version of DVD2One using the new engine. elby, maker of the infamous CloneCD software, has released their own DVD backup program called CloneDVD. It appears to be yet another compressed domain transcoder, just like DVD2One, DVD Shrink, etc. It allows the exclusion of menus, audio and subtitles, and main movie only backups are also possible.

And still no @doom9.org emails. Apparently not only Windows servers can crash horribly :/

A few days ago, Intervideo has released WinDVD 5 and now its arch rival Cyberlink is playing catch-up by announcing PowerDVD 5. Imho, both players do not have revolutionary new features, in fact both players have been rather complete in the 3.0 release already and perhaps the most significant feature that has been added since was DTS decoding.

DoCCE4U 1.0.1.5 beta imports the new file list from ReAuthorist, it will locate and import angle chapter lists, jobs can be marked as multiangle which will trigger the required settings in the ecl, and field order is read from the files the latest DoItFast4U beta creates.

My mail is still down :/

AVI-Mux GUI 1.14 supports SSA files, has an MP3 CBR mode, can extract SRT and SSA files from AVI files, is more accurate splitting files and some bugs have been fixed. DVDFab beta3 fixes problems with the IFO file on the 2nd disc.

On the firmware front, there's a new firmware for the NEC ND-1300A which enables high speed burning for more media types and offers RPC-1 , and a patched version of the A05 v1.33 firmware is also available.

I've done some more testing with my new DVD player, and using the new firmware VBR MP3s are now properly supported. Dual audio also seems to be working, and DivX5 GMC and XviD B-frames are supported. DivX5 at quantizer 2 would play flawlessly (I took the well known Matrix lobby shoot-out as my test scene), but I believe (I have to run some more tests to make sure) that XviD GMC is not supported. The new firmware also adds Ogg Vorbis audio playback. I'm now preparing an SVCD to test that kind of functionality as well.

My mail has been up and down (mostly down) for the past few days, so incoming tools aren't processed as fast as usual because I just don't get to see them :/

Anyway, here's DVD Shrink 2.3. The encoder has been speed up a little, total processing time has been added to the info dialogue at the end, an option to combine overlapping titles in the DVD Video view has been added to the preferences to prevent confusion that could occur when applying a level to one item, then another item would also have changed. Reading errors from a DVD disc now trigger a retry (up to 4 times), IfoEdit generated IFO files can now be processed, and some bugs that would prevent proper playback have been fixed.

Cinemacraft has released yet another CCE 2.67 beta: v2.67.00.11 fixes the last frame missing bug in the plugin version, QuickTime encoding problems should have been fixed and only one instance of CCE can be started now. eXtreme Movie Manager 1.6b1 has been released. It has a new download engine supporting proxy servers, a utility to put the year into the title of the movie, double clicking the grid will edit the movie, clicking on the cover of a movie you can import it and there's an export option for the origons.com website.

Also, I have gotten the unofficial latest firmware for the elta Player from 3 sources now so there's no need to send me any more copies. I have assembled a couple of test discs but it looks like I'll have to do some encoding myself to truly test out the player since most of the movies I have around are either DivX3 or XviD, there's no dual audio, etc., but I will definitely get there.

TMPG 2.5.13 disables the settings button in the GOP tab if force picture type setting is not enabled, and audio / memory access errors when reading an animation using DirectShow have been fixed. Pioneer has released new firmwares for the A04 and A05 DVD burners. They include the usual writeability and playability improvements. Callimetrics Inc has announced ML (MultiLevel) recording technology to double the capacity of DVD-9 disc. Interestingly, while the press release says recording technology, it appears to only be working for read only discs (so no joy making 1:1 copies of DVDs), and the proprietary technology requires new players and new copy protection mechanisms. And not quite site related but yesterday the 802.11g 54mbit/s WLAN standard has been officially ratified. According to equipment manufacturers, existing pre standard 802.11g equipment can be upgraded to support the final standard and firmware upgrades should be out soon.

Last but not least, and back to the subject at hand, I picked up a DivX/XviD capable DVD player today: The elta 8882 MPEG4 and I gave it a quick test. There'll be more testing and I might just write a full blown review about this unit if I have time but here are the results I have so far: DVD±R is fully supported. I watched 2 DVD-9 discs, and had a crash in mid-play on the first disc. Regionfree can be achieved with a remote hack (I'll verify that it works soon). The firmware the unit came with does not support DivX3, all you get when trying to play a DivX3 clip is a not supported message. Then I tried my first XviD, and when I just got to like my first XviD on TV experience I started getting hickups. In fact, I have tried 13 XviD movies and only one worked as it should. That one contained a 448kbit/s 5.1ch AC3 audio track which got me thinking. All the other clips I have tried (the 3 DivX5 ones from my latest codec comparison included), had hickups (meaning playback and audio would freeze for a fraction of a second, then continue) and all use VBR MP3 audio. There was one that also uses VBR MP3 and that mysteriously worked for the first 5 minutes I have tried. However, when fast forwarding, the audio would get out of synch (this problem didn't exist when playing the XviD/AC3 file). QPel isn't supported in both codecs. My Matrix XivD clip would not start playing, the SPR clip had a lot of visual distortions, whereas the Futurama clip which was encoded without QPel played just fine (except for the usual hickups). 3ivX couldn't be played back but that's probably because of the fourcc code which doesn't match the DivX5/XviD codecs. So far I haven't been able to verify if AC3 passthrough works for AVI/AC3 files since I don't have a matching receiver. Anyway, I will keep on testing a lot more in the future and there's a new firmware dated June 4th (though the contained ISO file is dated April 12th which does make one wonder) which I'll try to load (btw, the player is using some version of Linux as operating system) but for now I can really not recommend this unit if you like it to play back your DivX or XviD files.

Well, it looks like the slow news season has begun, thus the lack of news for the past few days. I've already used up a considerable part of my holidays so I'll be around during the summer and you can count on daily news if there's anything to be reported. I hope that you will find time to visit my site when you're not far away from home on some exotic beach..

AvisynthEx 1.21 is an AviSynth 2.5 compatible plugin enabling you to use YV12 for frameserving out of various applications, using the IPCSource connection (remember the old Flask plugins?) and adding an extended AVISource command to AviSynth supporting compressed audio formats and forcing a decompression colorspace. ZoomPlayer 3.10 RC2 has also been released. The changelog can be found in the Inmatrix forums as usual.

I'm pretty much restored now and returning to the daily chores like news and such ;)

NuMenu4U is a new DVD±R backup support app that enables you to re-encode menus in CCE. It's currently in beta stage but I'm sure there are brave enough souls out there to give it a try and make some nice bug reports of there are any problems. There are some very interesting discussions going on in the new A/V formats section in the forum, especially about Matroska and MP4. They have led me to a new MP4UI, now based on the MPEG4IP version 0.9.8.5. DVDToolbox 0.13.6 is a bugfix release. A first preview of DVDFab, the successor of DVDToolbox is also available (at this point providing essentially the same functionality).

Also, a virus warning. Some of the people that have previously emailed to our feedback or support hotline have been infected by the Palyh virus, and have been mailbombing us until we had to change our email addresses.

Sorry for the late update, I was in bed for the last 3 days and I'm still not feeling too well :/

Anyway, ReAuthorist 1.0.0 has finally been released and I think that's definitely noteworthy. ReAuthorist is a program interfacing with DoItFast4U and DoCCE4U. It takes the DIF4U output, allows you to make certain configuration changes (set compression ratios for each PGC, replace PGCs with dummies), then launches DC4U for encoding, and finally generates a Scenarist script that you only have to import into Scenarist and then start compilation. Then all you have to do is run IfoUpdate and you're ready to burn your DVD±R project. If you're still not convinced of the usefulness of this little software gem I suggest you compare the old and the new Scenarist guide, the mere length difference should tell you all there is to know ;)

Gabest, author of VobSub and Media Player Classic, has created a new Sourceforge project for all his open source applications, called guliverkli (no idea what that name means;). In it, I found Media Player Classic 6.4.5.2, which has native Matroska support using Gabest's own Matroska DirectShow Filter which according to the people in my forum is pretty good. You'll also note that the contents of the VobSub package has been split and renamed: The subtitle ripper is now called VSRip, the filters (AviSynth, VirtualDub and DirectShow) are called VSFilter whereas Subresynch has been renamed to VSConv.

Yesterday I was talking about DVD burners, today let's turn to media. I was mistaken when it comes to 2x DVD-RWs. Apparently Princo and Ritek are already manufacturing those. I also noted a steep increase in available 4x media recently. Meritline for instance has 7 types of 4x DVD-R media on sale (they sell Riteks under the Meritline brandname before you tell me it's 8;) along with 4 types of 4x DVD+R media, and interestingly enough in a local store they are selling major brand (Verbatim) 4x DVD+R discs for a lower price than the DVD-R counterpart, which corresponds to the theoretical manufacturing price.

Last but not least, as you might know I own a Shuttle barebone system and I just have to get it off my chest. Shuttle has released two new models, based on NVIDIA's and Intel's latest chipset respectively. While they did the Intel one (SB61G2) right (6x USB2, SATA included, separate audio outputs for 6ch), the AMD one (SN45G) isn't quite so great: Onboard GFX was removed which should've given a lot of space for more ports in the back, but the only thing that was added was an optical input. Where's USB No 5&6, where's the separate rear and center/subwoofer audio output? And what happened to the new case introduced with the previous model (and used for the new Intel model)? Dare I even hope for reduced noise levels? Let's hope they set things right when the new NVidia Southbridge is released (SATA and 8x USB2 built-in).