| Date |
News |
| 5/31 |
Back from the power outage :)
You didn't miss much though, there's no new software but ZDNet
has an interesting story on the plans
of the music/movie and software industry to reduce piracy.
|
| 5/29 |
ZoomPlayer
2.60 is out. As usual, the changelog
is so huge that it would take me about as long as to write a brand
new guide to try and compress it down to a few lines. So let's just
say that if used Zoomplayer before or need a player that offers some
special tricks for TV out and a lot of other features then you should
check it out. |
| 5/28 |
Here's what the MPAA would like the future of any recording format
to look like: The Content
Protection Status Report.
Just fyi, all your suggestions for the next codec comparison have
not gone unheard. I'm already looking into Real Media9 but due to
my current workload in school it may take a while..
|
| 5/27 |
DVDDecrypter 3.1.0.0 has IFO parsing, RCE removal, the
MDS file structure has been updated and there's an installer now.
Other than that I did a couple of fixes in the HeadAC3he guides. |
| 5/26 |
BSPlayer 0.85b486 fixes a subtitle problem when using multiple
files and is DivX5.02 compatible.
In the guides section I've finally dumped the Vob2Audio/Graphedit
encoding way and replaced it by the superior BeSweet/HeadAC3he combo.
|
| 5/24 |
ZoomPlayer
2.60RC2 has been released. VdubConf 0.2 allows you to change
the DivX codec defaults for Gordian Knot. BeSplit, the multipurpose
audio files splitting utility has got its own homepage
including a nice GUI.
The upcoming much anticipated computer game Warcraft III will contain
cutscenes
encoded using the DivX codec (not the 3.11 version obviously;).
It's about time game companies started using advanced compression
techniques to make their cutscenes look better.
|
| 5/23 |
Mode2 CD Maker 1.3 supports subdirectories for mode1
files, allows ASCII filenames and the VCD-like filenames have been
removed. SubRip 0.98b comes with an installer, shouldn't skip any
more subtitles when doing OCR, SubRip can process VobSub subtitles
now, MicroDVD format output has been added and the process priority
can be set. WinSubMux
0.2.0.2 has a new icon, some GUI bugs have been fixed and the
MPEG analyzation has been improved. VCDEasy 1.1.1 doesn't crash anymore
when you don't have a default printer. If you didn't' experience any
crashes there's no real need to upgrade, and installing the 1.1.1
release as linked here over the full 1.1.0 package will give you the
equivalent of installing the full 1.1.1 package.. |
| 5/22 |
The RIFF CD/XA filter test6 has VCD/SVCD playback support,
improved media detection and the filter has been rewritten for portability
and future support for error protection. ZoomPlayer
2.60RC1 has been released a while back and I've managed to constantly
forget about it. Sorry Blight. As for GKnot, some people have found
audio encoding to be rather slow. We think this is most likely due
to using the default option in older releases which are much quicker
than what the guide tells you to use now (but you get better quality
doing it the way it's being described in the updated guide). But,
DSPGuru has released a new
compilation of the lame.dll which should be faster. |
| 5/21 |
Some people have suggested not to upgrade to the latest Gordian
Knot because it doesn't allow enough flexibility in the DivX5 codec
configuration. Time to rethink that now! Gordian
Knot 0.26 allows you to configure all the important DivX5 options,
including the psy settings. There's really no need to be able to
use the other options.. Furthermore GKnot now uses trbarry's SimpleResize
filter which results in decreased encoding time, the DivX5 compcheck
has been improved, the compcheck runs audio encoding bug has been
fixed along with the framenumber adjustment bug in IVTC mode. And
the new version comes with an installer that can be used to update
your 0.21 installation.. all the new tools are included right out
of the box. Of course I updated the GKnot based guide to reflect
the latest changes. DeXT has also been busy and has released Mode2
CD Maker 1.2. The cli parser is more tolerant, an estimate of the
CD size is being shown, there's improved drive compatibility and
Form (Mode) 1 support has been added. You'll need the latest Riff
CD/XA filter in order to play files created with the new build.
BTW: If you're just looking for a GKnot binary without an installer
and other fancy stuff point your browser to the official
GKnot homepage and you will find..
|
| 5/20 |
VCDEasy 1.1.10 no longer has long delays when authoring
complex projects, you can save colored XML files as RTF files, print
the XML, the import chapter dialogue has been improved, a reset actions
to default has been added to the interactivity page, MPEG stills generation
via drag&drop has been improved, window positions and sizes are
remembered now, the volume label can now contain 32 characters, bad
naming of the remaining chapters upon chapter deletion has been fixed
along with a problem related to numerical key assignment. |
| 5/19 |
Seems the new GKnot was a full success. And nobody has reported
a serious bug yet :) One thing.. you need Winrar 2.9 or above to
extract the new GKnot... many people seem to be using an older version
and have complained about extraction problems but that's not a bug,
is it?
AACMachine 0.3 now offers 5.1ch AAC encoding using BeSweet 1.3RC
which supports 20 lame switches including ATH and the psytunes switches,
has a new -split() option for partial encoding, support VBR MP2s
and LPCM input along with 5.1ch WAV output, an option to insert
silence at the end of a track and the delay bug for 5.1ch AIFFs
has been fixed.
As it has become quite a theme in my forum I wrote a guide entitled
On the way to XCD - or how to turn 700MB CDs
into 800MB ones. You can guess what it is all about...
|
| 5/18 |
To celebrate the release of DivX5.02 I've written a brand
new DivX5 guide. What's so new about it? Well.. read and find
out. Or keep on reading here and we'll get right to it.
There are people who said Gordian Knot was a dead program. Well,
they've just been proven wrong ;) The new GKnot
0.25 adds some much requested features: DivX5 support (actually
DivX5.02), BeSweet for audio encoding, Decomb for IVTC, a DivX5
compressibility check, lame/azid parameters can be stored, audio
downsampling can be done via BeSweet and the bug in the statsfilereader
when loading very large statsfiles and the issue with subtitles
in the end credits has been resolved. Of course, along with the
new DivX5 guide I've also updated the GKnot
based DivX3 guide. There's just one catch: DivX4 is no longer
supported but if you need it simply stay with GKnot 0.23 which is
of course still available. But considering that DivX5 is nearing
maturity DivX4's lifespan will eventually come to an end... A word
about XviD as well: Since development is far from being complete
and there are new builds very frequently it would require constant
updates of the program so until further notice there won't be a
GKnot for XviD. But never say never and reading the readme will
actually reveal a secret ;) In the meantime you can use DaveEL's
quick2pass
or Dark-Cracker's Autodub.
|
| 5/17 |
Back from bed (though still recovering;). BeSplit 0.51 is more
accurate cutting 44.1KHz MP3s and contains an updated example file.
And DeXT compiled the latest mp4 tools including the player. Not
much new in this release, just a CELP audio codec and some RTSP
fixes.
If you're using IE 5.0 or higher (most of you do... I know that
for a fact ;) you should definitely apply the latest
security patch. For now I can't decide what's worse.. having
to patch my browser every now and then or download 2 Mozilla builds
daily and always have to find out that the linewrapping issue still
hasn't been taken care of...
If you happen to have one of these new copy protected "audio
CDs" - they may actually not use the CD logos because they
don't conform to the specs but Philips hasn't sued anybody about
this yet :( - this little
trick might come in handy to exercise your fair use rights.
DivX5.02 was just released. There are several additions to the
playback filter: A smooth playback option which when turned off
will lower CPU usage when the movie contains B-frames. An extended
YUV mode which results in faster decoding but turns off brightness/contrast/saturation
controls, an extended overlay mode that allows you to use the much
faster hardware overlay of your video card instead of software overlay,
a double buffering option that will increase smoothness during playback
and a film effect option that will add noise to the decoded picture
which may result in a more "natural looking" picture -
depending on the viewer of course. The psy settings have been tweaked
and the decoder has been tweaked for lower-end machines. Then there's
the usual batch of bugfixes: Most notably the new build is no longer
slower than the 5.0 build (5.01 was a bit slower) and the brighter
bar problem when using brightness/contrast/saturation controls.
Here's the Pro AdWare and Regular release. The DivX Player 2.0a4
is also included in the package. Probably the most important feature
there is that you can install the codec without having to install
the player as well ;) And a message to DivXNetworks: A lot of my
readers would really appreciate to get the codec without the DivX
player....
|
| 5/14 |
DVD2SVCD 1.0.9b2
supports the Avisynth sharpen command, Edwin's Link2 program (works
as a VFAPI replacement allowing you to use CCE 2.6x but at the speed
of Avisynth) and there's a couple of bugfixes. Also, due to the
workload of the author there may be fewer updates in the future.
And while we're at it, if I'm slow to answer posts in the forum
or emails that's because I'm currently traveling between the PC
and my bed - in other words I'm sick.
|
| 5/13 |
Quick2pass
0.6 contains a lot of new features as compared to the last time
I wrote about it. There's avs/AVI/mpg input support, job queue, AVI/AC3
support, Decomb support, a compressibility check, etc. |
| 5/12 |
AviSplitCalc
3.42 is a bugfix release. It should work on all OS and the huge
file bug should be fixed. DeXT compiled the MPEG4IP tools and the
MP4Player for us and Link2
0.942 fixes the trial period bug and several other bugs and it
is a bit faster. |
| 5/11 |
WinDVD4
has been released. The new build is available in 3 different versions.
The regular version, the Plus version and Plus including a remote
control. The changelog
is quite long, here are just a few important points: Dolby EX, Dolby
Pro Logic II, Time stretching (including running PAL titles at the
original 24fps), color adjustments and gamma correction and Pan&Scan
mode. The MPEG4IP tools v 0.9.3.15 have been compiled by DeXT and
are available through my
forum. As v0.9.4
has just been released I will wait until binaries for that release
are available before updating the binaries I have for download.
DivX5Enc, the easy DivX5 2-pass encoding utility has been updated
to version
1.06 The new version includes a compressibility check.
Linux users may find this Linux
ripping guide useful.
|
| 5/10 |
Link2
is a program that lets you wrap Avisynth or VirtualDub frameserver
files into a real fake AVI that any application that can read AVI
files can read. This makes it possible to use CCE 2.6x and still
take advantage of the speed that Avisynth frameserving offers over
VFAPI. Of course, the tool works for a lot more programs than just
CCE. Avisynth
1.06 includes a working dissolve function, reduces memory usage,
fixes many bugs and the GPL issues should be fixed. ZoomPlayer
2.60b3 has also been released. As usual, the changelog is quite
long...
I forgot to mention something: Link2 is actually more shareware
than freeware. There's a nagscreen, it only works for 30 days and
the speed is limited to 5fps in unregistered mode.
|
| 5/9 |
Autodub
1.3 is a tool that allows easy 2 pass encoding using DivX3/4/5
and XviD encoding, audio encoding using BeSweet and muxing of various
types of audio streams. Please use the forum
for feedback and bugreports.
Does anybody work at Paypal or knows how I can get a human being
from customer support on the line (or rather... to read my email)
? For weeks I've tried to get more than a stupid auto-reply when
trying to figure out why I cannot set an administrative email for
my account - the option is simply not there and I'd like to get
payment notifications to my new email address.
|
| 5/8 |
IfoEdit 0.91 has a few more PGC commands in the PGC-commands
editor, an enhanced VTS overview - cells can be previewed by double
clicking on them, there's a bitrate calculator, a button to make a
backup of all IFO files, an option to create a streamlist for ReMPEG2,
a function to merge menu tables - for people using CCE to re-encode
and Scenarist to author, an option to check an m2v file and check
the GOP structure - both for debugging/testing purposes only, there's
a settings menu and the program ensures that all files have upper
case (including the VIDEO_TS directory). WinSubMux 0.2.0.1 can show
various info about an mpeg file (subs, length, etc.), multiplex multiple
subtitle streams at once and there's a lot of bugfixes. |
| 5/7 |
DivXManager
0.8 can download movie info, images and covers from a wide range
of movie information sites like imdb.com, etc. It also supports mass
import, has totally new graphics, is 70% faster, supports sound and
can get a lot of info from the movie files directly. |
| 5/6 |
BeSplit 0.4 is no longer limited to splitting AC3 files
but can process WAV, MPA, MP2 and MP3 files. In addition, the commandline
is more flexible, logfiles can be generated, WAV headers can be removed
(useful when extracting an MP3/AC3 using the Save WAV option in VDub)
and the playback length of corrupted WAVs / MP3s can be corrected. |
| 5/5 |
After a forced 48h time-out I'm back in action ;) The
MP4tools 0.9.3.13 use the XviD encoder rather than OpenDivX. The MP4
player has also been updated and the MPEG4 ISO decoding mode should
work properly now. I've also added mpeg2avi 0.16. |
| 5/3 |
DVD2SVCD
1.0.9b1 uses Avisynth 1.0b7d which solves some CCE freeze problems
and fixes the sharpen command, Submux has been replaced with WinSubMux
which is less buggy, DVDs can be ejected after ripping, crash recovery
and I-Author work together now, luminance control has been added to
the DVD2AVI tab, the I-Author subtitle muxer can be used together
with VCDXBuild / VCDImager, padding can be enabled in TMPG, CVD subtitles
on odd lines are now being properly displayed and last but not least
DVD2SVCD can now create VCDs as well. Towards that end there are two
default setting files, one for SVCD and one for VCD. ZoomPlayer
2.60b2 has an inter-process communication interface for LCD displays,
a new file manager that can be controlled through a remote devices
and as usual a rather long list of more or less important other changes. |
| 5/2 |
TMPG
2.54 has a new cut editing feature, bracket keys can be used
to set start and end frame in the source range window, vertical
line ghost can be reduces with the new ghost filter, several settings
in the MPEG settings dialogue can be locked/unlocked, bitrate calculation
has been improved, the problem where an invalid MPEG-2 file would
be created if the vertical resolution is not a multiple of 32 has
been fixed along with the memory access error that closing the merge
and cut window would cause in WinXP.
In other news, the open source office suite OpenOffice
has been released today. OpenOffice did get a rather good review
in CT recently so you may want to try it. And when we're talking
about non ripping related open source software, Mozilla
1.0RC1 is actually not so shabby either. It's the first browser
in a long while that I didn't want to delete again after 5 minutes
of use.
|
| 5/1 |
Something for all my German readers: As you may know the movie
and music industry is trying to get an Euro DMCA. The EU directive
on this matter is even more strict than the DMCA. Here's a German
petition to save fair use.
BSPlayer 0.85 b484 loads the dedynamic filter when switching language
stream, the mouse should always get hidden in fullscreen mode, the
frame stepping and OGG subtitle bugs should be fixed, OGG chapter
support has been added, Winamp DSP plugin support has been improved,
there's a system tray icon that will appear if you hide the main
window, the screen saver can be deactivated while watching a movie
and the player can be controlled with windows messages. On the 800MB
CD front there's some more good news, the latest filter no longer
loads the whole file into memory and now supports all data types.
It's still too early to use it for real archiving but if you're
interested in trying out the latest technologies even before they
go mainstream here's
your chance.
|