DIGITAL DIGEST - http://www.digital-digest.com
DIGITAL DIGEST | LIVE UPDATE Issue 34
21 July, 2003

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TOP NEWS SUMMARY :

1. What's happened on DivX Digest since the last newsletter?

2. What's happened on DVD Digest since the last newsletter?

3. What's happened on DVD±R Digest since the last newsletter?

4. How to cancel/change your subscription email address/settings
- how to maintain the subscription to this newsletter even if
your email address has changed

5. A simple thank-you and some concluding words

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1. What's happened on DivX Digest since the last newsletter?

Let's start with the updates immediately after the last newsletter
(6th July), in chronological order perhaps. The 1.00 (ie. really
important/final version) of ReClock has been released. ReClock is a
DirectShow filter that replaces the default DirectSound renderer and
provides a new reference clock that is locked to your video card's
hardware clock. In lay-person terms, it makes playback smoother. Does
it work? I think that's a question that is best answered if you try
it out on your system - ReClock is freeware after all (and does come
with an uninstall utility, if you don't find that it meets your
needs).

Yet another subtitle tool was added a few days later. It's not that I
mind the quantity of subtitle tools, but just like bit-rate
calculators, the quality of some leave plenty of room for improvement
(to put it nicely). Of course, at DivX Digest, we only add software
that is of an acceptable level of quality, so for those that have
submitted subtitle tools (or bit-rate calculators), please don't
think the last statement was aimed at you :)

Oh yeah, back to the newly added subtitle tool. It's called Subtitle
Processor and I think it has potential. First of all, it is free, and
that's always a good thing. And instead of supporting a million
subtitle formats, it supports only the most important ones, such as
SubRip and MicroDVD. It supports subtitle editing/adjusting, playback
and translation. It's free, so why not check it out the next time you
need to do some SubRip/MicroDVD subtitle editing or translation.

Yet another Media Player Classic build was released - yet another
sign of the importance and advantages of open-source developments.
Media Player Classic is for those, like me, who never got tired of
the 6.4 version of Windows Media Player. I still use it frequently,
at least compared to later versions of WMP. 6.4 was a "classic".
Media Player Classic is not related to the Microsoft player, but has
been designed to match the appearance and usability (ie. simplicity)
of the original "classic", plus many more feature for the average
DivX connoisseur (and yes, I did look up the spelling of this word in
the dictionary).

There were a couple of other updates as well, but I think I've also
written too much, and you can always visit the site to check out the
latest news. In other words, please visit my site, frequently and
often ;)


Related Links :
Media Player Classic : http://www.divx-
digest.com/software/media_player_classic.html
ReClock : http://www.divx-digest.com/software/reclock.html
Subtitle Processor : http://www.divx-
digest.com/software/subtitle_processor.html

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2. What's happened on DVD Digest since the last newsletter?

It's been a little quiet on the DVD front - no updates since the
15th. Not great news for a DVD website webmaster, but does give me a
little bit of time to do other things, like my real job and
recovering over the flu. Still, from the time of the last newsletter
to the 15th, no less than two DVD players were added to the downloads
section.

First up is the commercial BlazeDVD, which was accidentally listed as
shareware until just a few minutes ago. I guess now is as good a time
to explain my shareware/commercial software listing policy. Some of
you may have noticed that the definition of
shareware/commercial/trialware is all mixed up at the moment. Most
commercial software publishers want to call their software shareware
to attract more downloads, but it's not always the case. Here at
Digital Digest, we use the following criteria to determine whether a
software is shareware or not :

1. It must have a freely downloadable version.
2. This version must not be crippled for normal use for at least a
week or more (so if a DVD player software limits playback to 5
minutes, then it isn't shareware).
3. It must not contain ad/spy ware (as that would fall into the
ad/spy ware category of software).

In order for a commercial software to be listed, it has to have a
good reputation or is from a well known company, or it must have a
trial version for proper evaluation before any money has exchanged
hands.

Back to BlazeDVD. BlazeDVD is a DVD/SVCD/VCD/multi-media player. In
terms of features and pricing, it is closely matched to the standard
versions of PowerDVD and WinDVD (Gold). It's a commercial tool, but
it does have a trial version, so you can all check it out for
yourselves.

The other DVD player that was added recently was DVD X Player. It is
also commercial, but it has a distinct feature that no other
commercial DVD player shares, for various reasons. It is region-free
by design. Now, the main reason this feature hasn't been implemented
in other DVD players (although almost all of the major ones can be
made region-free, relatively easily) is the flak one would get from
the MPAA. Again, a trial version is available.


Related Links :
BlazeDVD : http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/downloads/blazedvd.html
DVD X Player : http://www.digital-
digest.com/dvd/downloads/dvd_x_player.html

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3. What's happened on DVD±R Digest since the last newsletter?

New versions of ImgTool has been released. ImgTool is actually
available in three different versions : original, classic and the
new "burn" version. The original featured DVD .img image support
(great for use with DVD Decrypter, which supports the burning of .img
files to DVD±R/RW) and a DLL file for DVD burning in IfoEdit. This
version ran into a little copyright issues (it used some library
files from an old demo version of DVD Wise, as the original version
was never meant for public distribution). The new "burn" version was
released and it supported burning within the software (although the
Nero API, from the demo version if you don't have the full version,
is required). But the new version didn't have .img image support
anymore, and since the ImgTool + DVD Decrypter route was so popular,
a new "old" version, ImgTool Classic, was introduced without the
copyright issues.

There were also new versions of DVD2one and it's Mac OS-X equivalent,
DVD2oneX. DVD2one/X is a DVD backup tool that uses the "quick-n-
dirty" transcoding method that DVD Shrink also uses. It doesn't
actually re-encode/compress the video, but rather, strip information
from video frames so that file size is reduced. The re-
encoding/compression method (ie. through a MPEG-2 compression codec)
produces better quality and more precise file sizes, but it cannot
compare to the "half and hour per DVD" speed of the "quick-n-dirty"
method. It can also strip actual content from the DVD (eg. movie only
DVD) to reduce space.

There were also several new versions of DVDFab. DVDFab is the
successor to DVDToolbox, and uses the other main method of DVD
backup - splitting. This method tries to preserve the original
quality and content by splitting the DVD-9 DVD to 2 DVD-5 DVD±Rs,
good if you have access to cheap DVD±Rs (and dual-disc blank
cases).


Related Links :
DVD2one/DVD2oneX : http://www.dvdr-digest.com/software/modules.php?
name=Downloads&d_op=getit&lid=25
DVDFab : http://www.dvdr-digest.com/software/modules.php?
name=Downloads&d_op=getit&lid=39
ImgTool : http://www.dvdr-digest.com/software/modules.php?
name=Downloads&d_op=getit&lid=14

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4. How to cancel/change settings/email address for your subscription
to this newsletter

Changing subscription status for this newsletter is pretty easy.

To un-subscribe :
- Send an email to liveupdate-unsubscribe@egroups.com using the email
account that receives this newsletter.

To change the email address that receives this newsletter :
- Un-subscribe using your current one, and sign up using a new email
address


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5. A simple thank-you and some concluding words

Just a note to thank all the thousands of people (6800+ at last
count), including you, who joined the Digital Digest LiveUpdate list.
I've spent quite a bit of time developing this site, and making it
what it is today, and really do appreciate your continued support.

I hoped you enjoyed another issue of the LiveUpdate newsletter. You
won't have to wait seven more months for the next issue, I promise :)

Thanks!!

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