DIGITAL DIGEST - http://www.digital-digest.com
DIGITAL DIGEST | LIVE UPDATE Issue 37 Supplement
4 September, 2003

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NEWS SUMMARY :

1. Why am I receiving this supplement issue?

2. DivX 5.1 Released

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1. Why am I receiving this supplement issue?

From time to time, there will be some new release of a major software
(like the DivX codec), and while there aren't enough news items to
add up to a full newsletter, a supplement newsletter like this one
will be sent to inform you of the release news.


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2. DivX 5.1 Released

The next semi-major version of the DivX codec has been released. This
shouldn't come as a surprise for those that have been reading the
last few issues of this newsletter. The list of new features
shouldn't be too much of a surprise either to those that have been
downloading the various "Polynesian island" named DivX Beta releases
that have been mentioned briefly in past newsletters.

The complete "What's new" for DivX 5.1 :

New:
* Added a new high-quality psychovisual mode that includes the
following features:
* Texture cortex masking and rate distortion algorithm
* Hybrid mode (with texture cortex masking)
* Speed optimization
* Chroma operation (this option is not enabled by default for
performance reasons; to enable it, create an empty file in C:\ called
* "DivxPvShapingChroma.txt" for "fast" mode
and "DivxPvSimpleChroma.txt" for slow mode; testing shows only 1-2%
gains in JND tests)
* The decoder has been rearchitected and is now 10 to 30% faster on
all CPU platforms.
* The decoder now supports automatic post-processing during video
playback.
* Added new features to the rate control modes of the encoder,
including:
* A complexity vector log file
* An API that allows real-time control of rate control
* An API that allows forced I-frame insertion

Improved:
* Redesigned encoder GUI. The new GUI is more accessible and
simplifies overall usage.
* DivX 3 compatibility. (There were no problems detected on any of
the more than 60 hours of test content.)
* Performance of Nth Pass strategy planning performance.

Fixed:
* A bug that caused the quantizer to overshoot the bitrate following
a transition to a complex scene.
* A bug that limited the interframe change in quantizer to the ideal
quantizer or plus or minus 2.
* A bug in RGB32 to YUV conversion on Pentium 4 machines.
* A minor bug that affected multiple CPU configuration.
* A bug with the rate control video buffer verifier (VBV) that would
enforce a "3 sec" max bitrate.
* Several bugs that affected Nth Pass encoding strategy planning.
* A bug that caused a different number of frames to be reported
between different passes in VirtualDub.
* A bug that caused motion vector (MV) reuse to be non-functional.
* A bug that caused problems when MV reuse and psychovisual mode were
used together.
* Several bugs with the installer.
* A bug that caused a crash when setting crop/resize values.

Related Links :
DivX Codec : http://www.divx-digest.com/software/divxcodec5.html
DivX Codec - Official Site : http://www.divx.com


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