DIGITAL DIGEST - http://www.digital-digest.com
DIGITAL DIGEST | LIVE UPDATE Issue 48
21 October, 2004

**************************************************************

TOP NEWS SUMMARY:

1. Introduction

2. Introducing dvdloc8.com (dvdlocate.com)

3. What's new on Digital Digest

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

*******************************************************

1. Introduction

It's been a while since the last newsletter, but this time I have a
good reason and it is explained further in section 2. It has also
been a relatively quiet period in the DVD/DivX world, quite normal
for this time of the year, so it's not all my fault for no
newsletters. Also, my horoscope said that I should avoid publishing
newsletters from mid August to mid October, so there!

-- DVDGuy

*******************************************************

2. Introducing dvdloc8.com (dvdlocate.com)

After months of blood, sweat and junk food, I am finally able to
reveal this "other project" I hinted at in Issue 46. dvdloc8.com (or
dvdlocate.com) is a internet DVD database, and my little attempt at
giving something back to the mainstream DVD community after serving
(or at least trying to serve) the more technically minded DVD backup
community. With dvdloc8.com, you can search and find details about a
DVD edition, including audio languages, subtitles, extras, easter
eggs, trailer/clips, with the usual search options you would expect
(advanced search, search by cast/director/distributor/genre...).

You can also compare editions (either from the same region or across
different regions), compare prices for a selection of major online
DVD stores and review/rate the DVD. A feature that I really like is
the ability to keep a record of your DVD collection. With movie
collection organizers, the problem is that you often have to type in
details of each DVD, or that the information (retrieved usually from
IMDb.com) is not DVD specific. With dvdloc8.com, all you have to do
is to find the DVD you own using our search function, press a
button, and that DVD is added to your collection. You can then view
statistics about your collection, such as the total value, genre
breakdown and average runtime. You will get a ranking for your
collection as well, so you can compare your collection to that of
others. A future feature will be the ability to export your
collection list to publish on your own homepage, and to Excel for
offline viewing.

Wish lists are also supported in the same fashion as collection
lists. So instead of having a separate wish list at every online
store, you can have one central wish list at dvdloc8.com, and use
the built-in price comparison engine to make that purchase when
you're ready.

I have been coding dvdloc8.com, along with two others in a new
company we've formed, for the past 4 month. We've had a lot of pages
to code, so there haven't been much time for testing or to add in
more DVDs to the database (at the time of writing, there are only
about 4500 DVDs), or to ensure the ones added are accurate. As this
will be a long term project, we've implemented a system where any
user can submit information into our database, get award points for
submissions and earn prizes every month.

dvdloc8.com still has a lot of room for improvement, and changes are
being made almost on an hourly basis, but so far we've had some
quite positive feedback, as well as tons of suggestions and bug
reports. So if you have a spare minute or two, please come and have
a look:

http://www.dvdloc8.com


*******************************************************

3. What's new on Digital Digest

Realtively few updates lately, so I have condensed the usual 3
section overview of what's new into just this one section.

Starting off with DVD Digest, a new version of DVD X Player was
released. I mentioned this software when it was first added way back
in Issue 34, and the reason I mentioned it was because of it's
unique feature of both region-free and Macrovision free playback.
Region-free playback is not so unusual, especially if you're used to
using tools like DVD Genie or DVD Region-Free. Macrovision free
playback is rare though, most likely due to the high attention the
MPAA gives to it. While one can use DVD Decrypter or some other DVD
ripper to rip the DVD and remove Macrovision (as well as region
coding) from the DVD, ripping an entire DVD to your hard drive is
time consuming and ultimately bad for your hard drive. With DVD X
Player, there are no such problems. Although what worries me is that
the company that makes DVD X Player (or at least sells it) seems to
be located in the US, and as such, run the danger of being picked up
my the MPAA radars. My advice, for those that are interested, is to
buy early before it's banned or has its unique features removed by
the MPAA.

The development of VirtualDub continues with 1.6.0. A new AMD64
native build (without all the optimizations that shows off 64-bit
processing, yet) is available. It has been given experimental
status, so keep the 1.5.10 build at hand just in case.

On DivX Digest, new versions of AutoGK, XviD and DivX were released.
In the last issue, I recommended upgrading to SP2, and it appears
that SP2 has caused havoc with some DivX related software, in
particular DivX 5.2. Even though fixing the DivX install wasn't too
hard. DivX 5.2.1 was promptly released to fix some of these
problems. SP2 is still recommended though, especially if you haven't
invested in a good software firewall yet.

For DVD recordable related news, dual layer (DL) media prices are
down to around $8-9 per blank, still far too expensive for any
serious use. A ten pack of DL media is nearly as expensive as a DL
burner at the moment. We're still not seeing any media faster than
8x, and at this point, I don't know if they will ever be needed
considering the small speed difference between 8x and 12/16x. I'd
rather media manufacturer concentrate on bringing DL media prices
down, before they spend any resources making 12/16x media.

Related Links:
--------------
DVD X Player:
http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/downloads/showsoftware_dvd_x_player_420.html
DVD Genie: http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/downloads/dvdgenie.html
DVD Region-Free:
http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/downloads/showsoftware_dvd_region-free_250.htm\
l
DVD Decrypter: http://www.dvddecrypter.com
VirtualDub:
http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/downloads/showsoftware_virtualdub_346.html
AutoGK: http://www.divx-digest.com/software/autogk.html
XviD: http://www.divx-digest.com/software/xvid.html
DivX: http://www.divx-digest.com/software/divxcodec5.html


******************************************************

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@yahoogroups.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

*******************************************************

5. A simple thank-you and some concluding words

Just a note to thank all the thousands of people, 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!!

======END OF LIVEUPDATE NEWSLETTER======