After quite a long delay, a new version of the popular MPEG-4 codec, DivX, has been released.
The new version has quite a long changelog, but the most notable changes are actually in the distribution method; now the adware version of the DivX has been abandoned and replaced with a fully functional 6-months trial version of the full DivX Pro. Also, now there are two separate editions of the DivX available -- one for the Windows 2000/XP and one for the Windows 98/ME.
The full changelog is here:
Download the trial version for Win2k/XP from here:
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_encoders/divx_5_for_windows.cfm
...and for Win98/ME from here:
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_encoders/divx_for_win98.cfm
The full changelog is here:
- New:
- Localized versions for French, German and Japanese
- Bi-directional coding using an adaptive method
- Fully adaptive multiple consecutive B-frames
- MPEG-2/H.263 quantization choice
- Built-in bitrate calculator
- Update checking tool
- Automatic update notification for the DivX encoder
- Fast mode, revamped for better performance, compression and quality
- Feedback mode which is now multithreaded, taking advantage of HyperThreaded or dual CPU for better efficiency
- 3 point GMC support in the DivX decoder
- Changed:
- "Slowest" mode removed as the quality differential with "Slow" mode was insignificant, yet the performance differential was massive
- DivX Pro Adware bundle replaced by DivX Pro 6-month free trial
- Improved:
- Smooth playback supporting multiple consecutive B-frames
- Quantizer, now using quant scale in video packets
- Fixed (Encoder):
- A rare issue where rate control sometimes inserted Q=31 frames in video combining low light conditions, high bitrate and specific motion patterns
- Fastest mode to respect the user-specified average bitrate (Old "Fastest" behavior can be obtained by disabling profiles and performing 1-Pass, Quality-based encoding with Q=3)
- Fixed (Decoder):
- A crash occurring in some rare cases with clips that have dimensions divisible only by 2 and use YUY2 color mode
- Black screen when decoding old buggy MPEG-4 clips that lack VOL header
- Internal flush operation with "Smooth playback" feature
- Intra inverse quantization (type 1)
- Support for generic MPEG-4 (XVID and 3ivX)
- Data partitioning clip
- Deblocking to no longer cause solid blocks to appear during playback
- DivX decoder to always play DivX video
Download the trial version for Win2k/XP from here:
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_encoders/divx_5_for_windows.cfm
...and for Win98/ME from here:
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_encoders/divx_for_win98.cfm
