After a series of beta versions, DivXNetworks has finally launched DivX v5.1 which, the company claims, is the "biggest improvement yet" in DivX's history. The changelog seems pretty impressive...
- 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)
peed 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.
You can download the free version of DivX v5.1 from here:
https://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_encoders/divx_5_for_windows.cfm
More information: DivX.com












