April updates from DivX Labs

[DigitAl56K]

DivX Labs, our technology playground, has been very active over the last month. Just in case you missed it, here is a brief summary of updates:

• DivX Web Player 1.4.1 Beta 1 is now available and features improved support for Windows Vista, including better video quality and support for Internet Explorer 7 when running in Protected Mode. DivX Web Player can be used to play high-quality DivX (and XVID) video served from any regular web server with zero server-side configuration required.
  
• DivX Player 6.8.1 Beta 1 features support for large files, QuickTime videos, a Direct3D renderer, and the DivX 6.8 decoder, as well as enhancements to subtitle quality and fast-forwarding.
  
• DivX Converter 6.6.1 Beta 1 supports QuickTime 7.4 and better handles multilingual audio and subtitles.
  
• DivX Mobile Player 0.90 makes installation easier through signed packages, improves battery life with better power management, supports alternate screen orientations for the Motorola Q and Windows Mobile phones, and is now localized for Spanish and Portuguese. Windows Mobile 2003+ and Symbian OS 9+ downloads are available from the DivX Mobile Community homepage. Please note that you need to subscribe to the DivX Mobile Community group to access these downloads. Subscription is open and free.
  
• DivX Codec 6.8.2 has been officially released. This minor update improves support for PAR on systems with multiple monitors and also corrects problems with DivX 3.11 playback and loading certain MPEG quantization matrices in the encoder. We also ran a quick performance comparison with the DivX 6.7 decoder to illustrate significant improvements in decode performance in the 6.8 codec.
  

And in other news:

• Ben (aka thekid) is looking for suggestions for our new video blog! If you have interesting topics you'd like to see us discuss, projects you'd like to see us work on, or even just to tell us how much you love our awesome zebra-print beanbag, leave us a comment!
  
• The DivX Connected team are hosting a competition where you can win a DivX Connected device! All you need are some basic HTML and JavaScript skills and some creativity. Full details, a link to the PC client, and the SDK are all available on the competition page at DivX Labs. Check out our Connected plug-ins page to see what others have already created.
  

[ThisSiteHasLostItsCharm]

I don't like divix anymore, they still haven't fixed the dllhost.exe 50-100% usage when building thumbnails, everything grinds to a halt! It's not a vista issue because Divx 6.7 works fine and Xvid doesn't have this problem.

[Eric Veteran]

Still no 64-bit support either, I see. :(

[Typhon]

Divx sucks now.

[x9248]

It's getting better... at least it's still being developed unlike other codecs.

[Guest Jeremy of Many]

DivX < XviD < x264

x264 FTW!

[Yogurth]

You are correct Jeremy, however folks with older computers can't make use of x264 as it needs alot of CPU power to run it fullscreen. This is where Divx and xVid have their target audience.

[Shasoosh]

^ plus, i don't think my living room Divx dvd player can handle x264. So all my movies must be in in divx \ xvid codec if i want to watch them in my big 32" CRT monitor :p.

Edited May 3, 2008 by Shasoosh

[Crazysah]

DivX < XviD < x264

x264 FTW!

Yeah but how much development is going into x264 and how many dvd players are capable of x264? xVid has a bigger market and more dvd players and is being developed.

[x9248]

^h264 is actually constantly being worked on and new versions are released quite often.

Sadly these reasons you guys give are exactly why h264 is not the norm yet. As long as people continue to support these older codecs then they will see no reason to move up to h264 even tho it's insanely superior. I can understand wanting to play content on a standalone DVD player, but watching a h264 video on PC is not THAT demanding (unless it's like a BR rip thats like, 1080p)... my 5 year old PC plays them just fine and uses ~50% CPU.

[Waylander]

you can also get some decent non-pc hardware to play h264 files now as well (google popcornhour/istar mini/tvix/duneHD) most dont have a optical drive but the dune hd does

[Commodore Max]

DivX < XviD < x264

x264 FTW!

Agreed. :)

[unrealism]

Agreed. :)

How do you encode with x264? I am currently using Nero Recode for my stuff. I tend to like it but it is very incompatible and also some movies come out like poo!

[Azusa]

^h264 is actually constantly being worked on and new versions are released quite often.

Sadly these reasons you guys give are exactly why h264 is not the norm yet. As long as people continue to support these older codecs then they will see no reason to move up to h264 even tho it's insanely superior. I can understand wanting to play content on a standalone DVD player, but watching a h264 video on PC is not THAT demanding (unless it's like a BR rip thats like, 1080p)... my 5 year old PC plays them just fine and uses ~50% CPU.

i suppose you could blame consoles for giving people an excuse for not upgrading their turn of the century hardware (how long will it be before i can use that again)