AD said:
...Divx 6 is a new beast though and no longer uses the avi extension either but rather *.divx I cant remember if you can even watch them with media player or whether or not you need to download the divx player (that part is free at least). It does allow DVD-like features though such as multiple audio tracks, menus, and subtitles...
Yeah, the demo videos they released a month or two back, showcasing these features, were impressive. IIRC, they implemented the .divx extension briefly during the DivX 4.x era, but it was more of a branding exercise than anything else and it was subsequently dropped, whereas with DivX 6 the .divx extension appears to be a whole new container like .avi ; .mkv (Matroska) ; .mp4 ; .wmv ; etc. This allows DivX to add much more functionality to the codec as you mentioned, i.e. menus, subtitles, etc. Some of these features were possible to do with the .avi container (e.g. up to two audio tracks and a set of subtitles), but of all of them are essentially hacks and continuing within the .avi framework wouldn't be viable for DivX if they wanted to include these features.
Just had a quick gander at the
Doom9 forums and a lot of the guys seem impressed by the new quality improvements in the codec, so I'm probably going to give the Helium build a bash tomorrow.
AD said:
...Hey, If you dont mind my asking BrynS, are you in the industry? you seem very knowledgable about video codecs and encoding...
Thanks. No, I'm not in the industry, although it's something I wouldn't mind doing in the future. It's basically a hobby I started a couple of years ago after I bought my first 3D graphics card in 1999, which included an S-Video IN connection on the card, and I started experimenting with capturing portions of some VHS tapes (mostly the original Star Wars trilogy
). The codecs with the included software were fairly limited, so I had a look around on the net and discovered VirtualDub and the original DivX 3.11 Alpha, which was basically a hack of questionable origins of Microsoft's early MPEG4 codec and was split into a high and low motion version. AFAIK, the codec has since been entirely re-written and DivX control their own intellectual property, although the DivX codec is still based on the MPEG4 ASP framework.
Since then, I pretty much try to stay up-to-date on most of the major developments --
Doom9 and their guides and forums being one of, if not, the best resources around. I haven't really been keeping abreast of developments in the Doom9 forums at all over the past few months and currently feel very much out of the loop. It can be quite daunting sometimes just trying to keep up with specific programme GUI and frontend versions, especially some of the more prolific open source tools, which can sometimes span two or three minor updates within a day, especially as I generally like to try out and evaluate a range of tools within each area. However, saying that, once you find a codec and a complimentary application that you are happy with, you can usually stick with it and continue to get good results provided it's updated on a regular basis. If you like trying obscure, often unstable, quirky and sometimes brilliant solutions then the field doesn't disappoint either. It's just one of those fields that's constantly evolving as more efficient codecs and optimisations come online.
AD said:
...So far it's just a hobby for me (I'm more interested in the creative aspect and knowing the technical stuff is a neccessity for making sure the end product that I share is how I want others to see it...
Given the wide range of content you have made for the WC community, the encoding aspect is definately something that you will continue to pick up quickly. However, all of your videos have been competently encoded and the creative talent and desire is clear to see and I'm sure they have spurred on many others as well. I thought that your WC4 DVD music video with the Leroy/New World track was particularly well composed and it really inspired me to consider creating some WC-themed videos as well. I need to work on my editing skills first and get a bit more organised in my free time, but hopefully something will happen in the next few months.
AD said:
...It took me forever to get that grainy-old-film effect from the flashback parts to show up adequatly enough in the lower res versions of
my prophecy video. With a lot of compression it would tend to disapear.)
Yeah, unfortunately that kind of effect tends to get lost when encoding at such a low res (320x160?), even with a fairly high bitrate and a decent codec, although the source material (Prophecy CD) doesn't help either and the (lack of) effect is further magnified when stretching the video (100-500%) to full-screen while viewing. The WM9 codec also tends to smooth out/blur at low-res/-bitrate, which on the one-hand mostly counteracts the noticable blocking from the original Prophecy source, while eliminating a lot of the detail and sharpness. It's a compromise which quite often has to be made, although it can be minimised to varying extents.
Anyway, thanks again for the great videos AD!
Cheers,
BrynS