VP4 preview demo. Right here!

[phrentec]

http://www.on2.com/vp4real/vp4_for_real_demo_download.php3

but where is the beta encoder?

[Peters]

Hem..


Known Issues:

Lack of overlay support with certain video cards: because of the RealPlayer video architecture, VP4 may look blocky or fuzzy when stretched or blown-up to full-screen. This happens when RealPlayer cannot get overlay support from the video card; it may also randomly loose overlay support when stretched to certain video sizes, or if another application (such as MediaPlayer) is using the overlay.

Setting RealPlayer maximum bandwidth too low can cause excessive buffering: If the network settings in RealPlayer are set below the actual bandwidth of the file, then RealPlayer may buffer for extended amounts of time before playing, or not play the file at all. The best choice is to set to the highest speed possible.

Black or green screen after pausing or seeking: after pausing or seeking within RealPlayer and then playing again, there may be a black or green screen for a few seconds. This is a known bug we have encountered with keyframes that will be fixed in the official release of the VP4 for Real software.

[ProfDrMorph]

Hmmm except the last point it's just wrong configuration or bad drivers. The codec and Real Player aren't the programs to blame for the other two points since it's the fault of something else.

Btw: what's up with these issues? Anything you want to tell us?

[Peters]

I don't agree with you.

Ok for the first point but for the second ??
Vp4 is a streaming codec and in my opinion such a codec has to be adaptive and reduce video and(or) audio quality if the bandwith is not enough (like realplayer 8 codec)

But i don't want to proove anything, everybody is free to test.
I don't like On2 technologies methods, that's all

[ProfDrMorph]

If you have problems with streaming you can't blame the codec. The codec only compresses and decompresses the video stream. Everything on top of it ( muxing into a file format; streaming/transferring ) isn't part of the codec anymore. It's RealPlayer's job to watch for best possible streaming.

[Peters]

It's not exactly like that that i understand streaming.
With Real Producer, you have full Codec Control, yu have the option to optimize the particular codec, the bandwidth assigned to each audience, or to configure how the system responds under duress conditions.

And do you know SureStream?

"This unique RealSystem feature allows the RealServer to dynamically adjust the stream for each of the unique listeners, depending on the dynamic network conditions of the user's connection. If the network path becomes congested, RealSystem will 'shift down,' like an automatic transmission on a hill. Once the congestion is gone, the connection will shift back up."

And there are more features...

So Vp4 argument is not valid for me...

[ProfDrMorph]

sounds like RealMedia works progressivly. I once played around with JPEG and the Progressive Image feature. The result was that progressive images need a bit more space to maintain the same quality. Looks like VP4 doesn't work progressivly to maintain maximum quality. At low bitrates this is IMO better than that was Real does.

[-h]

Real's "Surestream" technology just encodes the source at a bunch of different bitrates and embeds them all into one stream. It's the same as encoding a video 4 times over at higher and higher bitrates, then choosing which one to send to the user.

Truly progressive video encoding is.. scary.

-h