h+ for divx4

[Doom9]

http://www1.internetwire.com/iwire/release_html_b1?release_id=37647

[prot0vision]

I don't think this has anything to do with the H+, other than its parent company, Sigma, being behide this new chip/STB.

prot0vision

[Ripe73]

HI!

Will it be possible to play Xvid&DivX3.11 with this chip?

[-h]

XviD will be playable, yes, because both DivX and XviD are (in theory) MPEG-4 spec compatible. DivX still has some issues conforming to the simple portion of the spec, i.e. its MPEG quantization support. DivX 3.11 is not MPEG4 compatible, and thus will not be playable.

Depending on how different the formats are, it may be possible to losslessly convert DivX 3.11 bitstreams to MPEG4, then being playable with XviD, DivX and this decoder chip. This will not happen any time soon.

Having read the article, I have no idea what DXN intends to apply for patents on.. MPEG4 is already heavily encumbered by patents, and the codec itself employs nothing that I would deem "not obvious to anyone experienced in the art".

-h

[macdaddy]

The x-card looks sweet. If I am reading correctly, there will be a codec choice, too (XviD and DivX are both compatible)...

Is it possible to use oggvorbis or .ac3 audio with the aforementioned video codecs, and still have a MPEG-4 compliant stream? I know when I play avi/ac3 via the hp render filter (h+ tv-out), the audio is not recognized by the card. It is necessary to have another sound card-one that has an S/PDIFout. Using zoomplayer, and the audio filters that come with PowerDVD, it is possible to have the avi/ac3 file work. I assume this will be the same for MPEG-4 files and this new X-Card, but I really don't know-which is why I am asking the question. Also, will these combinations (xvid/ac3 or divx4or5/ac3) work?

Where do you sign up for pre-orders (if they exist)..?

[macdaddy]

another thought...

Would the card play divx3.xx files back IF we have set divx4 to decode divx3..?

[macdaddy]

The link to the x-card is here (http://www.sigmadesigns.com./products/xcard.htm)...

Looks good. The one thing I am curious about is the footnote refering to the "MPEG-4 advanced simple profile level 5" video decoding. The footnote reads, "without 1/4 pixel and global motion compensation." I am not sure what that means...

[Emp3r0r]

too bad they don't offer a cheaper version without a remote, or did i miss it?

[Doom9]

@macdaddy: http://mpeg.telecomitalialab.com/standards/mpeg-4/mpeg-4.htm#E10E17
simple profile level5.. doesn't exist after all the docs on mpeg-4 I read during the last few weeks (I have to write a paper on MPEG-4 for school).. I wonder if they mean support for profiles 1-5, meaning up to the N-bit profile which would be kinda great (todays codecs don't even fully support the core profile yet.. so we have a lot of new stuff coming our way). Later on the same page you can read about GMC and 4pel mc.. it's 2 advanced motion compensation techniques introduces in mpeg-4 version2 (just look for the image wiht the tennis player.. it's around there somewhere)