Azid v1.9 released

[Midas]

Hi,

I am happy to announce that Azid v1.9 has now been released.

The features and fixes are:
[list=1]
Added PIII and P4 optimized version of the decoder, yielding up to 30% increase in decoder performance.

Added support for Dolby Pro Logic II downmix output with correct downmix matrix.

Fixed popping bug when playing back ac3 files with low volumes.

Increased disk-caching memory to decrease frantic disk activities to enhance decoder performance.

Added support for 32-bits integer wav's

Default LFE into LR downmix level is changed from 0dB to -3dB, since there are two front-speakers (opposed to one sub).

Fixed click/pop bug when doing two-pass operation

[/list=1]

A new version has been committed to doom9, and will surely be available from the website soon.

The same applies to BeSweet. DSPGuru has received the latest release, and he will probably release a new version of BeSweet very soon.


-Midas

[DSPguru]

Cheers !
BeSweet v1.5b24 can be obtatined from my beta page (http://dspguru.notrace.dk/beta.html), bundled with azid.dll (the p3 compile).

again, Cheers to Midas for the new (and probably a completely bugless) build :D

[The Edge]

Originally posted by Midas
The same applies to BeSweet. DSPGuru has received the latest release, and he will probably release a new version of BeSweet very soon.


Like 3mins after your post!
Thanks lads :)


Edge

[Razor04]

Originally posted by Midas

Added PIII and P4 optimized version of the decoder, yielding up to 30% increase in decoder performance.

Added support for Dolby Pro Logic II downmix output with correct downmix matrix.

Fixed popping bug when playing back ac3 files with low volumes.

Increased disk-caching memory to decrease frantic disk activities to enhance decoder performance.

Added support for 32-bits integer wav's

Default LFE into LR downmix level is changed from 0dB to -3dB, since there are two front-speakers (opposed to one sub).

Fixed click/pop bug when doing two-pass operation

-Midas
First off I apologize if I am breaking any rules...been away from here for the past few months while school took over my life. Since I was unable to find much documentation on this new version I just have a couple quick questions.

1) I take it with the new -3 dB LFE level it is no longer necessary to activate this in the BeSweet GUI if you use it?

2) With the new DPLII downmix...how is that activated? Same way using -s surround2?

3) Any chance of a P4 build?

Probably dumb questions but I am just trying to catch up with all the changes over the past few months.

[Tuning]

I am happy to announce that Azid v1.9 has now been released.

Thanks Midas!.

Btw, do we have a real advantage on p4 compilation?
If then what do i need to compile for P4?

Thanks.

[DSPguru]

Originally posted by Razor04
1) I take it with the new -3 dB LFE level it is no longer necessary to activate this in the BeSweet GUI if you use it?nope. this is only relevant for azid.exe, and irrelevant for all other frontends that uses azid.dll

2) With the new DPLII downmix...how is that activated? Same way using -s surround2?azid.exe : -s dplii.
BeSweet.exe : -s surround2.

3) Any chance of a P4 build?azid's zip archive includes three builds : blend, p3 and p4.

Originally posted by Tuning
Btw, do we have a real advantage on p4 compilation?the p3 and p4 builds are almost as fast. there's a small difference between the two, and both are at least 20% faster than the blend build.
tests shows that the p4 build of azid.exe is the fastest out of the three and the p3 build of azid.dll is the fastest out of the three.

[Razor04]

Thanks a lot DSPGuru!

[Tuning]

Thanks DSPGuru for the info! (Again :D)

[bond]

damn, great thing!!!

azid is one of the great (but silent) tools out there

thanks a lot :)

[KpeX]

Cheers to Midas for the new version and DSPguru for a quick update :).

[ssjkakaroto]

Originally posted by KpeX
Cheers to Midas for the new version and DSPguru for a quick update :). i second that :)

[ikerrg]

Great, Midas!!!! you've fixed the OLD bug that made BeSweet to crash on second pass when using azid's "--maximize" option. Very well, Midas, that's a good work.

Please, DSPGuru, insert also the P4 compiled code into your azid.dll (or allow to download an azid.dll optimized for P4), because with P3 code, azid is nearly as fast as before in P4 machines.

Thank you for your work.

Bye.
http://go.to/iker

[Doom9]

@ikerrg: I suggest you read this again the p3 and p4 builds are almost as fast. there's a small difference between the two, and both are at least 20% faster than the blend build.
tests shows that the p4 build of azid.exe is the fastest out of the three and the p3 build of azid.dll is the fastest out of the three. Since BeSweet uses azid.dll, supplying the P4.dll would not only waste bandwith for non P4 owners, lead to problems for all non P4 owners, but every P4 owner would actually have slower encoding than he/she could have when using the P3 dll.

[ikerrg]

OK, if you have tested speed of the .dll, you must be right. I haven't tested the speed of both dlls.

But OLD bug has gone!!!!! This is the really important thing.

Thank you.

[HarryM]

Compilation for HeadAC3he do exists?

[kempfand]

// off-topic mode on
Cheers !
BeSweet v1.5b24 can be obtatined from my beta page

Did play around a bit with -ac3enc and got the following "error"-log:

Error 85: support for ac3enc.dll had been removed due it its suckness!

I'm still ROFL ... that really made my weekend ...
LOL

Of course, I completely agree with the "soft guidance" ... LOL
// off-topic mode off

Kind regards,
Andreas

[KpeX]

Originally posted by kempfand

Error 85: support for ac3enc.dll had been removed due it its suckness!

I'm still ROFL ... that really made my weekend ...
LOL


Haha....I will prepare my response for the many coming questions on error 85 when encoding to AC3 ;)...

Cheers,

[LigH]

Warm welcome back, Midas (only once or twice a year - but always again!).

:scared: I only have an AMD DURON. So I probably will have to use a "less optimized" version from the package available at the doom9 downloads?! Well - let's test! :p
__

UPDATE:

:confused: There are no DLLs in the package available in the doom9 downloads. But fortunately, the DLL shipped with BeSweet 1.5b24 runs on my DURON. Probably, it is not "too P3-optimized".

[Backwoods]

Originally posted by KpeX
Haha....I will prepare my response for the many coming questions on error 85 when encoding to AC3 ;)...

Cheers,

Then how do we encode AC3 now :scared:

[Midas]

@LigH

As soon as someone gives me a compiler specialized for the AMD processors, I will not hestiate to release such a version.

In the beginning there was Pentium, then MMX came along, then SIMD (PIII) and finally SIMD2 (P4). AFAIK AMD's products has copied more or less the same blocks from Intel, right? This implies that P3 or P4 optimized code should work on an AMD as well. (I'm just guessing...)

The single and greatest boost in performance [in azid] was cased by compiling with SIMD support (since it relies heavily on float-operations). This is the P3 version. You should really give the P3 version a go, and then you'll see how interoprable AMD and Intel are...

Please, give me some feedback if you get any result from it :)

-Midas

[LigH]

On my DURON, azid_P3.exe crashes as soon as it is started, even without parameters:

"unknown software exception" (0xc000001d) at address 0x0040101c

The azid.dll shipped with BeSweet 1.5b24 runs fine, the default (MMX?) azid.exe as well.

AFAIK, full SSE is supported from some Athlon versions and above. DURONs only support some subset of integer SSE.

[HarryM]

Azid.dll is compatible with HeadAC3he... :D

[Maxiz]

anyway will ever possible to transcode ac3 to ac3 with besweet...

[LigH]

Not before someone writes a bugfree freeware AC3 encoder; hard to believe, due to licensing rules by Dolby.

(Anyway, welcome to the doom9 board.)

[iago]

1) I take it with the new -3 dB LFE level it is no longer necessary to activate this in the BeSweet GUI if you use it? (Razor04) nope. this is only relevant for azid.exe, and irrelevant for all other frontends that uses azid.dll. (DSPguru)Sorry, I might sound a bit like a dummy by asking the same question. But as a result, should we deactivate it in BeSweetGUI when using BeSweet 1.5b24 (that comes with the new azid.dll) or still keep it ticked? :confused:

Btw, thanks for the new versions of both Azid and BeSweet(/GUI).

regards,
iago

[pacohaas]

would it be possible to do a AMD compile? It seems there are just as many of us as there are the Pentium users. Not sure what all the compile optimizations are, but I believe I've seen compilations around optimized for general AMD use and ones for the XP variety. I'd be happy to do performance tests on my XP2500+ ;-)

[DSPguru]

Originally posted by iago
Sorry, I might sound a bit like a dummy by asking the same question. But as a result, should we deactivate it in BeSweetGUI when using BeSweet 1.5b24 (that comes with the new azid.dll) or still keep it ticked? :confused:

Btw, thanks for the new versions of both Azid and BeSweet(/GUI).

regards,
iago keep ticked :).

[hellgauss]

Thanks a lot for azid1.9, it's a great tool!!
I've a question.

From the help file:

*******************************************
-s STEREO_MODE, --stereo=STEREO_MODE
------------------------------------

Default: surround

When 2/0 decoding is selected, this option controls what kind of
stereo downmix should be applied. Possible values are:

o mono. Used for mono downmixes

o stereo. Standard stereo downmix

o dpl (default). Dolby Pro Logic downmix is selected

o dplii. The new Dolby Pro Logic II downmix is selected
*******************************************

what is default surround or dpl?
Is "--stereo=dpl" equivalent to "--stereo=surround"?
Tnx and sorry 4 bad English
HG

[LigH]

Most probably yes - and DPLII = surround2. But because I mostly use BeSweet, it doesn't really matter for me, the DLL is still used compatibly in the same way as before.

[zsb]

Just to say this since no one bothered: at least on my AMD XP1600+ azid_p3.exe works fine.

--
zsb

[Fr4nz]

Yeah Azid_P3 works fine for me on my Athlon thoroughbred 2400+ @2240mhz :)