DVD ReBuilder Versions 0.98.2(free)/ 1.28.2 Pro - Jul 12th

[jdobbs]

Professional Edition Version 1.26.0

Below is a summary of the changes/updates associated with this version (Pro release):

June 10th, 2007 (v1.26.0)
CHANGES MADE TO PRO VERSION

- Added a new MODE called "Enable Bitrate Redistribution."
  It should be considered to be in Beta status (meaning it's 
  there for testing -- bugs are possible). This feature is 
  especially useful on sources that were not optimally 
  encoded (such as CBR or on-the-fly broadcast encoding).  
  It will perform an initial first pass using the OPV 
  feature of CCE SP, HC, QuEnc, or AutoQMatEnc to 
  redistribute bits across all segments using a constant 
  base Q value, before doing the standard encode.  This mode
  may also improve picture quality on sources that use a less
  than perfect bitrate distribution on the original source.
  Results of the redistribution can be reviewed by reading
  "REDISTRIBUTION.TXT" in the D2VAVS directory after PREPARE.

- Added a hidden value for adjusting the size of the 
  redistribution pass by setting the option "Redist_Percent=" 
  in the "[Options]" section of the REBUILDER.INI file. The
  default value is 10.

- Corrected a bug related to the implementation of matrices
  when using OPV and CCE SP2. 

- Updated several routines to better handle error conditions.

- Enhanced the OPV routines to better select Q values under
  certain specific conditions.

- Updated the multiplexing engine to better integrate audio
  when certain anomalies are encountered.

- Fixed a rarely occurring bug related to closed captioning.

- Other minor and cosmetic changes.

If you are a registered user of DVD Rebuilder Pro you can always download the latest version at this link.

[jdobbs]

Professional Edition Version 1.26.1

Below is a summary of the changes/updates associated with this version (Pro release):

June 24th, 2007 (v1.26.1)
CHANGES MADE TO PRO VERSION

- Added a hidden setting in which you can instruct DVD-RB to
  redistribute bits across the entire DVD (including any parts
  considered to be extras and/or the feature).  This can be
  useful for applying redistribution to episodic or series
  discs.  You can enable the setting by adding "redist_all=1"
  to the "[Options]" area of REBUILDER.INI.

- Updated the redistribution module so it follows the proper
  rules associated with PEAK_BITRATE

- Added direct Luminance Gain adjustment to the HC Settings menu.

- Added new code to the OPV prediction routines that should
  improve further improve Q selection and sizing.

- Corrected a bug in which performing redistribution on ILVU
  sections could result in an error message.

- Other minor and cosmetic changes.

If you are a registered user of DVD Rebuilder Pro you can always download the latest version at this link.

[jdobbs]

Professional Edition Version 1.26.2

Below is a summary of the changes/updates associated with this version (Pro release):

July 7th, 2007 (v1.26.2)
CHANGES MADE TO PRO VERSION

- Added additional routines to the REDISTRIBUTION code that
  corrects possible undersizing.  Now, when a segment has
  been redistributed too many sectors(making it larger than
  the original) the size is adjusted and recovered sectors
  are reallocated to other segments.

- Turned off HC VBV and scene detection (except for a 100%
  setting) during REDISTRIBUTION. This appears to have been 
  slowing down the speed of HC redist on some systems.  
  Also set HC to fast mode during the REDISTRIBUTION pass 
  as it gives the same results.

- Updated the REDISTRIBUTION menu options.  You can now turn
  "Redist_All" on or off from the mode menu (formerly hidden).

- Added code to perform REDISTRIBUTION for ProCoder and CCE
  Basic.  HC (if installed) will be used for determining the
  bitrate redistribution pass.

- Corrected an bug in which CCE SP2 could encode with the
  incorrect field order on BFF sources.

- Other minor and cosmetic changes.

If you are a registered user of DVD Rebuilder Pro you can always download the latest version at this link.

[jdobbs]

Professional Edition Version 1.26.3

Below is a summary of the changes/updates associated with this version (Pro release):

September 4th, 2007 (v1.26.3)
CHANGES MADE TO PRO VERSION

- Fixed an error in which the REDIST_ALL parameter was not
  being set correctly when selected. In the previous version 
  any change to the setting was not recognized until the next 
  program load.

- Added Beta support for command line oriented encodes (e.g.
  Mencoder or FFMPEG). DVD-RB will call a preconfigured .BAT
  file that can be setup for the calls.  An example .BAT
  file (for mencoder) is included as an example.  In order to
  use it, you must edit it (it is normally found in the
  "c:\Program Files\DVD-RB Pro\Encoders" directory) and 
  ensure the path properly points to MENCODER.EXE.  You must
  also add the line "cmdline=" to the "[Paths]" area of the
  REBUILDER.INI file. This new option should be considered in 
  Beta test until it has been used more.  My encodes (using 
  Mencoder) so far tend to be undersized -- but very good 
  quality.  Try the "Good (fast)"  mode, it gives very good 
  quality and is exceptionally fast.  Be careful with "Highest 
  Quality" mode -- it can be slow.
  
- Added an option to the MODE menu in which you can choose to 
  always use HC as the encoder for REDISTRIBUTION.  This 
  prevents a rare CCE problem that can happen when high 
  bitrate matrices are in use.

- Updated REDISTRIBUTION so that any cell with 500 or fewer
  frames would redistribute using 100% sample.  This prevents
  lower-than-required bitrates on small segments that have
  blackness or fade-ins that might undervalue the need.

- Moved "Shutdown at REBUILD Completion" and "Close DVD-RB
  at REBUILD" completion from the MODE menu to the FILE menu.
  This makes it possible to change the state of these options
  while DVD-RB is executing.

- Corrected a bug in which, under certain circumstances, it is
  possible to receive a "Runtime Error 53" message during
  REDISTRIBUTION.

- Corrected an minor bug in which bitrates for single frame 
  segments were incorrectly REDISTRIBUTED.

- Corrected an error in which attempting to use the "No
  Compression" encoder option with REDISTRIBUTION enabled could
  cause DVD-RB to abort with errors (87/13)

- Updated the response to errors resulting from a corrupt source
  (VOBID/CELLID not found errors) so you have the option to 
  continue as opposed to a forced exit.  Note however that it is
  not usually a good idea -- as this is an indicator of a pretty
  serious corruption in the source IFO/VOB combination.

- Other minor and cosmetic changes.

[jdobbs]

Professional Edition Version 1.26.5

Below is a summary of the changes/updates associated with this version (Pro release):

October 7th, 2007 (v1.26.5)
CHANGES MADE TO PRO VERSION

- Added a REDISTRIBUTION threshold test that limits the
  amount of low-side deviation allowed in the calculation of
  redistribution.  The default value of .5 limits a bitrate
  reduction (in redistribution) to half what would have been
  given in a standard DVD-RB encode.  This dramatically
  reduces the likelihood of getting values that are too low
  in dark scenes.  The threshold can be adjusted via a 
  hidden setting in the OPTIONS area of REBUILDER.INI. The
  value (REDIST_LOW_THRESHOLD=) must fall in the range of
  0 to 1.  Any other value results in the default of .5 

- Added a "hidden" setting called "REDIST_USE_FINAL_Q".  If
  set to 1 (REDIST_USE_FINAL_Q=1) in the "[Options]" area of
  REBUILDER.INI, a set of prediction passes are run on the
  main-movie VTS (largest) to determine a Final_Q value
  that is used for REDISTRIBUTION rather than the standard
  Base_Q.  This will add a little time to the PREPARE phase
  and some reports have been made of improved quality based
  upon subjective analysis.
 
- Corrected an error in which pushing the ABORT button could,
  under certain circumstances, leave an encoder executing in 
  the background until it completes its current task.  It
  might also result in a "Could not clear output..." error
  if an attempt to restart encoding happens too soon.

- Updated "Batch Mode" so that it will, when appropriate,
  write to blank disc.   Note that you must (obviously) 
  change discs between writes in order to write more than 
  one during the batch process.

- Added a separator bar to the FILE menu to distinguish the
  "Shutdown on REBUILD" functions from those related to
  Batch.

- Added code to limit the sample size to 1% when performing
  REDISTRIBUTE_FINAL_Q analysis.  Any more is simply a waste
  of time.  Note this does NOT affect the percentage used for
  determining REDISTRIBUTION -- only determining FINAL_Q.

- Corrected two bugs that were introduced in v1.26.4 (which
  was released as a beta only).

- Other minor and cosmetic changes.

[jdobbs]

Professional Edition Version 1.26.6

Below is a summary of the changes/updates associated with this version (Pro release):

January 5th, 2008 (v1.26.6)
CHANGES MADE TO PRO VERSION

- Corrected a bug in which the MPEG2DEC_OPTS parameters were
  not being applied during Q analysis.  This could, in some
  cases, result in an error.

- Added code to MOBILE encoding to prevent identical PGCs
  from being reencoded redundantly (duplicates).

- Added more granularity to the matrix selections.  Now you
  can choose matrices for High (4000Kbs), MedHigh (3500), 
  Med (3000) in addition to those already selectable.

- Corrected an error in which having CCE SP2 installed by
  itself did not activate the "CCE Mode" under the ENCODERS
  menu.

- Fixed an error in which loading a project file would not
  reset the "HC_FOR_REDIST" flag.

- Fixed a bug in which the OPV subroutine could cause a size
  error caused by an incorrect maximum bitrate.  This could 
  also cause anomalies in REDISTRIBUTION passes.

- Added code to adjust for an issue in which audio sync could 
  be off for MOBILE encoding for some oddly formatted discs.

- Changed the MOBILE settings so that any specified bitrate
  less than 50 is considered a Q value rather than 31 (for 
  compatibility with H264 Q values).  Illegal values on codecs
  that accept no more than 31 are automatically limited.

- Added NicMP4Box.exe to the full (MOBILE) installer package.
  This allows DVD-RB to create H264 files (using FFMPEG) in
  the MOBILE encoding mode that are compatible with the IPOD.
  NicMP4Box is called automatically when the IPOD_H264 codec
  is selected.

- Added two new profiles to the MOBILE.INI file.  These allow
  you to take advantage of the H264 (high quality) format when
  creating output for the IPOD.  Say "yes" to overwriting your
  MOBILE.INI file in order to see the new profiles.

- Updated the installation package to include HC Encoder v0.22
  which includes several improvements over previous versions.

- Updated the installer to include ECLPRO v1.11.

- Other minor and cosmetic changes.

If you are a registered user of DVD Rebuilder Pro you can always download the latest version at this link.

[jdobbs]

Professional Edition Version 1.27.1

Below is a summary of the changes/updates associated with this version (Pro release):

(v1.27.1)
- Corrected an error introduced in version 1.27 that would
  cause serious audio muxing problems.
- Fixed a source of a possible "Runtime Error 6"


(v1.27.0)
- Fixed an error in which the path for NicMp4Box.exe was not
  being automatically detected.

- Updated routines so that when DVD-RB is running multiple
  instances of HC Encoder the "*NOSMP" setting is used.  This
  has been tested to show faster processing on DVD-RB -- as
  it already takes advantage of multiple processors.

- Update the HC interface so it specifically indicates whether
  a file should be encoded as "*PROGRESSIVE or "*INTERLACED".

- Modified the REDISTRIBUTION and OPV prediction code for HC
  Encoder.  It should now take fewer passes for prediction in
  most cases.

- Added a check for illegal characters in VOLUME_ID.  This
  condition could cause a failure to create an ISO image.

- Updated the "Close DVD-RB at batch completion" function so 
  it "sticks" between runs.  Now the setting remains in 
  effect until reset.

- Wrote code to circumvent a source of "Runtime Error 52" 
  errors during the file copy section or "Buffer Overflow 0003"
  in the REBUILD phase on certain types of corrupt sources.

- Made handling of certain sources that fall outside standards
  more robust.

- Updated D2V creation routines to assume BT.601 colorimetry 
  where no SEQUENCE_DISPLAY_EXTENSION is present.  Added a 
  "hidden" option called "BT601_DEFAULT=0" to the "[Options]" 
  area of REBUILDER.INI.  This option can make DVD-RB assume 
  all unspecified streams to be BT.709 instead.  This is 
  mainly for non-DVD sources.  The default value is "1" 
  (BT.601 is the assumption).

- Added an additional filter prefix.  When prefixed by "b:" a
  filter is added only when the source colorimetry is BT.709
  (including SMPTE 240M).  This enables cases where you wish
  the output to be converted, for example to BT.601.  This
  option is similar to "c:" but has an opposite effect.

- Corrected an error in which One Pass Encoding could, under
  certain rare circumstances, select an incorrect Q/CQ value
  and as a result over or undersize.

- Corrected an issue that could slow processing considerably
  when a combination of encoding and extracting is occurring.

- Cleaned up a cosmetic glitch in which sometimes the "Overall
  Progress" bar didn't correctly show status during ENCODE.

- Fixed an error in which Final_Q could not be calculated with
  QuEnc or a command line encoder (that supports CQ).

- Improved the interface for CMDLINE encoding -- now the CQ is
  passed as a floating point variable for more accurate sizing
  during one-pass and REDISTRIBUTION.

- Modified the default values for PFactor and BFactor when
  running HC Encoder in One Pass CQ mode.

- Improved the CMDLINE encoder interface so that it now also 
  passes "Closed GOP" (for ILVU) and "Bottom Field First"
  (for interlaced encoding) information to the encoder.

- Made some small changes to the QuEnc interface to restore
  FreeEnc compatibility.

- Added multiple threading capability to the MOBILE encoding
  command line.  This will speed up processing substantially
  for those with multiple processors (e.g. dual/quad cores).

- Added additional checks to for encoders.  Prevents encoders
  from being enabled when they don't really exist.  

- Other minor and cosmetic changes.

If you are a registered user of DVD Rebuilder Pro you can always download the latest version at this link.

[jdobbs]

Professional Edition Version 1.27.2

Below is a summary of the changes/updates associated with this version (Pro release):

February 24th, 2008 (v1.27.2)
CHANGES MADE TO PRO VERSION
- Added a new hidden setting called "HC_NOSMP" to the 
  REBUILDER.INI file.  Setting "HC_NOSMP=1" (the default
  setting) disables the use of SMP when multiple instances 
  are used. "HC_NOSMP=0" will allow SMP to run. Generally 
  the default (No SMP) is faster when run with multiple 
  processes, the parameter is provided to let the user 
  make the ultimate choice.

- Added a "Use *AVSRELOAD Parameter" option to the 
  "HC OPTIONS" menu which will add that value (useful for 
  certain scripts) to the INI files passed to HC encoder. 

- Reversed the v1.27.0 implementation that waits for an
  encode to complete before extracting.  It appears to slow
  down encodes on some systems.  Go figure.  You can still
  enable this feature, however, by adding the hidden option
  "WAIT_FOR_EXTRACT=1".

- Corrected an error in which the new matrix types were not
  being saved in template files.

- Made adjustments to the sizing mechanism for Movie Only
  encodes to prevent certain circumstances from resulting
  in undersizing on seamless branching sources.

- Updated the SCR insertion routine to handle exceptionally
  high SCR values.

- Updated code to make it more compatible with emulation
  such as running under Linux/WINE.

- Adjusted build options to correct for a "crash" that was
  reported by some users on the previous release.

- Other minor and cosmetic changes.

If you are a registered user of DVD Rebuilder Pro you can always download the latest version at this link.

[jdobbs]

Professional Edition Version 1.27.3

Below is a summary of the changes/updates associated with this version (Pro release):

CHANGES MADE TO PRO VERSION
- Added a "Use *LOSSLESS Parameter" option to the 
  "HC OPTIONS" menu which will add that value (useful for 
  speeding up certain scripts) to the INI files passed to 
  HC encoder. Note: Only works with HC v0.22.1 or greater.

- Updated the ISO creation module so that now the ISO will
  be created by ImgBurn rather than MKISOFS if ImgBurn is
  installed and is of a high enough version to support it.

- Modified the HC calling module so that encoder priority
  is set explicitly (based upon the option) in the HC.INI
  file (HC v0.22 and higher).

- Corrected so that REDISTRIBUTION doesn't take effect
  when "MOBILE Only" encoding is selected (it is not used
  in that situation).

- Changed the "CORRUPT SOURCE" error message to a warning 
  and removed the annoying popup message.  Some rippers 
  remove CELLs as needed from the VOB (usually junk cells
  related to protection) without removing the reference to 
  the CELLS in the IFO(s).

- Built a workaround for movie-only PGC selection in discs
  that have incorrect information in PGC tables.

- Corrected an error in which the batch shutdown had stopped
  working since v1.27.0. Note also, that the setting for batch
  shutdown is also now saved in the INI and will "stick"
  between runs.  Older version required setting it before all
  batch runs.

- Corrected an issue related to Vista in which running in
  "Multiple Encoder Processes" mode could cause HC and other
  encoders to fail with "Failed to find and run encoder..."
  This was caused by Vista's "improved" security.

- Modified loop checks during ILVU extraction in MOBILE
  encoding so the extraction stops more quickly if "Abort"
  is selected.

- Changed the actions for unload queries to make DVD-RB a bit
  more robust in the event of problems.

- Added additional checks to ensure CCE paths are correctly
  configured.

- Updated the codes so that NICAUDIO.DLL doesn't have to be
  explicitly called out in the REBUILDER.INI file for use in
  MOBILE encoding.

- Other minor and cosmetic changes.

If you are a registered user of DVD Rebuilder Pro you can always download the latest version at this link.

[jdobbs]

Professional Edition Version 1.28.2

Below is a summary of the changes/updates associated with this version (Pro release):

CHANGES MADE TO PRO VERSION
- Made numerous changes to make DVD-RB more sensitive to
  the security environment of Vista.

- Made changes to make DVD-RB more compatible with some
  windows emulators.

- Added support for the HC adaptive quantization (*AQ)
  function.  This setting can improve picture in flat
  parts.  A default value of "2" is used, but can be 
  changed by setting "HC_AQ=n" in the "[Options]" area 
  of REBUILDER.INI.  "n" can be any integer value between 
  0 and 4.  "0" disables AQ and "4" results in lower 
  quants. Note: Keep in mind that due to virtualization 
  associated with VISTA, your most current INI may be 
  located in the VISTA VirtualStore.  One easy way to 
  get to it (if you are using VISTA), is to create a 
  shortcut on your desktop that points to it.

- Added a parameter to the HC SETTINGS menu that enables
  and disables LOGGING when encoding with HC encoder. The
  log will be written to a file named "HCLOG.TXT" in the 
  working directory.
 
- Included HC Encoder v0.23 in the installation packages.
  This version includes extended features and bug fixes.

- Added ability to have different 1st and 2nd passes when
  using MOBILE encoding (see the MOBILE.INI template under
  the AVCHD beta for an example.

- Added a "hidden" option called "ImgBurnDest" that, when
  added to REBUILDER.INI will force the write to a specific
  drive.  This is expecially useful when working on a
  computer that has more than one writable drive.  As an
  example, to force output to the "F:" drive you would add
  "ImgBurnDest=F:" to REBUILDER.INI.

- Modified the TEMPLATE commands so they automatically
  look in the VirtualStore for templates.

- Corrected "35601" error that could happen (very rarely)
  on sources with no audio.

- Added a parameter to the REBUILDER.INI file so that an
  alternate AVISYNTH resizing algorithm can be used for
  certain functions (e.g. converting from 4:3 widescreen
  to 16:9 anamorphic).  The default is "LanczosResize".
  Example usage: "RESIZE=Spline36Resize"  Note: Adding
  an incorrectly spelled resize parameter will cause your 
  encoding to fail.

- Other minor and cosmetic changes.

If you are a registered user of DVD Rebuilder Pro you can always download the latest version at this link.