DivX 6.2 codec released

[DigitAl56K]

Hello all,

Today we released the DivX 6.2 codec (http://www.divx.com/divx/create). In addition to the new features demonstrated in our recent beta, we now make a wider range of performance and quality options available for free than ever before through the DivX community codec, which replaces the previous free version of DivX. Quality modes ranging from High Performance through Extreme mode, as well as the H263 optimized quantization method, can now be selected through a new encoder preset option in the configuration interface. Registered DivX Pro users can also turn on presets to quickly set up encoding jobs. Presets will configure encoding mode, b-frame selection, and quantization method automatically depending on your selection.


Version history

New:

A new encoder preset option allows you to quickly configure the encoder based upon your preference for encoding speed and video quality
The DivX community codec replaces the current free version of DivX, offering a wider range of performance and quality options for free through encoder presets
Multithreaded resize filters have been added for improved performance on all HyperThreaded (HT), dual CPU (SMP) and dual core processors
A new "Enhanced multithreading" option capable of increasing encoding rate depending on system configuration and encoding environment
A new "Enhance texture" psychovisual enhancement method that improves picture details around keyframes and reduces the appearance of stray blocks under fast motion when encoding at lower bitrates
MMX optimizations for the MPEG quantization method
The DivX decoder can anonymously check for updates to the DivX codec, ensuring you are always notified of newer versions. For more information, and to enable notifications for future beta releases, click here (http://support.divx.com/cgi-bin/divx.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1867).


Fixed:


Fixed a problem where multiple instances of the feedback window would cause the encoder to fail
Fixed a problem where very old DivX 5.0 content might not be decoded correctly
The encoder GUI now adapts to screen resolutions of 800x600 or lower


Changed:


Bitrate modulation for multipass nth pass encoding is now preset at an optimal value for quality, and this option removed from the user interface.
The DivX Pro 6 month trial has been replaced by a 15 day trial, which can be started from the DivX encoder GUI, rather than during installation. This is because a much wider range of features are now available for free in the community codec. Previously installed 6 month trials will be honored.

[siddharthagandhi]

mad nice...but im on dialup must I redownload the entire create/play bundle?

[DigitAl56K]

For now, unfortunately ;)

[peteag]

still called divx 6.1.1 in virtualdub!

[buzzqw]

not for me

http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/2645/divx6202rv.th.jpg (http://img131.imageshack.us/my.php?image=divx6202rv.jpg)

BHH

[Warrex]

@DigitAl56K

Enhanced Multithreading

In the DivX 6.2 Beta thread you said the following:

In the worst case you'll see no benefit from enabling this option, but in the typical case we see around 16% improvement.

If DivX 6.2 is final and enabling Enhanced Multithreading won't harm anything why isn't it on by default or rather why is there an option for it at all?

Update Checks:

The DivX decoder can anonymously check for updates to the DivX codec, ensuring you are always notified of newer versions. For more information, and to enable notifications for future beta releases, click here.

A decoder option would have been a more clean solution I think. It would be nice to see one in the next version. Personally I do not want to be reminded about anything by computer programs and I am espicially not very fond of looking up registry strings to disable stuff.

[olnima]

Using divx 6.2 for capturing in balanced-mode with virtualdub.

When I set 88 lines top and bottom to crop (resulting in 704*400 instead of 704*576) in divx-encoder-settings and I click on o.k., I can't reopen the divx-encoder-settings by clicking on "configure-button" in VirtualDub-video-compression-menu, because it is deactivated (greyed out).

Sorry for my english,
Olnima

P.S.: Look at the picture from "buzzqw" in this thread, I'm talking about this "configure-button" left to the "about-button"
This configure-button is greyed out after setting the crop-values for top and bottom to 88 lines and clicking on "ok-button" in the divx-encoder-settings. Funny thing is that cropping works with the given settings (resulting avi is 704*400). Only problem is that you can't reopen divx-encoder-settings from VirtualDub.

[medp7060]

To DigitAl56K,

Are there any technic reasons that the configurations of divx have to be different from previous versions?

Divx6.1.1 first killed GK 0.35 then AutoGK 0.26. The author of AutoGK was too tired to keep modifying its code to catch up the changes of Divx.

Was that a plan to prevent us using (Auto)GK for Divx encoding?????????

We may eventually have to give up Divx and stick to XVID!!!!!!!

[stax76]

@medp7060

As a user of DivX and XviD for many years as well as developer of a application very similar to AutoGK and GK I can assure you right now there can't be said anything bad against DXN, infact I have to give DXN credit, in particular for this version.

StaxRip wasn't broke because of DivX for a very long time I think because DXN provided us with a versioning mechanism and supported len0x and me to implement that mechanism so you really can't blame DXN.

[ricardo.santos]

Divx6.1.1 first killed GK 0.35 then AutoGK 0.26. The author of AutoGK was too tired to keep modifying its code to catch up the changes of Divx.

Was that a plan to prevent us using (Auto)GK for Divx encoding??

StaxRip is still working and Avi.net (last version came out in January, before AutoGk last 2 versions) and it is still working.

I remember len0x saying that he was leaving the "scene", (doing something differente), theres more to life than developing an applicatiion, dont blame Divx for this stuff, Avi.Net will show you otherwise.

[Scarpad]

seems like this version , despite the claim of being "350X Faster" is about 1/2 the speed of the 6.1 version, with the same settings my FPS is halved on the same machine.

[DigitAl56K]

@DigitAl56K

If DivX 6.2 is final and enabling Enhanced Multithreading won't harm anything why isn't it on by default or rather why is there an option for it at all?

If you are using an application that doesn't understand packed b-frames you might get extra frames at the beginning of your output and missing frames at the very end. Although most people use applications that do understand packed b-frames we are playing this one cautiously.

Let me know your thoughts on this :)


Update Checks:

A decoder option would have been a more clean solution I think. It would be nice to see one in the next version. Personally I do not want to be reminded about anything by computer programs and I am espicially not very fond of looking up registry strings to disable stuff.

I will be adding an option to the installer. I had actually planned to do this already, but it didn't quite fit into the release schedule this time around. This is why I created the support article as a short-term workaround.

@olnima: Whoa, that's a weird bug! We're looking at it right now :)

@medp7060: We modify the CLI strings as we add new features. This is unavoidable - either we keep the CLI string format identical or we add new features. Usually it's impossible to do both. As Stax mentioned (thanks btw!) we do provide an interface to set the codec options for applications such as StaxRip and AVI.net if they choose to adopt them. Usually older CLI string formats can be applied without problem even if the applications are not aware of new CLI options - the new options should simply take their default value.

@Scarpad: Give me the exact CLI string you are using (for 1st and nth pass if you are doing multipass), and your system spec (exact CPU model, RAM, OS, Serivce pack version), and I will try to reproduce. Certainly I have not seen this problem on my systems.

[siddharthagandhi]

enhanced multithreading doesnt seem to work...when i encode with that in stoik and vdub the movie files are corrupted w/ no video....or am i dng something rong?

[Warrex]

If you are using an application that doesn't understand packed b-frames you might get extra frames at the beginning of your output and missing frames at the very end. Although most people use applications that do understand packed b-frames we are playing this one cautiously.

Let me know your thoughts on this :)

:) Well to play it safe you should have mentioned the potential problems. There should be some kind of warning next to the option... Can you name applications which to not support packed b-frames? And if the application supports packed b-frames will the output file be 100% identical in comparison to a file encoded without Enhanced Multithreading?

On the other hand I got to say that I am excited about DivX progress over the last year:

1. Much faster encoder
2. Better quality
3. DivXMux
4. More consumerfriedly behaviour
5. Dr. Divx 2.0 for free
6. DivX Web Player
7. Improved DivX Player

1.-4. affected me directly and made me abandon Xvid. GREAT WORK! I am already looking forward to DivX 7.0 with h.264! Yeah! :cool:

[Lord Voldemort]

Although DivX 6.2 finally uses both of my dual cores (up to 90% CPU utilization altogether, compared to 50%-60% with DivX 6.1.1), I get only 40 fps where I get 170 fps with 6.1.1!!
Same settings, of course. I double and triple checked everything. Uninstalled 6.2 and tested with 6.1.1 again: same result.

:(

[DigitAl56K]

Although DivX 6.2 finally uses both of my dual cores (up to 90% CPU utilization altogether, compared to 50%-60% with DivX 6.1.1), I get only 40 fps where I get 170 fps with 6.1.1!!
Same settings, of course. I double and triple checked everything. Uninstalled 6.2 and tested with 6.1.1 again: same result.

:(

Yes, but what were the settings and what exact CPU do you have? Help me help you ;)

Please post the CLI string from the encoder settings window after configuring the encoder.

[Lord Voldemort]

Ok... ;)
I just signed up for community.divx.com, I wanted to answer there. ;)
But since I haven't yet got the confirmation mail and you're reading this forum as well, I'll answer here.

Source video file:

AVI 2.0 (OpenDML), DivX 5.0, 512x384, 25fps, ~1216 kbps, B-VOP, packed bitstream, interleave 40ms, preload=480, 1x MP3 (48Khz 128kbps CBR), size ~211 MB, length 21m54s.

Software:

- Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2
- VirtualDubMod 1.5.10.2 (VirtualDub 1.6.14 didn't make any difference though)
* Fast recompress for video
* Direct stream copy for audio


DivX settings:

- 2 CPUs are recognized (with 6.1.1 and 6.2, although only 6.2 uses both)
- Portable Profile
- Multipass, 1. pass / n-th pass
- 800 Kbit/s
- "Kodiermethode ausgewogen" (3rd option from top, the fastest with bidirectional encoding)
- bidirectional encoding: single b-frames
- max I-Frame intervall: 300 frames
- I-Frame ...?: 50%
- video resolution: user defined: 320x240
- filter: Lanczos4
- noise reduction: off
- progressive source
- psychovisual enhancements: off
- quanti...?: H.263

CLI: -bvn1 800000 -vbv 4854000,3145728,2359296 -r 320,240,6 -dir C:\Videobearbeitung -w -b 1 -p -nf -profile=2

Same options for DivX 6.2 (didn't check the CLI there, because I already uninstalled it and reverted to 6.1.1, but the options were the same, and I even tried the CLI from above). The multithreading option had no influence on the frame rate.

Hardware:

- AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (2000 MHz) @ 2570 MHz (2x512 kB L2 Cache)
- Asus A8N-SLI Premium
- 1 GB DDR 400 (@ 214 MHz & 2,5-3-3-8-11-16 2T)
- Gigabyte X1800XT 512 MB

Problem:

Approximately 40 fps with DivX 6.2 compared to 170 fps with DivX 6.1.1. :confused:

[DigitAl56K]

Thanks for the info (now THAT is what I call a good bug report! ;)). Looks like it was resize related.

Hopefully we'll be able to get 6.2.1 out tomorrow ;)

[weaver4]

Will 6.2 work with AutoGK and AVI.NET?

Would like to know before I install it.

[siddharthagandhi]

He didn't mention the setting (balanced, fastest, insane quality). Could that be what's causing that?

[Lord Voldemort]

He didn't mention the setting (balanced, fastest, insane quality). Could that be what's causing that?
I did, but actually, I did not know how to translate it form German to English, so I tried to describe it. ;)

[siddharthagandhi]

No offense to you Divx people, its prob my fault, but when I was installing Divx my computer froze, so I restarted the computer, but windows wouldn't start bc something was corrupted, so i tried safe mode, didnt work, so i formatted and reinstalled Windows XP and LOST EVERYTHING....AND I HAD A LOT OF STUFF ON THERE...and i lost it all

for some stuff it was good, for one of my vids it was going horrible and i needed to start over, but i had other videos that I REALLY REALLY needed and now they're gone, and futhermore, im on dialup so it isnt as easy as 1-2-3 to redownload all the software i had on there

and the error message i got had to do with a corrupt installtion of software, and told me to do safe mode which didnt work either, so this Divx installtion could be the cause

[Slitheen]

I downloaded the whole package. But where can I alter the Divx codec settings?

[Lord Voldemort]

so i formatted and reinstalled Windows XP and LOST EVERYTHING....
What do you expect if you format your hard disc?!? :rolleyes:
Formatting is never necessary, you can reinstall without that.

[Slitheen]

No offense to you Divx people, its prob my fault, but when I was installing Divx my computer froze, so I restarted the computer, but windows wouldn't start bc something was corrupted, so i tried safe mode, didnt work, so i formatted and reinstalled Windows XP and LOST EVERYTHING....AND I HAD A LOT OF STUFF ON THERE...and i lost it all

for some stuff it was good, for one of my vids it was going horrible and i needed to start over, but i had other videos that I REALLY REALLY needed and now they're gone, and futhermore, im on dialup so it isnt as easy as 1-2-3 to redownload all the software i had on there

and the error message i got had to do with a corrupt installtion of software, and told me to do safe mode which didnt work either, so this Divx installtion could be the cause

You should have just done a repair, not a reformat.

[olnima]

@olnima: Whoa, that's a weird bug! We're looking at it right now :)


Thanks for your reply. Sounds that you could reproduce it.
Seems to me that it has something to do with reading and writing to registry depending on the changes which comes with the new presets (Anyone out there who REALLY needs them???)

Greetz
Olnima

P.S.: What I can say is that there's realy a big speed-improvement using mpeg2-quant (Athlon Xp 3000+).

[Slitheen]

Well 6.2 for me is actually slower than 6.1.

[siddharthagandhi]

I tried repairing and all i got was a ms dos command

[DigitAl56K]

siddharthagandhi: I have never heard of this before, nor have I any idea how it could possibly be related to installing DivX - perhaps something on your system failed just at that moment?

Sorry to hear about your problems, but I'm confident DivX did not do it.

[olnima]

Well 6.2 for me is actually slower than 6.1.


same settings, same hardware?
strange. for me 6.11 = 6.20b1=6.2 from speed-side, except the mentioned mpeg2-quant, which really is faster from 6.11 to 6.2 (beta and final).

O.

[IgorC]

Divx 6.2 has slow decoder. It's problematic for HDTV playback on PC. As Divx 6.2 is decoder based encoder the result with ffdshow PP not enough good as decoding by Divx proper decoder.

Here are some results with old celeron 2 ghz.
Video 720x304 23.976 fps high motion. Timecodec Haali's application for speed benchmarking.

fps
43.4 - Divx 6.2 decoder PP full, no dering. No Qpel, no GMC
54.9 - Nero decoder. High profile.
56.4 - Coreavc decoder. H.264 High Profile.
64.97 - CoreAVC decoder via TCPMP player. H.264 High Profile.
57.0 - ffdshow - xvid_Qpel_GMC. PP full, no dering.
73.2 - ffdshow - xvid_noQ_noGMC. PP full, no dering.
46.3 - vp6.4 - PP full
44.9 - vp7.0.10.0 - PP Sharpest

[lantern]

Hopefully we'll be able to get 6.2.1 out tomorrow ;)
Any idea if this will be released soon?
Thanks!

[DigitAl56K]

Yep, it's up right now.

We might get 6.2.2 out on labs soon too :)

[lantern]

Thanks, but I can't seem to find it. I downloaded the latest create bundle and it is still listed as 6.2.0.

[Kostarum Rex Persia]

DigitAl56K, can you explain, please, why your company allow announce a 6.2 final with that much bugs? Strange, there is only one beta, before final release?

[siddharthagandhi]

You know, its not like its a final version (which would be marked as a whole number). 6.2.2 is like a beta of a beta.

[clsid]

You know, its not like its a final version (which would be marked as a whole number). 6.2.2 is like a beta of a beta.That's not true. A version is either alpha/beta/rc/final. Major, minor or micro version updates is a whole different thing, and just indicates the amount of changes.

[DigitAl56K]

Aleksandar, if you consult the beta thread you'll see that out of everyone who responded only tomos had a problem with the beta, and on only one of his machines.

We've also been working quickly to address all problems reported to us since the launch, releasing 6.2 on Monday, 6.2.1 on Thursday, and I have another update that may go up on Labs tonight.

Despite our best efforts, like all other developers every once in a while our software might have a few bugs. When that happens we work as hard as possible to fix them as quickly as possible. This is one of those times. Give us as much information about any problems you're having as you can and we'll look into them.

We've been working around the clock on this one - three releases in 5 days ain't bad.

[Slitheen]

And it's all good stuff too.

[netwolf]

6.2.1 is online, but I can't find a changelog.
Actually the changelog on the DivX site stops at version 6.1 :p

Does anybody know what exactly has been changed?

(no offence, but I really hate it when companies release new versions without providing a proper changelog)

[olnima]

- changelog would be nice
- update-patch from 6.2 to 6.21 would be nice (smaller than 16.7 MB)
- version in filename would be nice

Do I really have to download nearly 17 MB to see which version it is and to get some minor bugs fixed???


Greetz and thanks anyway
Olnima

[siddharthagandhi]

Yea it would be nice if Divx considered the dialup users...

[olnima]

Yea it would be nice if Divx considered the dialup users...

not only DigitAl is at 56k... :D

[dragongodz]

sorry, cant let this slide :)
three releases in 5 days ain't bad.
for a OSS program with just 1 or 2 people working on it then its not a terrible surpise. however for a comercial product you have to admit its actually NOT good. it says you should have either released another beta first or got more people testing in-house before releasing the first one. nice attempt at spin though. ;)

[siddharthagandhi]

dude just stop it with that who cares whats been released when as long as the final product is as good as it is

[dragongodz]

dude just stop it with that
excuse me ? if i want to have a little dig at DigitAl56K for trying a little spin then i sure dont need your permission. if you bother to look you can see i used smilies to show it was a very light dig and i am sure DigitAl56K would have understood it as such.

so please dont try to make things more than they are. i am sure DigitAl56K doesnt need you defending him from every little thing.

[olnima]

cool down a bit boys. :o
I think everything has got 2 sides: on one hand dragongodz is right, on the other side everyone is happy if bugs are fixed immediately. Maybe it would have been better, to release a second beta = final after a while. But it might have something to do with evaluation, 15 days trial and things like that. Seems to me, that the bug(s) have got something to do with the new presets (nobody needs).

Olnima

[Kostarum Rex Persia]

We've been working around the clock on this one - three releases in 5 days ain't bad.

Yes, that's very quick, indeed. Keep going.


- changelog would be nice
- update-patch from 6.2 to 6.21 would be nice (smaller than 16.7 MB)
- version in filename would be nice

Do I really have to download nearly 17 MB to see which version it is and to get some minor bugs fixed???

Yes, I totally agree with Olnima. DigitAl56K, can you, release only update-patch from 6.2 to 6.21, and from 6.21 to 6.22. We, dial-up users, can't download 17 MB every time.

[DigitAl56K]

1 - I'll put a patch version out later today
2 - There will be a changelog with the patch
3 - Despite popular belief, there are only so many things I can do at once ;)

[siddharthagandhi]

Thanks a lot. 17 mb takes about one full hour on AOL.