DivX6 to be released in March

[bond]

well known german c't magazine reports on their HP that divx6 is announced to be released in march

divx6 will offer:
- still mpeg-4 asp video (so not avc or another new format) to ensure backwards compatibility with existing hardware players (i assume divx6 will simply be a tuned version of the latest DivX Plasma (http://labs.divx.com/archives/000040.html) (which mainly adds smaller changes like 4MV, RDO for h.263 quants (but not for mpeg quants), motion estimation speed ups on the encoder side and new deblocking on the decoder side to divx5.2.1)
Doom9 has already tested a slightly improved plasma codec, called DivX Fusion (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=87866) (which has no new features compared to plasma it seems) against other codecs some days ago (read more about it here (http://www.doom9.org/codecs-104-1.htm))
- menus (as known from dvd) inside .avi
- integrated subtitles inside .avi (it was announced already earlier that dxn develops its own sub format)
- both features might not be playable in hardware mpeg-4 "divx" players (but of course the movies itself will be)
- multichannel audio (dxn refused to say what format will be used, but i assume it will be ac3, as its already widely used in .avi and supported on hardware/software players for multichannel. or frauenhofer's surround mp3 format, which will be played as stereo tough on existing hardware players)

read it yourself here (http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/54886)

read more pressreleases about divx6 here (http://www.divxnetworks.com/press/press.php)

[SeeMoreDigital]

LOL...

So, in terms of video quality improvements, it sounds like DivX6 will be offering nothing new or ground breaking!

The proposed menu and subtitle implementations, sounds interesting. One would presume DXN will be launching a new version of their very own software "DivX Player" to make use them. But what about us "non" DivX Player users?

I suggest if people don't want to wait until March to have chapter seeking, (multiple) subtitles and (compressed) 6Ch audio... they use Nero Recode2 ;)


Cheers

[DAvenger]

If DXN plans to release the specification to their subtitle format & menu engine RadLight will of course support those. Anyone from DXN here? Send me a PM and we can get started ;)

[thekid]

we've got a lot of cool stuff coming out that we are announcing here at CES.

DAvenger... i'll PM you and we can get some things started.

thekid...

also, anyone in these forums out here at CES? Let me know and i'll see if i can get you a sneak preview at our demo rooms at the Venetian or the LVCC hall.

[jggimi]

kid: see http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=87696

[DigitAl56K]

Aiight, who wants a piece of the DivX Pro Fusion Beta action?
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?&threadid=87866

RadLight integration... niiice :)

[Elias]

Why don't DXN go for pure MPEG-4? I'm talking about an AAC encoder with the DivX package, and an mp4 file creator. I mean, why bother with *.avi?

[jggimi]

... I mean, why bother with *.avi? ...

It looks fairly obvious to me -- there is a market filled with partners to support and maintain:

http://www.divx.com/hardware/certified/products.php

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by jggimi
... I mean, why bother with *.avi? ...

It looks fairly obvious to me -- there is a market filled with partners to support and maintain:

http://www.divx.com/hardware/certified/products.php True...... That said, they could at least give their paying customers a choice of containers and audio codecs!


Cheers

[Elias]

Yeah... but Avi sucks, and I want to go pure mp4 :) It's a good thing that NeroDigital is pushing for Avi.

[stephanV]

Originally posted by Elias
Yeah... but Avi sucks, and I want to go pure mp4 :) It's a good thing that NeroDigital is pushing for Avi.

:)

haha, dont listen to weird people on doom9 here. AVI doesnt "suck"...

I suggest if people don't want to wait until March to have chapter seeking, (multiple) subtitles and (compressed) 6Ch audio... they use Nero Recode2
On a PC platform these things are already possible for so long... and no one needs Nero for that. :p

True...... That said, they could at least give their paying customers a choice of containers and audio codecs!
Like Nero allows me to output to Matroska... or AVI? Nero uses Mp4 as their container, DivX uses AVI (well kinda).


DAvenger... i'll PM you and we can get some things started.

Whoa... this is a surprise! :cool:

hope this works out :)

EDIT: stupid tags :devil:

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by stephanV
:)Like Nero allows me to output to Matroska... or AVI? Nero uses Mp4 as their container, DivX uses AVI (well kinda). We've had these discussions before stephanV. Nero have stated their reasons for using the MP4 container over AVI. And as you well know AVI is very limited in offering DVD style features, such as chapter seeking and menu's, still images. So in this respect Nero is looking forwards...

Okay, if DivX have developed chapter and menu seeking in AVI then that's great... but my guess is, a new AVI splitter has had to be developed to cope with it!

DivX have been asked many times by many people to offer "the choice" of MP4 container support (after abandoning it). And if they don't want to provide AAC audio, that's fine by me, as they can still use MP3 audio. Plus if they felt so moved, they could even design a method of muxing AC3 in MP4, as a private stream for playback in their very own DivX player... I'm game!

But as usual, we'll just have to wait and see what DivX's newest proposal will offer us!

As for Mpeg4 playback in stand-alones, personally speaking, I've always seen it as a "developing" format. Meaning early adopters would at some stage, have to upgrade their players...


Cheers

[stephanV]

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
But as usual, we'll just have to wait and see what DivX's newest proposal will offer us!

Indeed, so before saying weird things like its better if DivX does that or this, lets see how things work out. I can think of several reasons why people shouldnt use MP4, but thats not important here. DivX has every right to provide features in a way they seem best fitting. When we've seen how things work, we can criticize it, not before.

Personally, i had rather seen DivX adopting something like Matroska instead of extending AVI (coz thats seems what they have done... DivX files are not AVI files anymore i think...) but hey, if it works, it works. But DivX is probably more oriented on standalone playback then playback for PCs anyway. On standalones features as menus and chapters are much more important as navigation through a file is more difficult.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by stephanV
But DivX is probably more oriented on standalone playback then playback for PCs anyway. On standalones features as menus and chapters are much more important as navigation through a file is more difficult. Agreed...

This is how I see it for more Mpeg4 codecs and not just in stand-alones. Don't forget portable devices and media servers!

As a guy who lives in a house with network points in every room, I for one am looking forward to the day when small reliable network capable media streaming set-top boxes become an everyday reality!

However, such a device would have to include DVI, scart and component video outputs. As well as 6Ch analogue and digital audio outputs!


Cheers