BSPlayer 1.00 RC1 build 805 supports AVI embedded srt subtitles and multiple audio streams in MPEG files, subtitles in OGG files have been reintroduced and subtitles in Matroska files have been added, it is now possible to assign two keys to every action, there is a fast forward and rewind option and a lot of bugs have been fixed.

While I haven't managed to write a DVB guide yet (but I'm definitely working on it), here are two tools that will soon be featured in a guide: ProjectX 0.81.6int10 is a PVA and MPG processing tool that comes in very handy when demuxing captured DVB streams. MPEG2Schnitt (Schnitt is German for cut) is a very nice utility to cut MPEG-2 streams and associated MP2 and AC3 audio streams so that you can cut out ads from your digital TV captures. Thanks to bb for the English translation.

The 48h DVDs seem to be once again failing: (remember the original DIVX pay per use system that also had a 48h viewing window) Stores are beginning to pull EZ-D discs because they don't sell well and tend to upset more environmentally concerned customers.

It seems that when 12x and 16x DVD burners will be introduces, we'll once again have to wait for the media: While 12x burners have been announced for CeBIT (March), the largest Taiwanese disc manufacturer - CMC Magnetics - only plans to introduce 12x blanks in the 3rd quarter, to be followed by 16x discs in the 4th quarter of 2004.

And as I've promised, here are a few more free virus scanners: AVG Free Edition and AntiVir Personal Edition. mrbass has compiled a complete list of free offerings (only the CA one is missing) which you can find here. And on the subject of firewalls, here are two free alternatives: Kerio Personal Firewall and ZoneAlarm.

Just after loosing the 2nd time in court, MPAA hench-organization Økokrim is now being sued by Jon Johansen. The pendulum can swing both ways...

We'll be seeing a lot of interesting DVD products at CeBIT 2004. Besides the eagerly awaited dual layer DVD±R burners, manufacturers will also jump to the next speed level by releasing 12x burners. LG is the first to announce their GSA-4120B drive which burns DVD+R at 12x, DVD-R at 8x and DVD+R/W at 4x. It also supports DVD-RAM, but I think that's of little consequence for most of you.

Last but not least, the MyDoom email worm is official the worst ever and I'm getting flooded by hundreds of infected emails on a daily basis, even on my semiprivate address that's only known to a handful of people. Now, I'd like to ask everyone of you to please do something against this mess. It is up to everyone of you to think a little before opening email attachments. Do not mindlessly click on everything that comes your way, spend some time thinking if you should actually read an email, let alone open an attachment. Emails with titles like "hello", "hi", "help" or the likes are not something you want to read. I'm sure the people you know are more imaginative than to pick such subjects, plus if you don't know the sender you should apply extra care. It actually doesn't even take a virus scanner to avoid all this mess, being careful with emails works just fine (the author has lived through every email worm there has been so far using that strategy). However, it is still a good idea to protect yourself (but the best amount of protection can't replace the human brain) so here's my download tip for today: Get get eTrust EZ Armor Security Suite by Computer Associates. As part of Microsoft's Security Initiative (okay, they should write better code) you get one year of virus updates for free, which is certainly a good start. So, do yourself and your fellow Internet users a big favor by making sure that you won't be the one to contribute to the next epidemic. I'll continue here tomorrow with more free offers in the Antivirus and Firewall area which is really a must for every Windows user.

AviSynth 2.5.4 has a new function for overlay, allowing to put arbitrary videos on top of each other, SSRC has been added to the audio functions as well as a 16 band equalizer, and there are a couple of additional functions and a bunch of bugfixes as well. There is also an official AviSynth script editor now called AVSEdit.

AutoGK 0.90 limits the minimum bitrate to 80 kbps, supports secondary audio (hidden by default, press CTRL-F10 to enable it) and uses a color delimiter to prevent green color rips.

TitleSetBlanker is a small program which can help to remove unwanted titles in a DVD backup (such as copyright notices, trailers, etc.).

What has already happened and has been announced for the UK (and recently as a general thereat by the IFPI - the international version of the RIAA) is now about to happen in France as well: The music industry blames lackluster sales on P2P downloads and gears up to sue. And that's not all for France. A new proposed law, LEN for short, could lead to limited access to a lot of websites and pretty much forces ISP to pre-censor what their users have access to. It also makes it easier for big corporations to shut down websites by reversing due process (plaintiff is no longer required to prove the accused of being guilty, instead it works the other way round).

DVD Shrink 3.1.4 fixes a couple of minor bugs and performance enhancements.

XviD 1.0 RC1, codenamed Niltze, has been released. It contains a cleaned up VfW GUI, fixes color space assignment problems, the weighed zones should have been fixed, the VfW status window has been overhauled, fast first pass now disables QPel during the first pass, the codec checks for statsfile existence before starting the 2nd pass, the installer deletes old XviD configurations and some issues in the postprocessing department have also been fixed.

Media Player Classic 6.4.7.6 contains an improved MPEG-2 decoder that can handle resolutions changes better, there's a sound level normalizer in the MPEG/LPCM/AC3 audio decoder, local RealMedia files are now opened via DirectShow by default (less problems), smacker/bink support has been removed due to a request of radgametools, experimental nut support has been added and there's a new command to enable/disable subtitles.

I'm definitely running out of space for flags soon: The Danish Doom9 mirror is now online. As usual volunteers are more than welcome, and while we're on the subject of mirrors, I'm still wondering what the heck happened to the Russian mirror.

AutoGK 0.89 fixes some bugs in the queue department, has some new icons for the job queue buttons and improved hybrid source handling, fixes quality based mode for XviD and audio getting out of synch after splitting and finally 2 GB has been added as predefined size.

Whereas Sony and NuTech have or will release free upgrades to enhance the burning capabilities of their drives, and while there's a free firmware hack for an older single format NEC drive, BenQ will charge users of their DVD+ burner DW800A to make it DVD- compatible. The upgrade to get 2x DVD-R/W burning costs $10 and will be followed with an upgrade to burn DVD-Rs at 4x in March.

After having lost in court (they can no longer subpoena subscriber data without a warrant), the RIAA is trying to get ISPs to send threatening letters to P2P users on their behalf, but so far the ISPs are not very cooperative in that area. Interestingly though, this is common practice in some European countries, most notably German and Switzerland, though the letters sent are not from the RIAA but from the ISP, but they also warn the user of possible legal action, and that their account could be suspended if the infringement continues.

Some of the old timers will probably remember the DVD CCA vs. Pavlovich et al case (it's about trade secrets that are supposedly revealed by DeCSS). The U.S. Supreme Court has now ruled that the defendant cannot be sued in California and reversed an emergency stay that prevented all defendants of distributing DeCSS, reversing a decision of a lower court. While that frees all defendants to redistribute DeCSS, all named California residents (incidentally that's only one) still have to await that their case be tried in the California Supreme Court.

ImgTool Classic 0.91.1 can erase rewriteable media without manual interaction and no longer goes beyond 100% when indicating the progress.

DVD Shrink 3.1.3 allows you to specify the burning speed and fixes some preview and Nero initialization problems.

I almost missed that there's a new AutoGK alpha release out: AutoGK 0.86 supports DVD Decrypter 3.1.8 and higher, does automatic PGC and angle selection for subtitles based on the name of the input files, the MP3 audio encoding options have been changed to use ABR and boosting, a job queue has been added (to allow you to set up multiple encoding tasks at once), the handling of hybrid sources has been improved, and the undot filter is not used if a non SSE capable CPU is detected.

Not every music label wants to sell you digital restriction management (DRM) with their electronic offering: British label Warp Records has made its entire back catalog available for download in unrestricted MP3 format (@ 205kbit/s VBR). Albeit the price per song is somewhat higher ($1.39 instead of the usual $0.99 for DRM'd stuff), you at least get the freedom you'd expect when you pay good money for music. Unfortunately, priced as high or even higher than if you get a CD I'm not convinced that this offering, although basically a great thing since it's not DRM'ed, will be a success.

It seem the NEC drive isn't the only one that can be turned from a DVD+ drive into a dual format one: Nu Tech (not really a well know brand where I'm from), has released a test firmware that turns their DDW-081 DVD+ drive into a dual format recorder.

In other news, it looks like the RIAA members have not only been price fixing, they're also cheating the artists out of their money (or to use their words: they're shoplifting from the very artists they have on contract). How is that possible? Artists are paid a certain amount (a few cents) per song released. Now, if a CD is copy protected but includes a second session with DRM'ed WMA files (or another format), a CD sold equals every song sold twice, but the artist is only paid once. Isn't that funny: The recording industry is making unlicensed copies on their own, and they're even selling them, too. If you did the same, they'd drag you to court and try to throw you in prison.

Lame 3.95.1 fixes a crash when using vbr-new, lowpass values when using vbr with mono files and a buffer requirement error in the ACM codec, has the ReplayGain reference level set to 89dB, has faster quantization loops and count_bits and is 10% faster on PowerPCs.

If you're looking for even faster DVD burners, Waitec will show a 16x DVD+R burner at CeBIT, but it won't hit the marketplace until late 2004. And while we're talking about the plus format, the DVD+RW alliance expects 4x writing speed for their dual layer discs for early 2005. So I guess the speed race won't stop at 16x for single layer disc, it'll go on in the dual layer field as well.
While LiteOn owners (811S and 815S) will have to buy a new drive to get 8x DVD-R and 4x DVD-RW capabilities, Sony will those capabilities as a firmware upgrade for their DRU530A series drives. The upgrade has not been released yet, but should be available at this URL before the end of February.
And staying with DVD burners, it is possible to convert the NEC 1100 DVD+R drive to a dual format burner if you just load the proper firmware.

Have you been at CES? Apparently there were some EVD players on display, but nobody seems to have noticed until after the show was over.

The RIAA is cranking up their anti piracy effort a couple of notches: Now they send out ex-cop, dressed like triple letter government agencies to bust people selling CDs on the street. Obviously, there's no denying the wrongdoing on the perp's part, but the actual impersonation of a police officer is nevertheless also a crime, and being cuffed and taken away by non cops? And while we're on the subject, not all artists the music industry likes to parade as supporters of their tough line against piracy seem to actually support the company line. But of course you can always twist somebody's statements, can't you? ;)

While CES has come to an end, this sounds pretty interesting: According to the Japanese news site AVWatch, Pioneer was showing dual layer DVD-R recording at the show. The most interesting thing about it that they apparently used the well-known A06 burner, only with a different firmware. Until now, it was assumed that only the lasers of the 8x generation were powerful enough to handle dual layer recording. Either way, the dual layer DVD-R standard has not been finalized yet and until it does, Pioneer will not decide on whether the firmware upgrade will be released, or if people will have to buy a new burner to get dual layer capabilities.

DVD Shrink 3.1.2 fixes possible picture corruption (pixelation or freezing) when low compression is applied at a scene change and contains some changes to support a unicode build.

DVD Shrink 3.1.1 fixes compatibility issues with DVD Region Free and virtual CD drive softwares, there's an option to enable/disable Nero in the preferences, deep analysis before backup is no longer mandatory (it never should've been) and video rendering problems have been fixed.

Media Player Classic 6.4.7.5 contains the latest RealMedia and Matroska splitters, fixes a QT playback bug where only a quarter of the picture was shown and the DTS passthrough checkbox is no longer linked to the AC3 filter.

Fair Use 0.34c fixes compatibility issues with standalone players.

If you've always wanted the essential functionality of AnyDVD (on-the-fly descrambling and region-free) without the extras and the price tag, check out DVD43. It requires preinstalled Patin-Couffin drivers, which you can either download for free, or if you have a copy of CopyToDVD, DVDXCopy Express or the BlindWrite suite installed, you won't need anything.

The author of CloneDVD has been giving out some information about the upcoming CloneDVD 2 which you might find interesting.

DVD Shrink 3.1 has an improved GUI, improved preview (including audio and full screen mode), burning and disc image creation is supported (requires Nero 5+), layer break removal and automatic audio and subtitle stream selection via preferences has been added, and it is possible to select the default playback stream in re-author mode. I've also written a new guide on the new version.

As CES proceeding, more and more manufacturers are releasing dual format 8x burners (now supporting both DVD-R and DVD+R at 8x). Some, like LiteOn even add another 8x model even though they already have two 8x +R, 4x -R drives in their portfolio.

DVD DVD+RW alliance has announced to release the specs for 16x DVD+R disc in autumn 2004. The first 16x capable drives should be released in early 2005.

The Blu-ray team is scored a victory, too: Both HP and Dell have committed to supporting the Blu-ray format, even though it was not chosen as HD DVD format by the DVD forum. And the Blu-ray camp seems to have at least one studio in the pocket as well: Sony (Columbia Tristar). The president of their movie branch has stated that the increasing amount of movie piracy (especially in Germany) turns DVD into an unrentable format so that the movie industry were forced to present a revolution: HD movies on Blu-ray, of course equipped with a better region coding and encryption. Mr. Feingold seems to be unaware of his own financial statements because movie studios have been making a ton of money with DVD these recent years. More on that story can be found in the forum (including a more comprehensive demantlement of Mr. Feingold's "pulled by the hair" arguments).

And if this wasn't enough news already, Linksys has announced a WLAN equipped progressive scan DVD player. Using WLAN, users can stream MPEG-2/4 video, digital photos and digital music (MP3 and WMA only) from their PCs without having to extend an Ethernet cable into the living room.

Sigma Designs has announced a new MPEG-2/4 chipset to support MPEG-4 ASP (including QPel but GMC is still not confirmed), and WMV9 content as well. It also supports MP3 audio, all types of WMA audio and AAC (no mention whether that means LC AAC or HE-AAC). The first player based on this chipset has already been announced: The V Inc Bravo 3.

Last but not least, the first EVD players seem to be available now, but they are not selling like hotcakes.

ON2 has released a new version of the VP6 codec. Version 6.1.0.2 fixes eliminates the badframes issue, fixes the interlacing problem and contain some small speed improvements.

At CES, Sony has launched both 8x DVD+R and DVD-R discs. However, the discs will only be available in late March / early July for $2.99 per disc. Verbatim has also announced that it has started shipping 8x DVD-R discs to drive manufacturers for compatibility testing. Their disc should be available in February for $3.99 per disc.

Verbatim has just announced that they are "on schedule" to release DVD+R DL (dual layer) discs in spring 04 so I guess you'll be able to get some discs with your shiny new DVD+ DL drive once they start shipping.

RealNetworks has announced the Real 10 Platform at CES. RealVideo 10 is the final name for RV9 EHQ, RealProducer is based on Helix Producer 9.2, uses the RV10 codec and AAC is used as high bitrate audio codec. There is also a GUI version of the producer available. RealAudio 10 not only adds AAC (the High Efficiency version), but also RealAudio lossless and RealAudio multichannel. There's also a new RealPlayer which obviously supports the new video and audio codec and also includes support for AAC ripping. You can discuss the Real 10 platform here.

Last but not least, Macrovision is suing 321 Studios under the DMCA and for intellectual property infringement. Now, first of all this is indeed the same Macrovision that claims "Quality protection" in a shiny trailer at the end of many commercial DVDs. Those of you who only have one Scart input on your TV will most likely not quite agree with the quality protection line, it's more like quality destruction what Macrovision actually does. It most certainly doesn't help quality in any way. But back to the lawsuit, the DMCA mentions "effective measures" for copy protection. Now any self-respecting cryptographer would not consider CSS as an effective measure, but it's really a stretch from a simple bitstream flag that enables Macrovision on DVDs to an effective measure. It's almost like putting a sticker on a DVD saying: this DVD is copy protected, then sue people when they still copy it (assuming there's no CSS). And how can you infringe Macrovision's copyright when the way Macrovision is stored on DVDs is public knowledge? Shouldn't Macrovision sue the whole wide world then?

BeSweet 1.5b25 correctly handles samplingrate change requests from Nero, so it will automatically downsample to the proper samplingrate required for a certain bitrate and you don't have to worry about proper downsampling anymore.
Fair Use 0.34b fixes several major bugs in the encoding engine so everybody should update.

While China goes EVD, Taiwan is cooking another soup: FVD (finalized versatile disc). Instead of MPEG-2 (DVD) and VP5/VP6 (EVD), FVD uses Microsoft's WindowsMedia v9 audio and video codecs. With all the delays in the EVD camp I wonder if FVD will ever see the light of the day until we see the first HD DVD devices (which are due by the end of 2004).

Media Player Classic 6.4.7.4 now has an integrated AC3 decoder based on liba52 and the mpeg decoder supports bob deinterlacing.

For once, the MPAA has lost. Norwegian MPAA lapdog Økokrim has thrown in the towel and won't appeal Jon Johansen's 2nd acquittal. And in what must feel really ironic for the MPAA's sister agency, the RIAA, the same guy has just added a piece of code to the VideoLan project, that creates valid user keys for Apple's DRM laden iTunes service, thus making it possible to use the locked files anywhere where VideoLan has been run.

On the other hand, the MPAA is making progress in passing legislation to get people that take cameras into movie theaters arrested. If you're a tourist going to the movies, better rent a lockbox and put your camera away or you could even be subject to a citizen's arrest in a couple of US states (and more are coming).

Fair Use 0.34 does the multiplexing internally, has a better integrated audio conversion and can configure several encoding sessions from the same disc simultaneously.
IfoUpdate 0.77 can correct the IFO / BUP length to be 2048 byte aligned and it can transfer VTS_TMAPTI and VTS_VOBU_ADMAP tables that are longer in the newly authored file than the original.

In Belgium, it looks like the RIAAs crusade to make our CDs unusable (AKA copy protection that makes CDs non specs compliant) is about to encounter some resistance: The consumer watchdog organization Test-Achats is suing RIAA members EMI, Sony, BMG and Universal for "violation of the elementary right for private copies". They demand that no CDs must be equipped with measures to prevent private copying and that existing CDs with those measures be withdrawn from the market. That gives me an idea: Why don't we all contact similar organizations in our respective countries and ask them to look into this? Wouldn't "do something against copyright holders that try to abolish our right to fair use" be a good new year's resolution?

Philips, one of the main promoters of the DVD+ format, is expected to start producing dual format chipsets early this year. It looks like sooner or later all the companies will go the dual format route.

China's EVD format (which also supports the VP6 codec tested in the latest codec comparison) seems to be a bit late but the first players are supposed to be released shortly. It will be interesting to see how a $242 player fares against much cheaper players (even DivX capable DVD players are available for around $100 these days). Around 400 EVD titles should be available for the start of the format, which is a lot more than was available on DVD when it was introduced.

Welcome in 2004 :)

Zoom Player 3.30 fixes remaining bugs of the RC and contains some minor changes.

Don't forget about the codec comparison, which now comes in two version, one suitable for lower bandwidth connections and one for high bandwidth connections.