Software » MacOS Video » ffmpegX 0.0.9y-L r2

Aug 3, 2011 - ffmpegX 0.0.9y-"Lion" r2 released. What's new:

bugfix in DVD authoring with soft subtitles
bugfix in bitrate calculator with ffmpeg engine


Jul 30, 2011 - ffmpegX 0.0.9y-L released. What's new in 0.0.9y-Lion:
* OSX 10.7 "Lion" compatibility


Jan 26, 2008 - ffmpegX 0.0.9y released. What's new in 0.0.9y:
* Fixes for Leopard compatibility
* Added iPhone preset
* Added metadata in FLV encoding (to enable progress indicators in Flash video playback).


Oct 2, 2006 - ffmpegX 0.0.9x r2 released. What's new in 0.0.9x r2:
* iPod H.264 w640" preset is now compatible with iTunes for W


Sep 22, 2006 - ffmpegX 0.0.9x released. What's new in 0.0.9x:
* Added "iPod H.264 w640" preset to support new high-resolution 640x480 h.264 in updated 5G iPods.
* With this new version you are not required to download a new version of the binaries, unless you install ffmpegX for the first time. Please read the download and installation instructions by clicking here.


Jul 1, 2006 - ffmpegX 0.0.9w r5 released. What's new in 0.0.9w r5:
* PSP H.264 preset now supports PSP 2.71 firmware.
* Enabled 'gain' volume control for PSP H.264 preset.
* ffmpegX Progress is now Universal.
* With this new version you are not required to download a new version of the binaries, unless you install ffmpegX for the first time. Please read the download and installation instructions by clicking here.


Apr 27, 2006 - ffmpegX 0.0.9w released. What's new in 0.0.9w:
* Universal version (application and all encoding components with full support of SSE/MMX optimizations on Intel machines and Altivec on PPC machines).
Performances on Intel iMac (encoding from a VOB file, no crop) as follows :
mencoder DivX 640x272: 100 fps (a movie is encoded in less than 30 minutes)
ffmpeg DVD 720x480: 96 fps ( " " less than 30 minutes)
ffmpeg divx 640x272: 60 fps (" " about 45 minutes)
ffmpeg xvid 640x272: 47 fps (" " about 1 hour)
x264 h264 640x272: 40 fps (" " about 1 hour)
mpeg2enc DVD 720x480: 25 fps (" " real time)
Please note that ffmpeg cropping code is currently not well optimized. Using crop will lead to slower performances than the above figures.
* Support of the latest version of all encoding components including further optimizations also for PowerPC Macs.
* Added .FLV Flash Video preset for encoding video suitable for internet streaming (eg. use in blogs). You may find here a tutorial about using Flash Video on your website.
* Enabled mencoder "Audio gain" option in the Intel version.
* Fixed threads issue with DivX 3 mencoder preset.


Feb 12, 2006 - ffmpegX 0.0.9v released. What's new in 0.0.9v:
* Added "PSP h.264" preset for encoding to MP4 H.264 in the special format used by the Sony PSP, for achieving extreme compression rates (about 200MB for one feature movie) and high quality encodings for the PSP. The preset uses x264 engine.
* Added "Add PSP atoms" in the x264 Options, to process the MP4 container with the special data required by the PSP to play H.264.
* Added "PSP name" in the x264 Options, appearing only when "Add PSP atoms" is also enabled, to add the PSP name displayed in the PSP movies list.
* Added support for PSP firmware 2.60 H.264 framerates (15, 24, NTSC, NTSC FILM and 30 fps). Firmware 2.00 will play 15, NTSC and 30fps only.
* Added support of two-pass encoding for x264 engine.
* Renamed target format "MP4 H.264" into "h.264 mencoder"
* Added target format "h.264 x264" for general purpose h.264 encoding with x264 engine.
* Fixed aspect ratio issue when cropping in ffmpeg engine.


Dec 1, 2005 - ffmpegX 0.0.9u released. What's new in 0.0.9u:
* Added "iPod h.264" preset for super-fast (up to 7 times faster than other methods) video encoding for the video iPod. The preset uses 320 width H.264 video and AAC audio. It encodes a feature movie into about 200MB.
* Added "iPod for TV" preset for super-fast video encoding for the video iPod, optimized for playback on TV in high resolution, through the audio/video output of the iPod. The preset uses 480 width mpeg-4 video and AAC audio, and It encodes a feature movie into about 500MB. A maximum width of 720 may be used if your movie aspect is 2.35:1, or 640 if it is 16:9. You may also use a width of 320 for iPod-only playback, and encoding much faster than h.264
* Added x264 encoding engine for encoding to mpeg-4 h.264. Encoding options are similar to mencoder h.264 and in addition the following options are available: Trellis quantization, i4x4 analysis, Decode with Quicktime, AVC level (1.3 for iPod, you may use 5.1 to match mencoder h264 default). Note that Quicktime is not quite compatible with b-frames so you may want to avoid them.
* Fixed further sound sync issues with mencoder h264.
* Disabled forced bitrate change when the image size is modified.
* Fixed bug with Author tool not taking into account text encoding and fonts when authoring selectable subtitles.
* Known issue: the current ffmpeg inverts the order of VOB audio tracks. So if you have 3 audio tracks numbered 0, 1 and 2, and the 2 should be italian, ffmpeg will find it in track 0 instead.


Aug 26, 2005 - ffmpegX 0.0.9t released. What's new in 0.0.9t:
* Added new MP4 H.264 quick preset for encoding with outstanding quality to the H.264 Advanced Video Codec (mpeg-4 part 10), and AAC sound, in a MP4 container fully compatible with Quicktime 7. Supports VIDEO_TS input and subtitles. Please note: AVI H.264 has been discontinued, because it is highly unstandard to use H264 into AVI, and its previous availability was only experimental. Please note: PSP H.264 uses a non-standard muxing profile and will be added soon. (You can however encode to PSP MPEG-4 with the PSP preset at super-fast speed).
* Added support of PSP non-standard resolutions (psprez) for use with 16:9 sources: mainly 368x208, but also 416x176, 320x176, 384x160, 480x160 and 400x192 are supported. Note that the PSP screen has a resolution of 480x272, but for movie playback, width x height must not exceed 76800 pixels, so only the smaller sizes listed above will work. Note that no matter the non-standard resolution used, the picture will be always scaled to the full 16:9 PSP screen size, so if your source is 2.35;1 you must prior reverse it to 16:9 by using black bars. For 4:3 sources, always use the standard 320x240 resolution as it will bring best results. To gain a little quality if you don't mind for the bigger filesize, you may use a video bitrate of 400 kbps.
* Fixed display bug in ffmpegX Progress.
* The installer is now fully compatible with 10.4 Tiger.
* New "Tools" tab. Each tool has now its own view for easier operations and more room for additional options.
* The "Open in Terminal Window" and "Keep Elementary Streams" option have been moved in the ffmpegX menu in the Apple bar.
* The "Author as DVD/SVCD/VCD" and "Split in N chunks" options for ffmpeg and mpeg2enc post-processing have been moved in the Options tab.
* Prescanning of VIDEO_TS folders before encoding is now almost instantaneous.
* Added "ME Function" option for H.264 encoding. Sets the comparison function used for fullpixel motion estimation (affects quality). Available values: Diamond search (fastest), Hexagon search (default), Uneven multi-hexagon, Exhaustive search (very slow).
* Support for new source formats with newer versions of the binaries, including QT7 H.264, Ogg, Vorbis, VP3, FPS1, Theora, Alac.
* Added a smaller subtitle font size value of 0.
* Added simplified chinese subtitle font (STHeiti).
* Added new autosize values of 16:9, 1.85:1 and 2.35:1 "keep height", allowing for the maximum possible quality in case of anamorphic 16:9 DVDs (eg. you'll be keeping the entire vertical resolution and increase width, instead of keeping width and decrease horizontal resolution).
* Fixed encoding issues for some .rm files previously resulting in a bus error.
* Crop information is now included in user-saved presets.
* When manually editing the image width or height, 'best' bitrate is automatically re-computed.
* The "Fix" tool for doctoring AVI files now runs in the Progress window.
* Fixed preview for mpeg-2 encoding with 'Normalize' enabled.
* Fixed encoding to ffmpeg mpeg-2 with ntsc-film framerate (previously forcing ntsc).
* Some improvements to better support running on a japanese OSX.
* Fixed various bugs from 0.0.9s.
* Updated to mplayer/mencoder CVS of June 19, 2005.
* Updated to ffmpeg CVS of Aug 14, 2005.
* Updated to h.264 x264 rev285 of Aug 10, 2005.
* Updated to XviD CVS of Aug 10, 2005.


Jan 23, 2005 - ffmpegX 0.0.9s released. What's new in 0.0.9s:

* The new ffmpegX opening view is the "Summary" tab. It provides a quick and easy way to operate ffmpegX by simply dropping a file on the left, choosing a preset on the right, and clicking "Encode". The source and target formats are detailed in the "LCD-like" screens.
* Added support of drag and drop of input files over the left "LCD" screen AND the Open.. field.
* Autocrop is now also supported with ffmpeg engine.
* Crop values are now always in TBLR format (top bottom left right) for both mencoder and ffmpeg engines. The needed conversions are now done internally and you do not longer need to convert between mencoder and ffmpeg crop formats.
* Autocrop now autocrops AND previews, for faster checking of crop values (hit the Return key to stop the preview).
* Fixed bug which caused wrong cropping values in recent releases.
* Added normalize audio option in the audio tab. It analyzes the whole input audio track and automatically adjusts the volume for the best average value before encoding it, so as to avoid volume too low or clipping. Currently available with ffmpeg mpeg-2, ffmpeg mpeg-1, and mpeg2enc without "Decode with mplayer". (For mencoder engine DivX/XviD/h.264, you may still use the Audio "Gain" popup to manually adjust the encoded volume).
* Added setting of subtitle size (Filters tab), for burning subtitles in DivX/XviD/h.264/mpeg1/2 or for creating DVD selectable subtitles with the specified font size. (Click the 'Play' button with a subtitle file loaded in the Filters tab to preview).
* Added setting of subtitle font (Filters tab), for burning subtitles in DivX/XviD/h.264/mpeg1/2 or for creating DVD selectable subtitles with the specified font. Available fonts are a subset of the Apple fonts installed in OSX 10.3. Fonts for non-latin alphabets are available, like Chinese, Japanese, Cyrillic, Greek, etc. (Click the 'Play' button with a subtitle file loaded in the Filters tab to preview).
* Added setting of subtitle text encoding (Filters tab), for burning subtitles in DivX/XviD/h.264/mpeg1/2 or for creating DVD selectable subtitles. Allow to use subtitle files with non-english characters sets. More than 60 choices are available to cover almost all possible cases. (Click the 'Play' button with a subtitle file loaded in the Filters tab to preview).
* Added "PSP ffmpeg" quick preset to encode video suitable for playback on the Sony PSP. Sets the new "psp" ffmpeg profile. Please note that once converted to the special PSP profile, the files will be not readable by ffmpegX for converting back to another format. Also sets the particular file naming needed for PSP, and the name used internally to catalog the movies (to be entered in the "PSP name" field which will appear in the Options tab).
* Added support of TiVo .ty files input for encoding with mencoder engine (to DivX, XviD, h.264), and with mpeg2enc engine and "Decode with mplayer" enabled (to mpeg-1, mpeg-2), as well as playback with the "Play" button.
* Added support of TiVo .ty files demuxing with the "Demux" tool. Standard .m2v and .mp2 streams will be generated as output (you can then import them in DVDSP).
* Added support of TiVo .ty files "Author as DVD" with the "Author" tool, to directly author them as VIDEO_TS folders without any re-encoding (audio is automatically resampled to 48Khz and elementary streams are kept, for any further processing in Sizzle or DVDSP).
* Added b-frames option to mencoder h.264.
* When encoding sources with AAC audio to ffmpeg mpeg-2, you may now avoid known ffmpeg memory leaks in decoding AAC audio, by enabling the "Normalize" option (now default in the presets). By doing so, Quicktime will be used to decode the audio, while ffmpeg will still be used to decode the video.
* "Decode with mplayer" temp files are now created in the destination folder.
* Better support of Quicktime files for ffmpeg engine.
* Several bugfixes from 0.0.9r and better error handling.
* Updated to mencoder CVS of Jan 23, 2005 (static build). This version improves VOB subtitle displaying and also fixes a bug which made XviD files impossible to open on PC.
* Updated to ffmpeg CVS of Jan 6, 2005.
* Updated to h.264 x264 rev104 of Jan 23, 2005.
* Updated to XviD 1.1 CVS of Jan 23, 2005.


Dec 25, 2004 - ffmpegX 0.0.9r released. What's new in 0.0.9r:

* Added DVD selectable subtitles encoding support for ffmpeg and mpeg2enc engine. Select a text-based subtitle file (.srt, .sub, .ssa, .smi, .rt, .txt, .aqt, .jss, .js formats are supported) in the Filters tab and encode your movie with DVD mpeg2enc (without the "Decode with mplayer" option) or with DVD ffmpeg quick preset. The subtitles will be imaged and embedded as fully selectable DVD subtitles by using the Subtitles button in your remote control (no more burning in the movie image, though you can still use burning mode by selecting "Burn" and "Decode with mplayer"). Use the "Play" button to check prior to encoding that the subtitle file is synchronized to your movie (if you need to fix the subtitle syncing, use SubSyncX).
* Improved AUTHOR tool to add DVD selectable subtitles to an existing MPG file. Load a DVD-compliant MPG file and a text-based subtitle file (.srt, .sub, .ssa, .smi, .rt, .txt, .aqt, .jss, .js) in the first two Browse.. fields, then click AUTHOR. A VIDEO_TS folder will then be authored with the subtitles embedded as fully selectable DVD subtitles by using the Subtitles button in your remote control.
* Fixed 16:9 aspect ratio support when using manual letterboxing with ffmpeg engine.
* Added DVDImg tool to create a .dmg UDF image file for burning a DVD with Disk Utility. This tool requires as input (in the first browse.. field) a folder containing a /VIDEO_TS and /AUDIO_TS structure.
* In order to lower disk space requirements, a .dmg image file is no longer automatically created at the end of a DVD authoring process (only a /DVD/ folder containing /VIDEO_TS and /AUDIO_TS folders will be created). If you want to make a .dmg image for burning with Disk Utility, you may now use the new DVDdmg tool.
* Fixed bug which sometimes led to DVD authoring with audio in track 1 instead of track 0.
* VIDEO_TS audio tracks and subtitles auto-detection does not delete other choices from the pulldown menus (it seems that this is needed for correct handling with some norwegian titles).
* Fixed some encoding issues with DivX 3, msmpeg4v1 and msmpeg4v2 with ffmpeg engine.
* The Author tool now runs in the Progress window.
* Updated to ffmpeg CVS of Dec 18, 2004.


Nov 21, 2004 - ffmpegX 0.0.9q released. What's new in 0.0.9q:

* Updated mencoder and ffmpeg engines to to latest XviD 1.1 branch (about twice as faster than in version 0.0.9p).
* Updated H.264 codec to r.58 including many optimizations and improvements.
* Added 2-pass encoding option to H.264.
* Added encoding of RealVideo online streams for mencoder engine. You can now open as a source file a RealVideo .rpm or .ram metafile from your disk, and be able to play and/or encode the online streaming video pointed by the metafile. Useful to encode news, trailers, etc. To create your own metafile, simply create a text file with a .rpm or .ram file extension, and write inside it the rtsp:// or http:// address of the .rm online stream to be encoded (smil files not supported). Hint: you can create metafiles pointing to any kind of online files, not only RealVideo, eg. http://server.com/test.mpg is also valid).
* "DVD ffmpeg" quick preset now defaults without "Decode with Quicktime" for faster operation (ffmpeg muxer now compatible with DVD authoring).
* Added "Letterbox" sub-option to ffmpeg engine to disable auto-letterboxing when "Decode with Quicktime" is used.
* "Best" bitrate is now automatically recalculated when selecting a quick preset (eg. switching from XviD to H.264 preset the bitrate will adjust automatically).
* Fixed issue in previous mencoder build resulting in incorrect subtitles display.
* "Invert mapping" can now select audio tracks other than 0.
* Choosing ffmpeg engine codecs now also sets keyframe interval automatically to 12 for mpeg-1/mpeg-2 and 240 for mpeg-4.
* Fixed wrong Progress message for XviD encoding.
* Fixed minor issues with "Passthrough audio" with ffmpeg engine.
* Fixed minor issues with subtitles number check from a VIDEO_TS folder.
* Updated to ffmpeg CVS of Nov 16, 2004.
* Added spanish localization (thanks Francisco de J. Lopez V.)


Sep 4, 2004 - ffmpegX 0.0.9p released. What's new in 0.0.9p:

Added H.264 quick preset for encoding with mencoder engine with the H.264 Advanced Video Codec (mpeg-4 part 10) through the library x.264 (revision 46). Due to current limitations of mencoder, H.264 will be encoded in an AVI container with MP3 audio, instead of in an .MP4 container with AAC audio as it should be. Support for MP4 container will be added later. Use it to test this new codec, featuring superior performance and compression.
Added support for H.264 decoding for ffmpeg and mencoder engines.
Added support for H.264 playback with the "Play" button through a patched mplayer binary. To playback the H.264 streams, click the "Play" button, then hit "F" to go fullscreen, SPACE to pause, RETURN to stop, and arrows to forward/rewind.
Added "Use CABAC" option to H.264 encoding. Enables H.264 Context-Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding to improve entropy coding and achieve smaller files (slower).
Added "Full interframe analysis" option to H.264 encoding. Use all available inter-frame analysis methods (i4x4, psub8x8, psub16x16) for a better motion estimation (slower).
Added "Constant bitrate" option to H.264 encoding. If enabled, encodes at the specified constant bitrate by varying the quantizer between qmin and qmax. Please note that for H.264 the quantizer value has not the same meaning as in mpeg-1, mpeg-2 or mpeg-4. The quantizer range is from 2 to 51 on a logarithmic scale (so eg. the bitrate difference between q=20 and q=40 is only a factor of about 10). If "Constant bitrate" is disabled (default), then the qmin value is used to encode at constant quality, variable bitrate. A good range for qmin is 20..40 (default=22).
Added support for built-in H.264 "Deblock" filter (in the Filters tab, enabled by default).
Added "MPEG-TS" quick preset using ffmpeg engine, to encode to .TS DVB transport stream format using the ffmpeg mpeg-2 codec and MP2 sound (experimental).
Added support of raw .DV video input for mencoder DivX/XviD and vcd/svcd/dvd with "decode with mplayer".
Added playback of raw .DV video files with the "Play" button.
Added support of AAC sound input in Quicktime .MOV files.
Added support of AC3 stereo encoding in mencoder DivX and XviD (before it was just passing through a source AC3 -use 'Passthrough' audio codec to do that now-).
mencoder DivX/XviD deinterlace filter now use median deinterlacer instead of linear blend, for better quality.
Added "Decode with Quicktime" support for ffmpeg engine AVI encoding (XviD, DivX). Now used by default with ffmpeg AVI encoding when the input file is a Quicktime .mov file, thus fixing previous issues with MOV input (enables auto-letterboxing).
The DVD>DVD4 tool can now also process VOB files smaller than 4GB, by applying a VOB to VIDEO_TS conversion without any recompression (1 or 2 audio tracks retained). Disable "Keep elementary streams" if you want to remove intermediate files.
Further dual processor optimizations to mencoder mpeg-4 encoding.
Renamed quick preset names as "format name" followed by "(engine name)".


Aug 21, 2004 - ffmpegX 0.0.9o released. What's new in 0.0.9o:

This version and further versions are only compatible with OSX 10.3 (Panther) and later. If you want to use ffmpegX with OSX 10.2 (Jaguar), please use the last 10.2-compatible version (0.0.9k).
The "Save as.." default destination is now automatically set by appending ".ff." to the source. Eg. if you open "/Movies/a.mov", the "Save as.." path when encoding to avi will be set to "/Movies/a.mov.ff.avi". If the source is a VIDEO_TS folder, then the generic destination filename "movie" will be used by default.
Added "MP4" quick preset using ffmpeg engine, to encode to .MP4 format using the libavc mpeg4 codec and AAC sound (you can also use .MP4 .XviD instead of .MP4 libavc mpeg4).
Added video encoding to .MP4 libavc mpeg-4 with ffmpeg engine.
Added video encoding to .MP4 XviD with ffmpeg engine.
Added "fixed quantizer mode" for mencoder XviD, to achieve constant quality XviD encoding. To use it, set qmin=qmax (lower values mean better quality, use 2 or 3 for max. quality). The encoding will take place in constant quality and variable bitrate (instead of constant bitrate and variable quality). The bitrate value will be ignored, so the bitrate calculator should not be used. When encoding in fixed quantizer mode, the final file size will depend on the movie complexity and is not predictable. Please note that 2-pass disables constant quantizer mode.
Added "Cartoon content" option to mencoder XviD, which sets internal thresholds in order to take better decisions on motion vectors and improve quality on flat-looking cartoon or anime.
Added Trellis quantization option to mencoder XviD and ffmpeg engines.
Added Quarter Pixel motion compensation option to ffmpeg engine.
Fixed an issue with 3GP encoding from 0.0.9n.
Fixed mencoder AVI compatibility with Quicktime Player for files bigger than 1GB (please remember that AVI 1.0 files must be smaller than 2GB).
Subtitles popup-menu range is now 0-31.
Updated to ffmpeg CVS of Aug 21, 2004.


Aug 3, 2004 - ffmpegX 0.0.9n released. What's new in 0.0.9n:

Added video encoding to MOV mpeg-4 (libavc) with ffmpeg engine.
Added video encoding to MOV XviD with ffmpeg engine.
Added audio encoding to AAC with ffmpeg engine for use with MOV or 3GP encoding.
Added "MOV mpeg-4" quick preset using ffmpeg engine, to encode to Quicktime .mov format using the libavc mpeg-4 codec and AAC sound.
This preset allows you to encode with the speed of ffmpeg, the quality of the libavc mpeg4 codec, and to read and edit the resulting .mov files natively in Quicktime Player and other Quicktime applications like Final Cut Pro, even without installing additional DivX codecs.
All usual ffmpeg options like "High quality", "Two pass", "b-frames", and quantizers are enabled.
You can also use "MOV XviD" instead of "MOV mpeg-4".
Attention, the MOV format may not be playable on PCs or DivX-hardware players, so for such compatibility you must use AVI mpeg-4.
This preset uses a small Keyframe interval of 12 in order to improve seeking in Quicktime applications.
To edit in Final Cut Pro without need of rendering, you may encode with the option "Use only I-frames" (big files, use the bitrate calculator "Best" button to set bitrate) and set the "mpeg-4" codec in the timeline settings of Final Cut.
Use this preset to convert your mpeg/vob files to an editable format with a small file size, so as to edit them, or archive them without needing terabytes of storage.
Use this preset to convert your big .DV captures into very small, and still editable files (enable "Deinterlace" when converting .dv files).
Use this preset if you don't need PC/DivX hardware players compatibility and prefer to keep your movies in a Quicktime MOV container and play them back with Quicktime, taking advantage of all Quicktime features and available applications.
Faster ffmpeg engine encoding on biprocessor machines.
The bitrate calculator now takes into account the "Use only I-frames" ffmpeg mpeg-4 option.
"Decode with mplayer" temporary data (stream.yuv and audiodump.wav) are now stored in the current home folder, in order to avoid permission problems.
Restored "Hide ffmpegX" choice in the menu which got disabled in the previous version.
Some minor updates to ffmpegX Progress.
Updated to ffmpeg CVS of July 30, 2004.


Jul 18, 2004 - ffmpegX 0.0.9m released. What's new in 0.0.9m:

Added video encoding to XviD format with ffmpeg engine.
Added "fast XviD" quick preset using ffmpeg engine, up to 300% faster than mencoder XviD.
Updated XviD to version 1.0.1 (fixing problem of green artifacts on the left side of the screen).
Added video encoding to DV format with ffmpeg engine.
Added audio encoding to PCM-16 bit (for use with DV video).
Added "DV" quick preset to encode to DV video PAL or NTSC. (Always open the source file first, then select the quick preset without changing the settings: don't change the image size and don't use the bitrate calculator to change bitrate when encoding to DV format, as DV implies standardized settings).
New stabler and optimized mencoder and mplayer builds.
Added "Install binaries" choice in the ffmpegX menu to call back the self-installer sheet at any time.
ffmpegX no longer installs its components into shared Unix directories /usr/bin or /usr/local/lib. External components are now automatically stored into a private /Library/Application Support/ffmpegX/ directory.
External components have been further optimized.
Added various improvements to the self-installer. The admin password is now entered in hidden mode.
Updated to ffmpeg CVS of July 18, 2004.


Jun 20, 2004 - ffmpegX 0.0.9L released. What's new in 0.0.9L:

Added support for mencoder and mplayer binaries version of June 16, 2004.
mencoder now includes Linux reallib libraries allowing to open all realvideo formats for encoding to mencoder mpeg-4, XviD, mpeg-1/mpeg-2 (with 'Decode with mplayer' enabled).
Updated XviD libraries to version 1.0.1.
New options available for XviD encoding: "High quality", "Use b-frames", "Quarter Pixel ME (qpel)", "Print PSNR", "Interlaced content".
You can now burn .srt or .sub subtitles when encoding in DivX and XviD format.
XviD encoding is now fully compatible with 'smartmovie' videoplayer (for use in handheld devices and smart phones). Here is a sample smartmovie-compatible encoding preset.
Added fixes to "Extract" button to extract subtitles in VobSub format.
An error is now reported when there are spaces in filenames while using 'Decode with mplayer'.


Jun 13, 2004 - ffmpegX 0.0.9k released. What's new in 0.0.9k:

Prescan of mpg and vob files at the start of the encoding is now super-fast.
Fixed issue of quick framerate when encoding Quicktime files (eg. DV files) to "fast DivX".
Autocrop will now take into account the "Autosize" aspect ratio value to set the aspect ratio of the cropped image (usually 2.35:1, 16:9 or 4:3).
Added video encoding to .3GP H263 format.
Added audio encoding to AMR Narrowband format.
Added "3gp" quick preset to encode video optimized for playback on smart phones and handheld devices compatibles with this format. The preset uses a .3gp container with h263 video in qcif resolution at 30 kbps, and AMR-NR audio at 12 kbps, allowing for a whole movie to fit in less than 30MB. Depending on the specifications and memory available in your playback device, you should adjust settings to obtain the best image quality, then save a ffmpegX preset file with your optimized settings. If you use Bluetooth, the Apple Bluetooth File Exchange application will allow you to easily send the encoded .3gp file to your device. Note: some phones could need installation of a video player software in order to play 3gp files (see the website of your phone brand to check). Note: video for phones using the "Smartmovie" player can be encoded by simply using the DivX/XviD codecs with appropriate size and bitrates (save a preset file when you found the best settings for your phone).
Added low audio sampling rates support with mencoder engine.
Added fixes to the VOB demux tool


May 31, 2004 - ffmpegX 0.0.9j released. What's new in 0.0.9j:

Opening a video or audio file now also set the "Duration" field in the Video tab to its duration in minutes (duration is recognized for all formats excepted VIDEO_TS, mpv, m1v and m2v).
The Pulldown tool now runs in the Progress window.
Fixed "aspect ratio error" in some cases of VCD encoding in NTSC format.


May 22, 2004 - ffmpegX 0.0.9i released. What's new in 0.0.9i:

Added "AVI with 2 audio tracks" Mux as.. option. To use it, select an AVI file and an audio file in the Tools tab, and click Mux as.. "AVI +audio". You will obtain an AVI file with the existing audio track/s, and the additional audio. If the audio track is not mp3, then it will be automatically converted to mp3 before muxing (conversion will take about 30-40 minutes in that case). Use this tool to build AVI DivX/XviD files with multiple languages audio tracks. Use VLC to play AVI files with two audio tracks.
Added self-installer inside the ffmpegX application. To install ffmpegX, you should now simply move the ffmpegX application from the disk image to your Applications folder. On launch, ffmpegX will automatically detect whether your system need installation of any additional components and list them in the self-installer window. You should then simply click "Install" once to install them.


May 8, 2004 - ffmpegX 0.0.9h released. What's new in 0.0.9h:

Added "Pulldown" tool. It adds 3:2 pulldown flags to .m2v elementary mpeg-2 streams encoded in NTSC FILM format with ffmpeg engine, so as they can be opened in DVD Studio Pro 2. Please note that mpeg2enc engine already supports 3:2 pulldown while encoding.
Fixed crash when opening very large DV files. To convert a very large DV file to DivX, use the "fast DivX" preset.
Faster prescan analysis when opening a file.
Fixed issues with DVD>DVD4 when output was slightly bigger than 4GB if keeping two audio tracks.


May 2, 2004 - ffmpegX 0.0.9g released. What's new in 0.0.9g:

All DVD presets, including DVD hi-bitrate and DVD lo-bitrate now support AC3 5.1 sound encoding.
"Decode with Quicktime" option now also decodes MPG audio tracks.
mp2 encoding for VCD/SVCD/DVD presets is now super-fast.
Improved "fast SVCD" encoding.
Added manual "letterbox" settings for ffmpeg engine (Filters tab), enabling addition of black padding areas at Top/Bottom/Left/Right (values in pixels). To correctly use this feature, you should first reduce the image size depending on the source aspect ratio, then add black areas to match to playback aspect ratio. (Pleate note: When "Decode with Quicktime" is used, auto-letterboxing is always enabled and will overrid the manual settings.
Updated to ffmpeg CVS of Apr 30, 2004.


Apr 25, 2004 - ffmpegX 0.0.9f released. What's new in 0.0.9f:

Added support of two audio tracks for SVCD, CVD and DVD muxing with the "Mux as.." tool. An additional input field has been added in the tools view to select the second audio track in mp2 or ac3 format (other formats being automatically converted to mp2).
Added support of two audio tracks in DVD>DVD4 tool (both must be in ac3 format). Proceed by selecting as input file a VOB with two audio tracks and no subtitle track, then select the audio track numbers with the two pulldown menus located next to the DVD>DVD4 button. To include one audio track only, select "No" in the second pulldown menu.
"Auto" split handling moved at muxing time instead of encoding time, for compatibility with two audio tracks support.
Fixed "fast DVD" issue resulting in 0k ac3 files.

Apr 17, 2004 - ffmpegX 0.0.9e released. What's new in 0.0.9e:

The "Mux as.." tool now also supports AVI muxing. It will combine an AVI file video track with a mp3 or ac3 audio file (wav or mp2 are also accepted but will be automatically converted to mp3).

Apr 12, 2004 - ffmpegX 0.0.9d released. What's new in 0.0.9d:

The "Demux" tool now also supports VOB demuxing. It will extract from a VOB its m2v video file and ac3 audio files (for now only ac3 audio is extracted). This is also useful to convert VOB to VIDEO_TS (demux the VOB into m2v and ac3, then run them into "Mux as..DVD", with "Author as DVD" enabled).
Improved all "fast" presets (fast SVCD, fast DVD, fast VCD, fast DivX).
Save/load presets take now into account the new "fast" settings.

Apr 6, 2004 - ffmpegX 0.0.9c released. What's new in 0.0.9c:

Added "fast SVCD" and "fast DVD" quick presets for super-fast SVCD and DVD encoding (twice as fast as SVCD and DVD presets).
"fast DVD" preset supports encoding of audio to AC3 format.
Added "Decode with Quicktime" option to ffmpeg engine encoding options (for mpeg-1 and mpeg-2 encoding). It enables letterboxing and Quicktime codecs input support to fast VCD, fast SVCD and fast DVD quick presets. Elementary streams are also created. Splitting in "auto" chunks and authoring is also supported.
Fixed some bugs from 0.0.9b.
Updated to ffmpeg CVS of Apr 2, 2004.
Mar 28, 2004 - ffmpegX 0.0.9b released. What's new in 0.0.9b:

Added "Decode with mplayer" support for VCD & mpeg-1 encoding (it was previously limited to mpeg-2 formats like SVCD and DVD), thus allowing VIDEO_TS input and subtitle burning for VCD and KVCD encoding.
Added Quick Presets for encoding audio to AC3 (compatible with DVDSP 2).
Added 5:1 channels choice for AC3 encoding (in addition to Stereo and Mono).
Fixed "%" muxing bug when encoding to DVD.
Fixed deinterlacing with XviD format (no more green stripes).
Quick Presets now also sets default media size for correct auto-split behavior (80 min mode-2 for VCD/SVCD, 80 min mode-1 for DivX/XviD and DVD 4GB for DVD).
Fixed other minor bugs from 0.0.9a.
Updated to ffmpeg CVS of Mar 22, 2004.

Mar 8, 2004 - French version of this online manual available available (thanks to Carpo.org and Antoine Pr鶥aux).


Dec 20, 2003 - Two new guides available: DivX to SVCD and Final Cut Pro to VCD.


Oct 26, 2003 - ffmpegX 0.0.9a released. What's new in 0.0.9a:

Intelligent automatic settings now also set image aspect ratio based on source, and optimized videobitrate for encoding with current codec.
Autocrop now also adjusts videobitrate based on new image size and ratio.
DivX Quick presets no longer set image size (to keep automatic size set from source, or image size set by "Auto" bitrate calculator).
Fixed KVCD muxer.
Fixed some buffer underflow issues for XVCD and XSVCD "Mux as" tool.
Fixed again encoding of VOB with PCM sound (was not working in 0.0.9).
Fixed file extensions for audio encoding.
Added italian localization by Gabriele Callari (now the application is localized in english, french, german, and italian).
Oct 11, 2003 - ffmpegX 0.0.9 released. What's new in 0.0.9:


Intelligent automatic setting of NTSC/PAL framerate, image size and pulldown mode, depending on source movie analysis. This will greatly simplify the operating process: just selecting a quick preset should now be enough. For example to encode an avi DivX file to SVCD, all you have to do is now just:
drop the source file onto the application icon (or open it with the Open... button),
select SVCD quick preset,
hit encode.
For example to encode a VIDEO_TS folder to XviD, all you have to do is now just:
drop the VIDEO_TS folder onto the application icon,
select XviD quick preset,
hit encode.
New "Information" line at the top of the window. It will always read in this format: VIDEO: DivX, size:480x576, NTSC FILM (23.976) w/3:2 pulldown, 7500 kbps - AUDIO: mp3, 44100Hz, 96 kbps. The information is selectable so as you can also copy/paste it.
There are no longer PAL and NTSC versions of each Quick preset and of each "autosize" image format. PAL/NTSC image size mode is now set automatically based on the current framerate.
Added new default postprocessing split in "Auto" chunks mode for mpeg2enc encoding and for the mux as.. tool (will be implemented later for ffmpeg encoding), which will cut the stream as needed when CD media size is exceeded (as specified in the bitrate calculator CD media type popup: eg. "80 min mode-2", "74 min mode-1", etc, OR (whichever is smaller) as specified by a size in MB as manually entered in the size field of the bitrate calculator, eg. "100 MB"). Authoring to VCD or SVCD can be automatically applied to resulting chunks.
Operating mode of "Decode with Quicktime" is now exteded to any input format (for VCD/SVCD/CVD/DVD/KVCD/KDVD encoding). It was limited to Quicktime .mov files and VOB files before. Eg. if your input file is an .avi DivX file, Quicktime decoding will now also apply, and you will no longer need to use DivX Doctor II. When using "Decode with Quicktime" you must make sure that your input file can be opened in Quicktime Player, or the encoding will fail (eg. you must have the codecs to read it, like divx.com and 3ivx.com codecs to read .avi DivX, or QT mpeg-2 player codec to read VOB files). If you don't want to decode with Quicktime or don't have codecs for a specific format, or get errors or no progress bar (especially with mpeg files as input), you can try to disable "Decode with Quicktime" in the Options tab, so as ffmpeg will be used to read the source, or enable "Decode with mplayer", so as mplayer will be used to read the source.
Improved "fast-mpeg1" preset for VCD encoding. Encoding options, muxing process, splitting process and authoring process have been optimized to improve DVD player compliance. Please note that "fast-mpeg1" ffmpeg engine always encodes in variable bitrate mode, which is non-standard for VCD, so some players will not handle such streams. But if your player accepts them, consider preferring this mode for VCD encoding, as this is one of the fastest and best quality mpeg-1 encoders currently available on all platforms.
File extension is automatically added at encoding time to the destination filename if it is missing or wrong (eg .mpg, .avi).
Destination field is automatically set by default with the same path as the source field.
Source file field is no longer editable in order to enforce autoscanning requirements on selected source. To open a source file, you now need either to drag and drop its icon to the application icon, or click "Open.." to locate it. The source field is still selectable, so you can copy and paste its contents. - More bugfixes from 0.0.8d.
Proofreading of german localization by Andreas Gfeller.
Sep 20, 2003 - ffmpegX 0.0.8d released. What's new in 0.0.8d:


Fixed "Error 1" appearing in some situations when encoding a VIDEO_TS folder.
Fixed bug of 0.0.8c preventing encoding with "audio only" quick presets.
Added updating file info and VIDEO_TS audio tracks and subtitles when drag and dropping the source file / folder to the application icon.
Postprocessing and authoring as DVD also uses dvdauthor instead of ifogen/tocgen like the Author tool / for better compliance and proper handling of AC3 audio tracks.
Various error handling improvements.
Sep 14, 2003 - ffmpegX 0.0.8c released. What's new in 0.0.8c:


The DVD > DVD4GB tool now takes into account the "Keep elementary streams" checkbox, letting you retrieve the compressed .m2v and .ac3 elementary streams (useful if you want to author in DVD Studio Pro or Sizzle and add chapter markers or other audio tracks / subtitles before masteri
Renumbered the 'audio track' popup menu of the DVD > DVD4GB tool so as to match 0SEx audio track numbering.
Fixed bug preventing automatic authoring to .bin/.cue when creating a VCD with mpeg2enc engine.
Merged the four installers into a single installer package.
Added french localization (thanks Michel Pansanel, Antoine Pr鶥aux, Donald, fraxx).
Added german localization (thanks Matthias Unterhuber, Gerritt van Aaken, David Dauer)
Sep 6, 2003 - ffmpegX 0.0.8b released. What's new in 0.0.8b:


Added super-fast DVD > DVD4GB compression tool (registered version). Twice as fast than dvd2one, it uses the M2VRequantiser engine (with kind authorization from Metakine.com), achieving compression of a VOB file larger than 4GB into 4GB without reencoding. To use this tool, simply choose the non-encrypted source VOB file in the first Browse.. field, select the AC3 audio track number to keep in the pulldown menu, and click the DVD > DVD4 button. The output of this tool is a DVD folder ready to burn with Toast in DVD mode. For now only AC3 audio tracks are supported. (If you select a non-existent audio track or a track which is not in AC3 format, the process will stop with the error "Unable to read filename.ac3").
The "Mux as.." and "Author" tools now use dvdauthor instead of ifogen/tocgen for better compliance of VIDEO_TS folders and proper handling of AC3 audio tracks.
Sep 3, 2003 - ffmpegX 0.0.8a released. What's new in 0.0.8a:


Added KVCD, KSVCD and KDVD presets. See kvcd.net for more information about kvcd. These formats allow to store more video on a single CD with good quality, than their VCD/SVCD/DVD counterparts. You can store on a 700MB CDR media about:
VCD: 80 min of video at near-VHS quality
CVD: 52 min of video at near-SVHS quality
SVCD; 45 min of video at near-DVD quality
KSVCD: 63 min of video at near-SVCD quality
KVCD: 108 min of video at near-VCD quality

You can store on a 4GB DVD media about:
DVD-hi 145 minutes of video at DVD quality
DVD-lo 4 hours and 10 min of video at near SVCD quality
KDVD: 5 hours of video at near SVCD quality
Note: the option "Use mplayer to decode" is not currently supported for kvcd presets.
Support of drag and drop of input files over the application icon.
Fixed a bug of 0.0.8 displaying incorrect aspect ratios when selecting some Quick presets.
Sep 1, 2003 - ffmpegX 0.0.8 released. What's new in 0.0.8:


Processing is now launched in the "ffmpegX Progress" Cocoa ObjC window (thanks Johan Lindstr? (The "Open Terminal window" checkbox in the Tools tab still allows to switch to Terminal mode if you prefer it). The Progress window list includes, for each process, a progress bar, a cancel button and a "more info" button. The "more info" button opens a window for advanced users including the command line and the process output. The output is colorized in red for errors, orange for warnings and blue for useful information. The processes are queued in the list and will start as soon as the preceding process finish or fails. Waiting processes can be started manually with the "Start now" button (don't run concurrenty multiple 3-pass encodings or "mplayer decode" processes). A done or fail sound effect is played at the end of each process. When a process is done, a "reveal in Finder" button appears to locate the encoded file in the Finder. The "Clear" button at the bottom of the Progress window cancels finished processes from the list. nt>
Added "Save presets" and "Load presets" in the File menu.
Added drag and drop of preset files and input files on the application icon.
ffmpeg engine now supports experimental "fast mpeg-2" encoding (CVS of Aug 26, 2003). Source must be mpg or avi (not vob for now). This new encoder comes with 2-pass support and VBR like the "fast mpeg-1" and is quite fast (almost realtime on a G4 667). However, the muxer is not quite compliant and the output should be still considered experimental. For example, SVCD cannot be created. It seem possible to build a compliant DVD by demuxing the stream and then remuxing the .m2v file with the source audio, by using the Tool "Mux as.. DVD" (and "Author as DVD" checkbox enabled in order to generate the VIDEO_TS folder).
Added Calc "auto" button (thanks Donald for suggesting). After entering the movie duration and the media size (as number of CDs or as a value in MB), clicking this button will automatically set: ? a bitrate suited to fill such media, ? as well as an image size suited to such bitrate for best bpp quality. The audio bitrate is also taken into account as set in the audio tab. Remember that if the resulting horizontal image size is lower than 480 you will obtain less than SVCD quality, and if it is lower than 240 you will obtain less than VCD quality, so in such cases you should consider to increase the media size (eg use two CDs instead of a single one). You should also never encode to a size greater than the source image size. This button is meant for mpeg-4 based formats only (DivX, XviD). Don't use it for mpeg-2 based formats (VCD, CVD, SVCD, DVD) as the image size for these must be the standard one.
The 'Check audio' button has been removed. When opening a VIDEO_TS file, the list of available audio streams is now automatically shown in the audio track popup menu.
The 'Check subtitles' button has been removed. When opening a VIDEO_TS file, the list of available subtitle languages is now automatically shown in the subtitles popup menu.
Encoding of VOBs with PCM audio should now work correctly.
Added mencoder mp3 audio encoding mode values of CBR (constant bitrate, default), ABR (average bitrate) and VBR (variable bitrate, uses the optimal q=2 quantization level). (Not available for mp2 encoding or ffmpeg engine).
The Autocrop button now also automatically sets the encoding image size and the cropped image aspect ratio, so as any resize will keep the good image aspect. If you don't resize you'll automatically use the source size. If the cropped image has a non-standard aspect, it will be rounded to the nearest aspect ratio in the Autosize list.
The autocrop is no longer limited to registered users.
Added new "autosize" aspect ratio of 1.85:1 (Panoramic) (thanks FredMic).
A new tool has been added for registered users (this is the only limitation of the 0.0.8 non-registered version; please register ffmpegX if you find it useful, so as you will support my effort to make it better and better): "S/VCD to DVD". Like the program svcd2dvd on PC, it's a one-click tool to remux, resample and reauthor without re-encoding a SVCD or VCD .mpg file (or .bin image, auto-ripping the sequence from it) (or a folder containing many of them, in auto-batch mode; you can even mix VCD, CVDs and SVCDs .mpgs or .bins in the same folder) into a /DVD/ folder ready for burning in Toast DVD mode. The audio is automatically resampled at 48000 Hz. Please note that the image size of SVCD video is not DVD compliant and will not be accepted by about 30% of players. Check dvdrhelp.com compatibility list to see if your player can play "dvd-vcd" or "dvd-svcd". To use this tool, just select the file to be converted in the first "Browse" field (or if you have many files to convert, as it will be often the case, put them in a folder and select the folder), then click the tool button and you're done. Preview the resulting VIDEO_TS folder with the ffmpegX "Play" button. Burn the resulting /DVD/ folder with Toast in DVD mode. (Make sure you have enough disk space to hold twice the size of your source mpegs before running this tool).
Improved support of spaces and special characters like $&"'*(){}[]|;<>`?!~ in filenames and path names.
Added "Closed GOP" mpeg-2 option to create only closed group of pictures that can be decoded without reference to their predecessor. This is useful for streams that are supposed to be used in multi-angle DVD's and in some authoring applications like DVD Studio Pro.
Added "Q Matrix" mpeg-2 option (need mpeg2enc binaries compiled from CVS of Aug 28, 2003) to set a custom quantization matrix instead of the default one, for perceptual-optimized compression modes. Available values are "High frequencies" (replaces the old "Encode hi freq" option, to encode as much high frequency information as possible from high quality sources), "kvcd" (will use kvcd.net "Notch" Quantization Matrix, allowing for 16% average bitrate reduction in VBR mode), "tmpgenc" (will use tmpgenc standard quantization matrix, allowing for 10% average bitrate reduction in VBR mode).
Added back the "Black & White" mpeg-2 option to reduce noise on black & white encodings.
The information displayed at the top when opening a file is now also provided when selecting VIDEO_TS folders.
The "Info" tool now reads .ts (mpeg transport stream) and .asf files.
Multiple mencoder 2-pass encodings can now be launched at the same time.
Various fixes, gui improvements, better error handling.
Tested on OSX 10.2.6 and OSX 10.3 (7B44).
Please address any bugs reports and localization requests to major4@mac.com
June 22, 2003 - ffmpegX 0.0.7d released. What's new in 0.0.7d:


Added new "Calc img" button to calculate image size suited to current bitrate (bits per pixels) (don't use an image size larger than source image size, or larger than your video playback device image size).
Added new "Calc size" button to calculate encoded file size from specified bitrate and duration.
Checking audio and subtitles in a VIDEO_TS folder now checks within specified title.
Added new link in the engines installer to ffmpegxbinaries.sit mencoder and mplayer stablest binaries recommended for ffmpegX. Note: don't use version of June 20 of mplayer or mencoder with ffmpegX, they still have many bugs.
June 18, 2003 - ffmpegX 0.0.7c released. What's new in 0.0.7c:


Added new auto-colorize feature of video bitrate value. When using the bitrate calculator, or entering a value in the video bitrate field, ffmpegX will check automatically if the value is in a 'safe' quality range depending on current image size and framerate, and colorize the value accordingly:
red=the bitrate is too low for the selected image size, if you use it you'll be compressing your movie too much and the quality will not be acceptable with the current image size (consider choosing another bitrate, or use a smaller size);
green=this bitrate is quite good, if you choose it you'll obtain good quality for the current image size;
blue=this bitrate is too high, if you choose it you will not improve quality comparing to "green" values and you'll be wasting space on your disks (consider choosing another bitrate, or use a larger image size, though not larger than the source image size).

Changed black color code to blue on 3-pass encoding window, according to above feature.

Default values for mpeg-4 encoding now set to NTSC FILM and 2.35:1 aspect ratio (supposing you will use cropping).
Engines installer points to a new, stablest version for the mplayer binary (mencoder and mpeg2enc unchanged).
June 15, 2003 - ffmpegX 0.0.7b FR (french localization) released.


French localization now available for download from the download page.
Translation by Michel Pansanel, Antoine Pr鶥aux and Donald. Proof-reading by fraxx.
June 12, 2003 - ffmpegX 0.0.7b released. What's new in 0.0.7b:


Added "3-pass encoding" option for mencoder mpeg-4 (in the Options tab), leading to better control of the encoded movie final size. The 1st pass will encode audio and calculate the video bitrate (1st pass duration is about 1h30 on a G4 for an average movie). You will be then prompted for choosing a video bitrate amongst proposed options to fit in one or two CDs. 2nd pass and 3rd pass will encode the video. Note that only MP3 audio is supported for 3-pass. The suggested bitrates appear either in red, green or black(blue) color, which mean:
red=this bitrate is too low for the selected image size, if you choose it you'll be compressing your movie too much and the quality will not be acceptable with the current image size (consider choosing another bitrate, or use a smaller size);
green=this bitrate is quite good, if you choose it you'll obtain good quality for the current image size;
black(blue)=this bitrate is too high, if you choose it you will not improve quality comparing to "green" values and you'll be wasting space on your disks (consider choosing another bitrate, or use a larger image size, though not larger than the source image size).
Fixed "pel_aspect_ratio" error with .avi to mpeg-1 NTSC, and other bugfixes.

Added better error handling and error alerts for some features.


June 7, 2003 - ffmpegX 0.0.7a released. What's new in 0.0.7a:


Fixed a bug on .avi to mpeg-1 or mpeg-2 process causing a "no framerate specified" error.
Added better error handling and error alerts for some features.

June 1, 2003 - I'm taking some holidays.
June 1, 2003 - ffmpegX 0.0.7 released. Here's the new features:



Added "Trellis quantization" and "Qpel" encoding options for mencoder mpeg-4 & DivX preset. Use them for even more encoding quality (slower).
Added "ME function" pulldown menu for mencoder mpeg-4 & DivX preset. Sets the comparison function used for motion estimation (affects quality). SAD=Sum of Absolute Differences (fastest, default), SSE (Sum of Squared Errors (better quality, fast), SATD (Sum of Absolute Hadamard Transformed Differences) (a bit better than SSE, slow), RD (Rate Distortion optimal, best quality, very slow).
Added "Print PSNR" option for mencoder mpeg-4. Prints the peak signal to noise ratio for the whole video after encoding, and stores the per-frame PSNR in "psnr_hhmmss.log". For ffmpeg codecs, only the per-frame PSNR is returned while encoding. Returned values are in decibel, the higher the better. This gives a good indication of the encoding quality which is being achieved. Use in combination with "5 seconds test clip" to quickly evaluate which encoding options will give the best quality and which fps you'll obtain with, so as to decide the better quality/speed tradeoff.

Added new "Filters" tab. All filters, image crop & subtitling options are now located in this tab.

Added "Preview" button in the "Filters" tab to preview the source movie starting from the "Checkpoint" min:sec position, simulating the crop area with a white-border rectangle in the picture, rendering the subtitles, adding filters (excepted mpeg-2 filters), and playing the selected audio track. Use it to test settings before encoding.

Added "Denoise" filter to DivX and XviD (3d denoiser) (slow, don't use if source has no visible noise). Use "Preview" to check its effect.

Added "Dering" and "Deblock" filters to DivX and XviD to reduce artifacts from source video (slow, don't use if source has no visible artifacts). You can also use "preview" to check their effect.

Added "Brightness" and "Contrast" controls to mencoder DivX & XviD. You can also use "preview" to check their effect.

Moved mpeg-2 Luminance, Saturation and Sharpness controls to the filters tab.

Encoding options not available for a specific codec are now either greyed out or hidden.

Added "Autocrop" button in the "Filters" tab to calculate the best crop values for cutting away black borders and automatically fill the crop value fields. The analysis is done at the "checkpoint" min:sec position (default: 00 min : 05 sec to avoid possible black screen at the beginning of the source). If the checkpoint is a black image or has incorrect borders, you should change the checkpoint value and click "Autocrop" again. Note: ffmpeg engine still consider crop values in Top/Bottom/Left/Right format, so the autocrop values are only correct for mencoder codecs.

The mpeg-4 deinterlace option has been moved to the filters tab. Use "Preview" to check its effect before encoding.

XviD deinterlacing is now enabled. Use "Preview" to check its effect before encoding.

The "Split" tool has been moved to the "Filters" tab next to the "Preview" button, so as to allow preview of the split point before splitting. To split an avi or mpg file, define the split point with "Checkpoint", click "Preview settings" to check if the position is good, then hit the "Split" button.

Added OCR components to convert subtitles from a VOB file into SubRip .srt subtitles text files. The OCR process using the gocr unix program is interactive and takes place in terminal (you will be asked to confirm recognition of some characters, and they will be added in a database). The process to convert DVD subtitles to .srt text files is the following: open a VOB file (must be located in a directory without spaces and special characters in the path!), define a destination basename with the "Save as.." dialog (set it inside a folder, so as to keep all the subtitle files together), then select ".srt" in the extract drop-down menu located in the "Filters" tab (the other option .idx will generate VobSub subtitles as introduced in version 0.0.6k), and then hit the "Extract" button. A series of images will be generated for each title as well as their .txt version and a final .srt subtitle file. You can then delete the image and intermediate text files and keep only the .srt file. You should open the .srt file in a text editor to correct any OCR mistakes. Use Mplayer OSX or ffmpegX to play the movie with the .srt subtitles added at playback time. You can also open .srt in TitleLab to convert them to Quicktime titles.

Added ".SRT to DVD Studio Pro subtitles" converter tool (thanks Johan Lindstr? Select a .srt subtitle in the Browse.. field and hit the button. This allow to import in DVD Studio Pro "Subtitle Editor" both VOB subtitles (converted via OCR as above) and widely available existing .srt subtitles.

Added "Sub position" to define vertical position of text-based subtitles (.srt or other) added to mpeg-2 encodings (w/ "Use mplayer to decode" option enabled). Range is from 0 to 100. Use "Preview" to check the position and move subtitles interactively with keyboard controls R/T and find the right value to use. Note that image-based VobSub and DVD subtitles have their position set in the VOB and can't be moved with this control.

Added optional "Angle" field in the Video tab to choose the angle to be encoded or previewed from multi-angle VOBs.

Added "Play" button next to the "Open..." field to play source movie with selected audio track and subtitle file (.srt, .sub, .idx, etc) opened in the "Load subs" field and with subtitle color palette opened in the "Sub palette" field. In case of VOB playback, the "Title", "Chapter", "Angle" and "Subs" controls will also be active. Filters are also processed.

Moved "Info" tool next to "Open.." field for quicker operation.

New version of the engines installer (you must run it again in order to use 0.0.7), now displays a dialog to ask for the admin password without opening terminal, and should correctly handle spaces and special characters in filenames and path names.

Added "Fix" tool. Use it to rebuild index of a corrupted .avi file, or to try fixing a corrupted .mpg file.

The Join tool has been improved. Needs at least 2x-joined-files-size free disk space.

Added "Author" tool to process a mpeg file with the authoring and split options on the left box (ie, split in N chunks, author as VCD, as SVCD or as DVD).

The Mux tool now always runs the author tool on the muxed mpeg file (if you don't want to author the file, disable the authoring and split checkboxes).

Command line sequences are now chained in a way that will stop execution when an error occurs (ie. if an encoding error occurs, the command line will no longer try to continue authoring the resulting file).

Updated to ffmpeg CVS of May 4, 2002.

In-progress online manual and support forum now available at http://homepage.mac.com/major4/ (this site)