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DVDx project: new DVDx 2.20 release now available
Software: new Xvid 1.2.2 release
Linux: new Kubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope)
Mac OS X : VLC recommended as The media player
Friends top ten: sites who link to labDV.com
Software at labDV.com: started a full review of all software available
VIP Pass: get DVDx updates with 2-year VIP Pass renewal

June 18th, 2009

1. DVDx project: new DVDx 2.20 release now available

We've published the new DVDx 2.20 release, likely the latest big 2.x release before upcoming DVDx 4.

We"ve made a lot of code improvement (fix memory leaks), and improved MPEG-2 encoding (new China CVD and DVD profiles), WMV encoding (fix crashes), GUI fixes, SIMD (SSE2) optimizations, new audio Lame MP3 encoder, Microsoft VC9 compilation, debug builds, added sponsored Ask toolbar, uninstall instructions.

What's new in 2.20

Code improvement:

fix 698 memory leaks due to multilang error strings which weren't unallocated and 10 others due to skin objects, 12 others due to heap allocations (new), 62 others due to DVD IFO data structure. And 100s of strings in debug console.

MPEG-2 encoding:

added 2 new profiles: CVD (China Video Disc) and DVD (default DVD-LP, 6000Kbps) both with audio 48kHz which must be set in Input Settings dialog.
set CVD/DVD GOP to 18 frames for NTSC (15 for PAL), so compliant with DVD authoring applications.

WMV encoding:

fix crashes due to pointer bugs in handling IWM inyterfaces.

GUI:

fixed bug in About dialog box which caused DVDx to crash in Debug/DebugP4 and unpredictable effects in all versions (Release/Release_RipperFree/NoOptim)

SIMD (SSE2) optimizations:

replaced MOVQ xmm,m64 (rejected by VC9 compiler) with MOVQ xmm,qword ptr m64 and MOVQ m64,xmm with MOVQ qword ptr m64,xmm

Audio MP3 encoder:

nLame.dll 3.98.2 (Intel 10.1 compile)
libmmd.dll 10.1 (Intel 10.1 compile)

Compilation and Debug builds::

moved to complete Microsoft Platform (no more Intel compiler required) with Visual Studio 2008 Professional and Microsoft C++ Compiler VC9, and WMFSDK is from Platform SDK 6.0A
set Microsoft VC9 compiler speed optimization flags
thanks to the new compilation platform, both Debug and DebugP4 configurations can be build again (all available in Ultra Edition installer).
removed useless configurations: DebugP4 and NoOptim.

Setup and user's documentation:

added sponsored Ask bar with required EULA and uninstall instructions in the application (uninstall icon in DVDx start program menu).
added uninstall instructions in the FAQ.

Download

DVDx standard version "ripper free" (and sources) available from Source Forge
DVDx Ultra Edition (and all versions and sources) available from labDV.com for VIP members only.

2. Software: new Xvid 1.2.2 release

This release is Xvid 1.2.2 bugfix release. It is API compatible with the previous 1.2.1 stable release. This release contains important, security-related fixes.

Update is highly recommended.

Changes in 1.2.2 (since 1.1.3)

xvidcore library:

Workaround for nasm bug with Mach-O/OSX target
Fix for missing resync marker range check (reported by IBM X-Force)
Improved precision for RGB<->YUV conversions
Fix for potential RGB24 access violation
Updated compiler options for Apple PPC target
Fixed MSVC6 projects to work for path names with spaces
Fix for 'nested function' potential compilation error
WIN64 fix: Properly treat xmm6/xmm7 registers as non-volatile on WIN64
Added test for WIN64 xmm6/xmm7 preservation to xvid_bench
Complete AMD64/EM64T 64-bit support
Added support for WIN64 platform
Multi-threaded encoding support
SSE3/SSE4 optimizations
Faster and more precise mpeg intra quantization
Fixed bug in packed pixel format colorspace conversion
Noexec-stack security patch
Fix for bad resync marker length
Improved decoder robustness for broken streams containing B-frames
Fix for potential out-of-bound access to MV bits table
Added SSIM quality-metric plugin

VFW frontend:

Updated mingw makefile
WIN64 compatibility
Added widgets for SSE3/SSE4
Auto-detection of available processor cores
Minor GUI cosmetics

DShow frontend:

Bugfix for wrong handling of xvidcore XVID_ERR_MEMORY return code
WIN64 compatibility
Minor GUI cosmetics

Download

Xvid codec is available for all platforms (Linux, Mac and Windows)

Download Xvid codec for Windows (32/64/XP/Vista) from labDV.com
Linux and Mac packages will be available from labDV.com soon
Download more codecs from labDV.com

3. Linux: new Kubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope)

The Kubuntu Team is proud to announce the release of Kubuntu 9.04, the Jaunty Jackalope!

With this release, the development team brings you the best KDE distro out there. With its world-renowned Ubuntu core and the KDE 4.2 desktop, Kubuntu 9.04 gives users a well-rounded, feature-filled and elegant desktop.

On the top, KDE 4.2 brings beauty, innovation and updated software with new & improved features. Underneath, updated kernel and core systems bring stability and speed.

The labDV team now considers Kubuntu as a valuable desktop alternative to Windows.

To download CD (and DVD) images for Kubuntu, please visit Downloads page.

4. Mac OS X: VLC recommended as The media player

The labDV team is now using regularly Mac computers to develop DVDx 4 for Mac OS X.

As new intensive Mac users we strongly recommend you to install VLC on your Mac and prefer VLC rather than QuickTime.

Give a try, you won't regret!

VLC media player

The cross-platform open-source multimedia framework, player and server
VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player and multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats (MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, DivX, MPEG-1, mp3, ogg, aac ...) as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols. See the full features list.
It can also be used as a media converter or a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on networks.

Download

VLC player is available for all platforms (Linux, Mac and Windows)

Download VLC media player for Mac OX from Videolan.org
Download VLC media player for Ubuntu or any other platform from Videolan.org
Download VLC player for Windows (32/64/XP/Vista) from labDV.com
Linux and Mac packages will be available from labDV.com soon

5. Friends top ten: sites who link to labDV.com

This rubric is to thanks labDV friends who link their web sites to labDV.com:

Major search engine aren't part of this list (Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Excite and Web Crawler).

6. Software at labDV.com

Now there are 239 software available from labDV.com, most of them are freeware.

Software updates

We've started a full review of software available from labDV.com database, so far audio and authoring sections are up-to-date and a lot of work still to do, hopefully done in July.

Therefore, we'll issue a newsletter soon focused on software updates and new ones added because now popular or valuable.

We're also working on a notification service for VIP users to be kept up-to-date very easily.

Get the whole software list available from labDV »»

Latest software updates

Audio (compression and editing)

Lame 3.98.2

AVI-Mux GUI 1.17.8

Lame ACM Codec 3.98.2

Lame (beta) 3.99 alpha 1

LameXP 3.08

Authoring DVD and (S)VCD

TMPGenc Auhtoring Works 4 4.0.4.24

VCD Easy 3.1.0

DVD-Lab PRO2 2.5

Nero 9 9.4.13.2

Video codecs

DivX 7

Xvid 1.2.2

DVD copying

DVDx 2.20

DVDx "ripper free" 2.20

DVDx binaries 2.20

Encoding (MPEG)

TMPG Encoder 2.525

TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress 4.0

Video players

BS Player 2.34

VLC media player 0.9.9

Utilities

Bitrate Viewer 1.02

DVD Integrator 1.0

7. VIP Pass: get DVDx updates with 2-year VIP Pass renewal

You can extend your current VIP Pass for 1 year or 2 years for $29.90 or $49.90 (19.90€ or 34.90€).

Most VIP users have subscribed these new extended pass so we're able to sustain the development efforts for DVDx 4 and new labDV services.

With a VIP Pass, you'll access the whole labDV library, a lot of Digital Video articles and how-to's as well as a huge Digital Video software database, most of them are free. And you will navigate DVDx web site as MyDVDx and all its features.

The 1-Year VIP Pass is only US$ 39.90 (€29.90).

And you can also currently join us for US$19.90 (€14.90) for a 3-months VIP Pass.

Support us: from time to time , we're sustaining our continuous efforts to develop DVDx software so the 1-Year Pass is likely the best deal for now as well as the 2-Year Pass extension.

Thank you for your support by joining us