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DivX H.264 Codec a.k.a. DivX 7 Available

Posted by: jmet, 13:57, August 29, 2008
Viewed: 8647 Times

Coming from the Project Rémoulade beta test, the DivX H.264 decoder is a multithreaded DirectShow filter supporting high profile bitstreams and is capable of decoding all streams from the current version of x264 with incredible playback performance.

Features of the DivX H.264 Codec

• H.264 Main, High, High 10, High 4:2:2 profiles
• Full interlace support (MBAFF, PAFF, mixed)
• Multithreading supporting up to 8 CPUs
• Optimizations for MMX, SSE, SSE2

Configuring the decoder

Once installed the decoder can be configured either by accessing the filter property page from a host application (i.e. a media player), or by selecting the H.264 Decoder Config link in the DivX programs group on your Start menu:

Click to enlarge

The options that can be set include:

• Deblocking
  
  Deblocking should normally be on for H.264 video because the encoder assumes that the decoder will perform in-loop deblocking in accordance with the format specification and codes the video accordingly. Turning off deblocking will therefore introduce artifacts during playback, but because deblocking is computationally expensive this option can be desirable for low-powered systems that could not normally decode H.264 or where battery life is at a premium. Disabling deblocking does not look too bad with most content. Deblocking is enabled by default.
  
  
• Multithreading
  
  When enabled, this option allows the decoder to subdivide the decoding process across multiple CPUs or cores to accelerate decoding and provide a smoother playback experience. Multithreading is enabled by default.
  
  
• Low latency
  
  This is an experimental feature that may increase the frame rate for more basic bitstreams at lower resolutions, or on systems with larger CPU cache. Low latency is enabled by default.
  
  
• Disable logo
  
  Turns off the small DivX logo that appears in the lower-right of the picture for a few seconds at the start of playback. Disable logo is disabled by default.
  
  
• Use default encoding settings in this application When this decoder filter property page is accessed from within a host application, this setting instructs the decoder to turn off features such as color correction and the logo overlay and turn on features such as deblocking to ensure that DivX video sources are processed in their original form without any adjustments applied. This is important when transcoding for example. This option is disabled by default and is set on a per-application basis.
  
  
• Brightness, Contrast, and Saturation
  
  These sliders enable image adjustments that may improve the appearance of H.264 video on your computer. Each slider is centered by default.

You may download this new DivX codec here.