Good News On Two Open-Codec Fronts 187
davidu writes: "The Fraunhofer Institute in Germany (makers of the mp3 codec) licensed the divx ;-) video codec for future use. This is good for users because the codec is open source and is now on its way to becoming a standard. For those who don't know, this is unrelated to the failed Circuit City program, hence the smiley. ;-)" On the audio side of things, Mike Hicks writes: "Saw this on LWN's Daily Updates. Kenwood has come up with a car audio playing system that understands the Ogg Vorbis compression format, the Music Keg. Me want.. Time to start digging for spare change in the couch ..." Update: 02/05 03:24 GMT by T : Two clarifications below put a slight damper on each of these, though the overall news is still good.
Vince Busam from Phatnoise writes: "The author of the mp3newswire article goofed big time! Nowhere does it state that the Keg plays Ogg files, only the desktop software. Ogg will be supported when free ARM libraries are available. The author is further incorrect when he mentions the Kenwood X959 plays MPEG video files on the tiny OLE display. I have no idea where he got that idea." And reader Guspaz points out: "OpenDivX is indeed opensourced, but it is not the same as DivX 4, which was what was liscenced (And is what people download to use)."
DivX Open Source? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:DivX Open Source? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:DivX Open Source? (Score:2, Informative)
You are correct- the newest sourceson proectmayo are 8-12 months old, and several revisions behind what the current state of development.
Divx4 is genereally regarded as a lesser-among-equals among the high-quality MPEG4-alikes. Better than VP3 and WM8, but slightly more blurry than properly done SBC Divx3.11 (Using a program like Nandub or Gordian Knot), in addition to the licensing issues with divx4 (and a lot anger over the code-hijack that divxnetworks, inc. pulled). There's a few new codecs in development that are very promising, but not quite ready for prime-time.
Re:DivX Open Source? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:DivX Open Source? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:DivX Open Source? (Score:2)
Re:DivX Open Source? (Score:2)
Re:DivX Open Source? (Score:4, Funny)
Does anyone else find it ironic (or possibly just stupid) that someone would try to rake in licencing fees from a video codec that is predominently used to pirate movies....
Re:DivX Open Source? (Score:2, Informative)
Contributors screwed? (Score:1)
Re:Contributors screwed? (Score:1)
DivX vs Ogg Tarkin (Score:1)
Re:DivX vs Ogg Tarkin (Score:1)
Re:DivX vs Ogg Tarkin (Score:1)
Re:DivX vs Ogg Tarkin (Score:1)
Re:DivX vs Ogg Tarkin (Score:5, Informative)
I have no clue where Tarkin is at but this was posted to Gnome's desktop-devel list today:
Subject: Cool news of the Day
From: Christian Fredrik Kalager Schaller
Hi dudes,
I just wanted to let you all know that as of yesterday GStreamer has
support for encoding and decoding of Ogg Tarkin video. So now you can
convert all your DivX movies to Ogg Tarkin with the help of GStreamer.
I also think that makes the GStreamer mediaplayer the first mediaplayer
to support Ogg Tarkin
Christian
Re:DivX vs Ogg Tarkin (Score:4, Informative)
Can we hack it like the Creative Jukebox... (Score:2)
Can this be hacked, a 100Gig drive with uncompressed wavs for ultimate in quality.
Re:Can we hack it like the Creative Jukebox... (Score:2, Informative)
Mod parent up (Score:1)
The MusicKeg does not play Ogg Vorbis at this time (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The MusicKeg does not play Ogg Vorbis at this t (Score:1)
On another note, I didn't see anything on divx.com or divxnetworks.com about source availability. Besides, if divxnetworks is licensing patents that hardly sounds like technology that could be used in free software. Perhaps a double dose of misinformation?
Re:The MusicKeg does not play Ogg Vorbis at this t (Score:1)
Re:The MusicKeg does not play Ogg Vorbis at this t (Score:1, Informative)
This lack of an integer Ogg codec is a major problem because the vast majority of dedicated mp3 devices are ARM based. Until integer Ogg is freely available, we aren't going to see much support for Ogg beyond our computers.
Re:The MusicKeg does not play Ogg Vorbis at this t (Score:2)
Re:The MusicKeg does not play Ogg Vorbis at this t (Score:2, Redundant)
Re:The MusicKeg does not play Ogg Vorbis at this t (Score:1)
Re:The MusicKeg does not play Ogg Vorbis at this t (Score:1)
Here is what I need to know... (Score:4, Informative)
I seem to recall that some folks were writing a new codec and using that name (presumably to get free publicity, I mean, who will sue them?), and also making it open-source. ("Version 4")
So why does Fraunhofer need to license this new codec if it's open source? And why is it "patent pending"??
Can we PLEASE put this one to rest? (Score:4, Informative)
Q: Is the OpenDivX(TM) codec the same as the DivX(TM) codec?
A: Yes and no. Yes, they are both versions of DivX compression technology. The OpenDivX codec was launched as an open-source project on Project Mayo in January 2001. Today, the project continues as a collaborative, educational development effort, focusing more on improving visual quality than optimizing performance. The latest generation of the DivX codec (version 4.x) was released in July 2001. The new DivX codec is technically completely different from OpenDivX, and is built from a different codebase. It has been optimized for greater performance and visual quality and has more features than OpenDivX. It's important to note that the two codecs produce compatible formats, meaning content encoded with OpenDivX can be played back with DivX, and vice versa. The DivX codec will from now on be the version with the most new features and widest compatibility across platforms, so this is the version we recommend you use.
Q: Is DivX(TM) video technology a hack of Microsoft code?
A: Absolutely not. A lot of people seem to think we're not making ourselves clear here, so pay attention: the DivX(TM) codec is a patent-pending (as in, patents owned by DivXNetworks) technology created from scratch (as in blank screen, blinking cursor) by DARC (the DivX Advanced Research Center) and the team at DivXNetworks. We hope this puts that issue to rest.
Re:Can we PLEASE put this one to rest? (Score:1, Informative)
Divx 3.11
DivX
3d release - http://divx.ctw.cc
---------------
Based on M$ MPEG4 Hacked By Gej
[...]
This is a Hack of selected version of the M$ MPEG4 codec
FOURCC and CLSid code have been hacked so you can make ALWAYS WORKING AVIs
it can coexist with retail version of the media encoder tools
and newers or hacked version of M$ MPEG4 codec.
The basic problem is that DivXNetworks stole the name of the very popular hacked codec, bought the domainname, went legit with an entirely different codec, and then put up a FAQ which basically denies the existence of the codec who's name they stole. Seem a little scummy to you?
Re:Can we PLEASE put this one to rest? (Score:1, Informative)
> called "divx" (same prononciation)?
>
> * Circuit City thingy
> * Hacked Microsoft codec
> * Legit DivXNetworks codec
Yes for the first, Yes for the second, and there remains some doubt in the eyes of the community to the GPL 'legit' of the third. With regards to scuminess, if not copyright law.
to recap once again..
1) Circuit City came up with it for their DRM flop.
2) MS codec gets hacked & renamed with a
3) Company takes advantage of open source community's altruism, screws them, and uses pre-established 'brand' for their own venture capital gain. Then files for software patents. And we all love software patents. I would assume that the stuff they are attempting to patent isn't ripped from the GPL code. Or at least if it gets a patent it'll become public record, & people could compare 'methods'. I wouldn't think it would be that hard to start from scratch once you knew what worked though. Thinking up the math's the hard bit. Programming the math is easy.
Have I missed anything?
Well, that's how I see things anyway.
Re:Can we PLEASE put this one to rest? (Score:2)
First, is "DivX
Second, is it or is it not open source, and if it is, why is it patent pending?
Re:Can we PLEASE put this one to rest? (Score:1, Insightful)
Anyway, now that we're talking about the same codec (the legit one that was written from scratch), the FAQ says what's OSS and what's not. Also do a little bit of research on the difference between Open Source and Free Software.
Re:Can we PLEASE put this one to rest? (Score:1)
I already know what the differences between "Open Source" and "Free Software" are. What made you think I didn't?
Jeesh. If you're going to be rude and act like you're inconvenienced by answering my question, just don't answer it.
The story of divx. (Score:5, Interesting)
College kid gets a lot of press, and gets sued out of existance. Domain host sells domain to a 'smarter' college kid who starts ProjectMayo and levereges all the hype to start 'OpenDivX.' Since he's not a coder, he goes out and takes an open source MPEG-4 implementation and credits it's author as per the licence agreement but violates the licence agreement in that he releases it under the "OpenDivx License" which allows him to Close Source it once people on the internet have made changes to improve it.
In the meantime he's found venture capital and even gotten good press, now he can hire programmers. He uses the "OpenDivx" license to make "DivX" a closed source Patent Pending Mpeg-4 implementation. To avoid legal problems he claims this was written from scratch -- but noone can prove that because it's closed source. This play was invented by Microsoft when they bought QDOS and used it to 'write from scratch' DOS 1.0. So the kid isn't stupid--at least he's learned from the best.
Kid needs more funding finds a friend in the creators of the mp3 codec.
The only thing I'm not 100% sure about is that the kid who got sued for DivX
Re:The story of divx. (Score:1)
These are all compatible on the decompression end because they all produce MPEG-4 compatible streams, is that the deal?
Exploiting us geeks? (Score:2)
Re:Exploiting us geeks? (Score:1)
if you've got a single-disc loader up front, then you get the best of both worlds. and i know some folks have tried (successfully?) to keep a cd-changer in the loop too.
i actually think it's pretty bad-ass. yes, it's pricey, but bad-ass. and mp3, wav, and (soon) flac support =)
Music Keg DOES NOT (yet) support OGG! (Score:5, Informative)
The Kenwood Music Keg runs Linux, and can be upgraded to support Ogg when free ARM decoding libraries are available. Also, there are Linux utilities for managing playlists on the Music Keg.
Actually... (wait, it runs linux) (Score:1)
of course, this is a product of these guys [phatnoise.com] and has been available for a while (and it does run linux!).
Pros/Cons (Score:2, Insightful)
-------
Pros:
- open source
- videos can compress (send video footage to relatives over email, read the napsterization of TV post comments to see what I mean)
Cons:
- piracy of movies over net is encouraged, etc.
- being licensed by a big corporation might lead them to become anal on us.. ie, charging fees?
Ogg Vorbis
Pros: Good quality/compression
Cons: Not a standard
just IMHO, and ramblins.
Re:Pros/Cons (Score:1)
Re:Pros/Cons (Score:2)
Re:Pros/Cons (Score:1)
Open-source simply means that they make the source code publicly available. (i.e. no non-disclosure agreements). Open source doesn't imply any restrictions such as requiring that people all derived code is also open source, nor does it imply any lack of restriction. Meaning I can make something open-source and then forbid you to use the code or derive anything from it. (Though that would be pretty stupid as I couldn't really enforce it).
Copy-lefted is what linux is distributed under.
Re:Pros/Cons (Score:1)
But thanks for explaining, anyway. :)
One more con: (Score:2, Funny)
re: Cons Piracy/Fees (Score:1)
Or in the name of proctecting someone's valuable content from villainous pirates (or any filth who actually believes in fair use) some company (like Microsoft) sells out big time, and even creates a fee structure for everyone, like some damn tariff. (See: Windows Media Player)
DivX is not open source! (Score:1)
So DivX4 is not OpenDivX.
Re:Pros/Cons (Ogg) (Score:2)
Pros: Good quality/compression
Cons: Not a standard
Well, as someone else posted, not a de facto standard, anyway.
What I've been wondering is if the Ogg file format might get more use if someone implemented a readily available multiplexor/demultiplexor to allow video into it. I understand the Ogg Tarkin project is supposed to be the Free video codec for Ogg, but Tarkin is still some way off - at the moment, they're discussing whether or not to use Quicktime as the development framework for Tarkin, so even an alpha version of an Ogg Tarkin/Vorbis video format seems quite some time away yet. When I mentioned this question in a previous thread, someone mentioned a Window-only "DirectShow" project of some sort for this. Recently, mention of an Ogg-format video with Vorbis sound (and Divx;-) video, presumably) popped up on the MPlayer mailing list...
I just wonder if Ogg will get more acceptance if/when it starts being used for both audio AND video (sort of like .asf?)
Why the PhatBox doesn't support Ogg (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Why the PhatBox doesn't support Ogg (Score:1)
You're really telling me that Kenwood engineers are too damned lazy to build Vorbis for the ARM7 architecture?
Re:Why the PhatBox doesn't support Ogg (Score:1)
the codec is free, the implentations do not exist for that arch though.
And no, the kenwood engineers aren't lazy. Their standpoint is, give us a codebase to support it and we will. I believe that is respectable at this point, as its not profitable for them to support a format that isn't in wide use (yet?).
Re:Why the PhatBox doesn't support Ogg (Score:1)
Well, the ARM doesn't have support for floating point math, so even if they could build it, it would be too slow to be useful. It's not just a matter of typing "make".
Re:Why the PhatBox doesn't support Ogg (Score:2)
This is exactly the reason why I wondered if RMS should ever have given his blessing for the Ogg license switch. It would be one thing for someone to develop an Ogg implementation for ARM7 and then say "I'll give it source and all to the first person who coughs up $5m" but another entirely to say "we've done the work and we'll license it to you, why do you need a Free version?" The reason I feel the second options is so much worse is that it can tempt people out of doing work far easier than the Free version could (can you afford $5m? can you afford $2 / instance? How much will development cost and how many instances will be sold?)
Hopefully Ogg will survive this sort of teething (imagine if a modified hacked licensed ARM implementation became the de facto Ogg standard beacuse Sony use it in their OggMan). In the meantime I'm not happy about Ogg as a format anymore.
Re:Why the PhatBox doesn't support Ogg (Score:2)
I've probably got something wrong but I'll try to clarify myself.
Under Ogg's initial licensing nobody other than xiph (with permission from external contributors perhaps) could have made a closed version of Ogg, now anyone can! If a company releases a closed spanky codec based around Ogg for (for example) the ARM, and then this becomes the ARM audio codec of choice Ogg will have suffered a micro-schism. If the closed version is in any way incompatible then Ogg could quickly become irrelevant to most people as their will be one version for their Win/Linux machines and one for their portable players (and maybe even another used for embedded audio in games etc.) and people will not want that. By allowing closed entrants into the game, it may mean itches don't develop in the same way (I can pay $5 and have an audio solution for my ARM or I can start writing one from scratch for a "won" market). What is to prevent an incompatible dominent (in any sphere) version of Ogg appearing which is closed source and therefore the Xiph libs can never (well we'll have to see about reverse engineering it and patent issues) play or encode. Ogg was a Free codec and now it is perhaps less so (imho, as you can tell I believe in the GPL style of copylefting, everyone is entitled to their opinion). I'm not happy about Ogg anymore, not sad about it yet but I fear that maybe I will be.
Music Keg == PhatBox (Score:1)
Ogg support is great, but what I was especially excited to hear was that one of the devs at phatnoise (Brendan) recently got flac working with the PhatBox/Music Keg:
> So the Phatbox now plays FLAC files. Although, it's not yet in the
> standard firmware download from the web page, and encoding is not yet
> included in the capabilities of the Phatnoise Music Manager software.
> (Although I hope to get the Windows software guys to include the
> ability
> to at least include
> player
> to the standard firmware distribution should be easy).
Now if we could just get a portable iPod-like device to work with flac....
Divx ;-) (Score:4, Insightful)
I can see the proposals now
Engineer's email : "Well, we could use intel's I.263 codec or we could go with Divx
PHB Thought Process: "Divx-wink? That must be some sort of in-joke... hmmm , better go for I.263..... that sounds technical."
And Divx
Why? WHY?
Re:Divx ;-) (Score:1)
Nope. He's got a good point here. Linux project names are hopelessly lame. Ogg Vorbis? Divx-wink? Gimp? These names don't connote serious tools for serious work -- these names connote geeky in-jokes... which is fine, but seriously, it doesn't help linux break into mainstream acceptance one bit.
~jeff
Re:Divx ;-) (Score:1)
So DivX;-) refers to the old version.
divx is ok, but... (Score:3, Interesting)
Ogg Tarkin might have some promise, but until there's something there to play with, its not going to do me much good.
-Restil
Re:divx is ok, but... (Score:2, Informative)
Streaming? (Score:2)
The difference between a streaming video format and a non-streaming one is just in the semantics. MPlayer can play partialy downloaded DivX files while they are still being downloaded, and it continues to play frames as they are recieved. So you could say that MPlayer can "stream" DivX just fine.
Stolen from www.kenwood.com (Score:2, Interesting)
Kenwood Excelon Music Keg Digital Media Storage
AVAILABLE FEBRUARY 2002
The Kenwood Music Keg encodes, records, organizes, stores and plays up 10 gigs of MP3, WMA, and WAV digital music files in your car (works out to roughly 2500 MP3 songs).
It connects with all existing Kenwood head units with CD changer control, without the need for additional displays or buttons. Plus, the Music Keg fits easily into most CD changer locations.
Here's how it works... The Music Keg comes with the Keg itself, USB computer desktop cradle, storage cartridge, and user-friendly Kenwood PhatNoise Music Manager software. With the Music Manager software on your PC, you'll be able to create, manage and record playlists - you'll even be able to use the Music Manager to create and manage playlists that you burn to CDs. When you're ready to take your music out to your car, all you need to do is insert the Music Keg cartridge into the USB cradle and synchronize your music collection on your PC to the storage cartridge. Insert the recorded cartridge into the Music Keg installed in your car, and play and control music through your car head unit. Kenwood head units that have text display support will even display song names and playlist titles on the head unit.
Be among the first to find out when the Kenwood Music Keg hits authorized dealers. Sign up here.
KEY FEATURES
- Cartridge Stores 10GB (Roughly 2,500 Songs)
- Compatible with All 2001-2002 Kenwood Head Units with Changer Control and CD text Capability
- Records, Organizes, Stores and Plays Digital Music Files: MP3, WMA and WAV
- System Includes Car Unit, Music Storage Cartridge and Desktop Unit
CAR UNIT FEATURES
- Compatible with All 2001-2002 Kenwood Head Units with Changer Control and CD text Capability
- Digital-to-Analog Converter: 24-bit
- Displays MP3 File Names and ID3 Tags
- Mounts Like Standard Changers
MUSIC STORAGE CARTRIDGE FEATURES
- 10GB Storage Capacity (Roughly 2,500 Songs)
- Internal Shock-Absorbing Suspension
DESKTOP UNIT FEATURES
- Available as Accessory for Use with Multiple Computers
- USB Connection
MUSIC MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE FEATURES
- Downloads via Internet
- Encodes MP3, WMA and WAV File Formats
- Integrated Web Browser
- Multiple MP3/WMA Compression Rates: up to 320kbps (Selectable)
- Playlist Capability: up to 999 (with up to 999 Songs in each)
- Variable Bit-Rate Compatible
Re:Stolen from www.kenwood.com (Score:1)
D'OH (Score:1)
Gotta pay more attention next time, as it explicitly says OPEN-CODEC (well, we can always dream on the day Apple will set it free
Sorenson says "go bug Apple" (Score:1)
Bother Sorenson if you want it open-sourced.
Sorenson's video codec is not Sorenson's to give it away as a result of the exclusive license to Apple.
Bother Sorenson and Apple legal representatives in a conference call if you want it open-sourced.
Re:Sorenson says "go bug Apple" (Score:1)
What we need to do is to convince apple to let someone do a loki-like port of quicktime (either quicktime for windows or quicktime for mac) to linux and make sort of a libquicktime.so that would be freely available (much like quicktime for windows and for mac is) and that programs (such as a quicktime plugin for a browser for example) could call to access quicktime movies, including sorenson coded movies in the same way that programs call quicktime for windows or quicktime for mac to play quicktime movies. That way, sorenson stays closed and quicktime keeps that advantage but linux users can play quicktime sorenson coded movies in any player which is coded to call libquicktime.so.
Re:Sorenson says "go bug Apple" (Score:2)
Hmmm. Is there a .dll/.avx/whatever on Windows that is the Sorenson codec?
I've been wondering if MPlayer (which recently added support for the QuickTime file format) might eventually be able to run Sorenson video through this file the way it now can through some of the other Windows codecs. (Only on ix86 linux, though...)
cradle interface (Score:1)
Re:cradle interface (Score:1)
Microsoft press release... interesting (Score:1)
Really? That's interesting (Score:1, Redundant)
Clarifications (Score:2, Informative)
The project mayo codec (Divx 4.x) was a complete re-write from scratch based on the MPEG-4 specification...fully backwards compatable with divx
The article, though desribed poorly on slashdot, is stating that DivxNetworks (The people now behind project mayo) have licensed their divx 4.x codec to Fraunhofer Germany, not the other way around.
-Chris
Another win for piracy! (Score:2, Troll)
Organic Electro Luminescent display (Score:2)
Re:Organic Electro Luminescent display (Score:1)
Re:Organic Electro Luminescent display (Score:1)
or more to the point The ones they're selling here. [kodak.com]
They do have nice pictures of a hypothetical mockup of an active matrix full color OLED, and Researchers have proven that True Color can be reproduced with OLEDs. However the cost of actually building one would be pretty insane right now.
One last thing Sanyo will be making Active matrix OLED displays. [kodak.com] they should be up to full speed at the plant by 2003, so full color active matrix displays should start showing up on highend Kodak digital cameras around that time frame, and perhaps even high end PDAs. Who can argue with low power vibrant picture indoors or outdoors for a PDA? Maybe by 2007 Nintendo will release a portable with OLEDs, if they're cheap enough by then they should.
this is *NOT* "Divx ;-)" (Score:2, Informative)
Thank you (Score:2, Insightful)
>it is completely different, it is incompatible,
Well, sort of. If you install the DivX 4 codec, you can *play* DivX 3.x media.
DivX doesn't have a chance. (Score:1)
You'll still have to buy a license for MPEG-4 if you try to make a profit from M4V content, but for non-profit uses it won't cost anything to distribute. Why settle for half-baked imitations?
Why MP3 is superior to Ogg Vorbis (Score:1, Insightful)
That, and when major MP3 releasing groups [pirate groups] start offering their rips in Ogg format, the kids will begin using it and demanding it in their portable players.
--adam
I metamod as I see fit!
That doesn't make any sense... (Score:1)
NO! No matter how widely MP3 is supported, Vorbis is clearly technologically superior.
If MP3 doesn't compress better than Vorbis, then I don't call it superior.
If MP3 isn't as flexible as Vorbis, I don't call it superior.
it's patented (Score:2)
(Whether MPEG-4 audio/video contains any technology that should have been patentable is another question.)
PhatNoise (Music Keg) does work with Linux! (Score:1)
unix.phatnoise.com [phatnoise.com]
Re:PhatNoise (Music Keg) does work with Linux! (Score:1)
So basically... (Score:2)
How quaint.
Bullcrap. This is bad news. (Score:2)
UI improved, but still needs work... (Score:1)
What would be fantastic is an Empeg/riocar style remote control, where you can spell out the name of the song you want to hear (the same way you might spell something out on a telephone keypad). Also, you don't have to triple-click to get exact letters like you do on a cell phone, because the software automatically narrows down all possbile song names on the fly. Usually you only have to hit the first three or four letter to get your song. It's very sweet, especially if you're like me and often get the urge to listen to completly random songs when you're driving.
-Adam
Licensing open source? (Score:2)
If it was open source, they wouldn't need to license it...
DivX 4 is NOT open source! (Score:2, Insightful)
OpenDivX is open source (though strictly speaking, even OpenDivX isn't open source, because of the OpenDivX license which isn't approved by the OSI).
However, DivX 4 is NOT OpenDivX!
Project Mayo started the OpenDivX project.
But when it progressed nicely and produced nice video quality, they killed the project and used that code to create DivX 4 (they claim that DivX 4 is a rewrite, but that's false).
They just deceived all those developers yet nobody seem to care.
Please, somebody, tell timothy and the Slashdot community about this, because I'm just a little voice in hundreds of comments.
Fraunhofer != Fraunhofer (Score:2, Informative)
What I'd like to see.... (Score:2)
A 100+1 disc player. More than 100 I don't care. It must be software upgradable [we have come to that point right?]. It plays any codec which is ported, and you slip in a burned or payed-for-subscription CD. It's upgraded to the latest codecs.
I can play 100 MP3, OGG, playlists etc. Let me simply browse by playlist [maybe I make playlists for my CD's which I convert to OGG] or by song. Let me randomly play by folder, disc, and complete CD catalog.
I'm hooked
Isn't this what everyone wants? Let us burn CD's to 'upgrade' or 'update' the machine, er component. If you can't, $5 per year for 'updates'. Did I mention... it must be able to output to at least RCA cables so that I can use it with my stereo.
Is it that hard? They've got 100, 200 and 500 disc players. Just give us this... please! It's a hardware hack. Please?
Fraunhofer IIS != Fraunhofer IGD (Score:1, Redundant)
the Fraunhofer Institute that licensed the
DIVX Coces (IGD) is not the same Institute
that developed mp3 (IIS).
All Fraunhofer Institutes are under one
umbrella, but they are _very_ independent, some
like each other, some not.
And yes, i know a lot about them, 'cause
i worked at Fraunhofer IIS
Bye,
Jürgen
Any handheld Vorbis players? (Score:2)
[1] Ripped from my own CD collection.
[2] Good sound quality, high capacity[3], reliable and easy to use.
[3] >>64Mb.
DivX correction.. (Score:2, Redundant)
It would be one thing if it was a good, closed from the beginning project. However, they essentially exploited open source developers whose work may soon be packaged for sale with no compensation whatsoever...
Of course, XVid (http://www.videocoding.de/) has branched the OpenDivx code since its death, but if the "creators" of OpenDivx get the patent, XVid could be shut out through this. In a sane world they couldn't possibly get a patent on this (since they really didn't build the codec themselves), but in this world...
Re:Way too small (Score:1)
oh god... please go to r3mix [r3mix.net] and save yourself several megabytes...
Re:Way too small (Score:1)
Re:Way too small (Score:2)
Why? I use the most recent LAME to encode CDs at 160 kbps VBR (audiocassettes are sampled and then encoded at 128 kbps VBR) and can't tell the difference when I play the resulting MP3s in either of the hardware MP3 players I have. If you're using a crummy MP3 encoder (like Xing) that needs a high bitrate to get decent sound quality, maybe you should replace your MP3 encoder.
Re:Way too small (Score:1, Flamebait)