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Xiph Releases Ogg Theora Alpha-3

Posted by Hemos on from the frozen-for-usage dept.

ArcRiley writes "For more than a year Xiph hackers have been working on Ogg Theora, an improved version of On2's VP3 video codec. Alpha-3 includes several bitstream changes, VP3 to Theora "upgrade" utilities, and is now supported by Xine, MPlayer, and Real's Helix Player. We're nearing Beta-1 where the format will be frozen, fully documented, and it'll be ready for everyday use."

3 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. Release Notes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm happy to announce at long last the release of theora alpha 3. This incorporates all the bitstream changes we wanted to make both for future encoder improvements and to permit lossless transcode of VP3 content. This is an important milestone for us on the road to a stable release.

    As this is an alpha release we are again providing sources only. See the files section of downloads. This version requires libogg 1.1 or later and libvorbis 1.0.1 or later.

    Also new in this release are a set of experimental tools in the win32 directory contributed by Mauricio Piacentini. This includes a transcoding tool for avi-encapsulated vp3 video which also works on linux.

    We hope to not make any further incompatible bitstream changes, but this is still alpha code. Don't use this for content you're not ready to re-encode!

    Thanks to everyone who contributed!

  2. Re:Another standard that probably won't get embrac by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    My Rio Karma works just fine with Ogg. In fact, all I have on the thing is Ogg.

    It works incredibly well, and with 20gigs for $250 shipped, and a Java-based interface program (which runs on FreeBSD and Linux), I'm very happy with it.

  3. Re:Whatever happened to Tarkin? by hsoom · · Score: 5, Informative
    From the Theora FAQ:
    Q: What about Tarkin?

    A: Tarkin is essentially a proof-of-concept wavelet-based codec. Its experimental nature means it will not be ready for general use for some time. VP3 is a high-quality codec that can meet today's video needs now, so Xiph.org will be focusing its efforts on Theora for the near future.