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Theora 1.1 (Thusnelda) Is Released
SD-Arcadia writes to tell us that Theora 1.1 has officially been released. It features improved encoding, providing better video quality for a given file size, a faster decoder, bitrate controls to help with streaming, and two-pass encoding. "The new rate control module hits its target much more accurately and obeys strict buffer constraints, including dropping frames if necessary. The latter is needed to enable live streaming without disconnecting users or pausing to buffer during sudden motion. Obeying these constraints can yield substantially worse quality than the 1.0 encoder, whose rate control did not obey any such constraints, and often landed only in the vague neighborhood of the desired rate target. The new --soft-target option can relax a few of these constraints, but the new two-pass rate control mode gives quality approaching full 'constant quality' mode with a predictable output size. This should be the preferred encoding method when not doing live streaming. Two-pass may also be used with finite buffer constraints, for non-live streaming." A detailed writeup on the new release has been posted at Mozilla.
Its a new method for streaming 3D game data over t'internet for remote rendering.
But does it have hardware acceleration for .mkv out of the box? My 4650 1Gb, which costs a whole $35 after rebate, does WMV9, DivX, .Mp4, and H263/H264 acceleration out of the box which today is important now more than ever.
With the rise of green computing, netbooks/nettops, mobile media on devices such as cell phones and high def it is more important than ever to have GPU offloading of video. With offloading you get less power usage, which translates to lower electricity bills or longer battery life, and even on my new dual core desktop having the video offloaded to the GPU translates into a better experience, with me able to multitask without having my video skip or hang. GPU processing is not only the way of the future, but the way of the present.
The point? Does anybody even HAVE a codec for GPU offloading for Theora yet? Because I can watch high def vids off the web on this wimpy 1.8 Sempron thanks to the 4650 I added to it, which as I said is dirt cheap. I can do the same on the go thanks to H264 codecs for the big three-AMD, Nvidia, Intel. If Theora really wants to get into this game and become a competitor to H264 and DivX they need an offloading codec like yesterday and they need to get it into the hands of the big three so it will be incorporated into their drivers and "just work" like DivX, WMV9, and H263/264.
Don't get me wrong, I have serious respect for anyone willing to develop something as complex as a video format, but it is pretty obvious that green computing and GPU offloading is here to stay, and you can buy tons of mobile devices that have H264 and DivX support. If Theora wants a decent chunk of this market they HAVE to have a GPU offloading codec, and the sooner the better. After all, folks don't really care if a container is "encumbered" or not, as long as it works. Look at how little a nice .ogg has compared to .mp3 and .aac. Audio is pretty much owned by .mp3, and with the patents expiring in 2012 I don't see that changing. But video is a whole new ball game and Theora still has a chance if they can get their codec up to speed. But in today's mobile heavy and green conscious environment power sucking CPU bound codecs are just not the way to go. After all nobody wants their low power Ion or AMD ULV netbook sucked dry by a single Theora video, right? Not when there is a perfectly good GPU just sitting there twiddling its thumbs.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Someone care to explain to me how in the fuck asking about hardware acceleration is a troll? My customers don't give a flying shit what the hell codec/container/box what the fuck ever it is, all they care about is will it run smooth on their new netbook/PC.
If i wanted to troll I would have said nobody gives a shit about some Open Sores limp dick format that doesn't even have hardware acceleration when WMV, DivX, and H263/264 work out of the box even on this wimpy as shit 1.8 Sempron with a cheap ass 4650 popped in. Now see, THAT is how you troll, dumbshit, not by asking whether or not a format has acceleration or not.
Oh, and for the "MKV is a container" crowd? Nobody actually gives a flying fuck except you. All they care about is whether they can watch a video without it being a fucking slideshow or sucking battery life like Vista with all the bling on. Now THAT is something my customers actually give a shit about, and is why I'm personally quite happy that the "video" tag is DOA and that Google is sticking with H264. Because every single new box I build supports H264 acceleration OUT OF THE BOX which makes for a MUCH better experience for my customers. Now I hope this serves as a nice lesson for the retarded modders. Just look at this post and my previous post to see the difference between asking a question and trolling, you Open Sores Cock gobblers.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.