Technical Background Document: 3ivx MPEG-4 5.0.2

Important Changes

• Critical Security Fixes, see http://secunia.com/advisories/27998/
• QuickTime 7.3 Compatibility
• Improved Vista Comaptibility
• Dualpass and Constant Bitrate Fixes
• DirectShow Seeking Fixes
  

Improvements

• DS Media Muxer
  * Now based on lib3ivx
  
  
• DS Video Decoder
  * Now based on lib3ivx
  
  
• DS Video Encoder
  * Now based on lib3ivx
  
  
• VFW Codec
  * Now based on lib3ivx
  
  
• Register
  * Provides user feedback by validating serials on the fly and updating GUI accordingly
  * More informative registration success dialog
  
  
• Win Installer
  * Now built under Windows Vista.
  * Uninstaller is now digitaly signed
  * More robust when other applications have a lock on our dll's.
  

Bugs Fixed

• Core
  * Corrected type declaration for final MAD calculation for Vista OS.
  * Fixed DS components crashing if core Params couldn't be created
  * Fixed a core configuration bug which caused dual pass encoding to under or overshoot target bitrate.
  * Fixed a Constant Bitrate bug causing bitrate overshooting.
  * Fixed a bistream bug when QP is set to 1.
  * Fixed y420 -> uyvy packed conversion crash under AltiVec PowerPCs
  * General stability clean up
  * Fixed leaking file handle
  * Fixed deadlock while seeking a video
  * Fixed memory leaks
  * Fixed a bug where delay frames were being marked as I-Frames and hence caused seeking mispredictions.
  
  
• DS Decoder
  * Now correctly sets output pin dimensions
  * Fixed decoder leaking frames on shutdown
  * Fixed misprediction when quick seeking
  * Fixed double frame display whilst quick seeking
  
  
• DS Encoder
  * Fixed a crash where the output buffer frame size was larger than the statically assigned size.
  * Now correctly sets output bounds
  * Fixed a buffer overrun.
  
  
• DS Splitter
  * Fixed a crash where the input buffer frame size was larger than the statically assigned size.
  * Fixed Windows Media Center crash when previewing video.
  * Removed assertion code
  * Fixed a buffer overrun.
  * Fixed MP4 File Processing Buffer Overflows
  * Fixed an OQT memory leak
  
  
• DS Muxer
  * Now sets the PAR in the muxer configurator correctly.
  * Fixed a buffer overrun.
  * Fixed an OQT memory leak
  
  
• DS GUI
  * Fixed the slider tool-tips display under vista
  
  
• DS Audio Decoder
  * Fixed some audio types not being detected correctly
  
  
• DS Audio Encoder
  * Fixed a buffer overrun.
  
  
• QT Video Codec
  * Fixed Vista crash when generating thumb nails for videos
  * Fixed iMovie HD 6.0.4 with QT 7.3 bug
  * Fixed preview not working on first frame during export
  * Supports y420 input pixel format again
  * Now correctly handles applications utilizing QT 7 API
  * Now supports gamma levels
  * Fix failing export once video resized under Quicktime 7.3.1
  
  
• QT Exporter
  * Fixed iMovie HD 6.0.4 with QT 7.3 bug
  * Now exports correct audio track format on PPC macs
  * Fixed scaling bug with QT 7.3
  * Fixed white noise bug on Intel Macs with QT 7.3
  
  
• VfW Codec
  * Fixed a buffer overrun
  
  
• Register
  * Now can be quit with the system exit button
  * Fixed GUI not updating on Name or Company entry
  * Fixed potential buffer overrun
  
  
• Windows Installer
  * Installer checks writability for all 3ivx dll's now
  * Uninstaller is now digitaly signed
  * Correctly limits itself to one instance
  * Fixed application restart code for locked dlls.
  
  
• Mac Installer
  * Fixed a bug where execution of Register 3ivx application fails
  * Now correctly displays copyright symbol in the copyright message
  * Uninstaller now correctly detects OS version
  

Known Bugs

• QT Codec
  * Sometimes does not report any format description for video tracks.
  * Rewinding/Fastforwarding on complex and high resolution video can sometimes result in mis-predicted frames being displayed.
  
  
• DS Muxer
  * The muxer is currently limited to muxing streams no more than
  approximately 9.942 hours in length. If you attempt to mux a stream
  longer than this the resulting MP4 will be corrupt.
  
  
• 3ivx Installer
  * Requires computer administrator to install.
  

Unknown Bugs

• DS Muxer
  * When using an Apple File Share, you probably can't mux streams over 2GB in size
  

Missing Features

• Core
  * Interlaced decoding is not implemented for S-frames (GMC)
  
  
• DS Media Muxer
  * Fragmented Muxing is not ISO compliant and has been disabled.
  
  
• Mac QT Media Importer
  * Media Importer is not release quality. You can install it via a Custom Install on Mac OS X
  * Media Importer is PowerPC only.
  
  

Non Issues

• DS Muxer
  * The splitter can not be connected to the output of the muxer.
  
  

Permanent Issues

• Core
  * XviD streams prior to build0000 (ie up to and including 0.9 stable
  series) with non-multiples of 16 are not MPEG-4 compliant and exhibit
  occasional glitches. There is no work-around.
  * NVops (not coded PVops) can be used to more efficiently represent dropped frames or frames which are identical to the previous frame. NVops are not correctly handled by the QuickTime MPEG-4 Stream hinter and will cause a -5402 error when attempting to hint a file which contains NVops. The solution is to not use NVop coding. The 3ivx DirectShow Media Muxer can be used to remove NVops from an already coded bitstream. (This is currently still an issue with QT6.5)
  
  
• QT Codec
  * QuickTime 7's native datarate setting is now in kilobits/sec. There are
  1000 bits in a kilobit, and 1024 bytes in a kilobyte, according to the
  QuickTime Player. Due to a work-around for an error in QT7's kilobit->byte
  conversion, third party applications which do not use the QT7 codec
  selection dialog to obtain a datarate from the user (in kilobits/sec) may
  end up undershooting by a factor 1.024 (roughly 2.5%). In order to correct
  for this multiply the datarate you enter into affected applications by
  1.024. This is only an issue when using QT7.
  
  
• Win QT Codec
  * When one movie has two or more video tracks, each encoded with 3ivx
  there may be problems playing the video when DirectDraw Acceleration
  is enabled in the QuickTime settings control panel. Work-arounds,
  disable DirectDraw acceleration, or DirectDraw.
  * Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0.2 crashes when loading the 3ivx QT Codec. There is a work-around available, simply rename the CompilerQuicktime.prm' file to 'zCompilerQuicktime.prm'. The file is located at 'C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0\Plug-ins\en_US\"
  
  
• DS Splitter
  * Windows Media Player 11 does not allow seeking when opening mov or mp4 files from within a library. The Solution is to open these files
  directly.
  
  
• DS Video Decoder
  * Windows Media Player 11 does not post process and ignores
  "Auto-Select for Video Filter Level" in the configuration pane
  

For further information see TBD:3ivx MPEG-4 5.0.1