* NEWS: updated with new features.

[vlc] / NEWS

$Id: NEWS,v 1.73 2003/11/18 18:45:33 gbazin Exp $

Changes between 0.6.2 and 0.6.3:
---------------------------------

Core support:
 * Brand new decoder/packetizer api.
   Adds a lot more flexibility while also simplifying the decoder plugins.
 * New encoder api (ffmpeg, vorbis and theora encoders available).
 * Video outputs are recycled if possible.
   This removes any 'flicker' between two similiar video files.
 * Fixed the video filters. Video should no longer go black when using filters.
 * New input core. Advantages are: better seeking, more responsive, support for subtitle files at the core, and much much more.
 * Added a repeat mode to repeat a single file over and over.

Input:
 * Fixed annoying seeking problem with Ogg files (seeking would take ages).
 * Support for FLAC in Ogg files.
 * MPEG TS demuxer also handles A52 and AAC audio in DVB streams.
 * Fixed seeking support in FLAC files.
 * cddax and vcdx plugins using libcdio, libvcd and libvcdinfo. (Linux only)
 * Reworked DVB tuning.
 * Better Icecast support.
 * rtp/rtsp support.

Codecs:
 * Support for Theora video encoding.
 * Support for Speex audio.
 * Support for AAC + SBR.
 * MPEG 2.5 support.
 * Removed deprecated decoders (a52_old, mpeg_video and mpeg_audio).

Interface:
 * Bug fixes / improvements in the skins (eg. "stay on top" option).
 * Improvements to the wxwindows playlist (Sort, Search, mode buttons).
 * Help in the wxwindows preferences window.
 * New standardized and customizable hotkeys.
 * OSD ( OS X and hotkeys only atm ).
 * Improvements to the Web interface.
 * Fixes for the SAP interface.

Mac OS X port:
 * New controller designed by Max Rudberg from www.maxthemes.com
 * Save playlist.
 * Works on 10.1.x again. Apologies for that problem.
 * Support for Panther.
 * Support for raw dumping of streams to disk.
 * Mozilla plugin for Mac OS X (experimental).

Win32 port:
 * New DirectShow input module (for video acquisition cards, webcams...).
 * VLC can be installed as a Windows NT service.
 * Allow on the fly switching of the main interface.
 * Support for 3F2R in audio output.
 * New --one-instance option to "force" only one running instance of VLC.
 * Mozilla plugin for Windows (experimental).

Linux port:
 * Improved Video4Linux input. Also added support for an audio only input.
 * Support for real-time priority when running with root privileges.

Stream output:
 * Improvments to the MPEG TS muxer.
 * New transrating module for MPEG2 video.
 * Added packetization for MPEG AAC ADTS streams.
 * Improved mp4 muxing and added AAC/MP4V support when transcoding.
 * Improved Ogg muxing and added theora, speex and subtitles support.
 * MPEG TS muxer follows the ATSC/DVB specs for embedded A52 audio.
 * --sout-keep option to keep the stream open while changing input.
 * Preliminary rtp support.
 * Fixes to SAP announces.

Subtitles:
 * Text subtitles now have a black outline.
 * Text subtitles autodetection.
 * Text subtitles charset autodetection.
 * Text subtitles for all videofiles. Results may vary.
 * Text subtitles in Hebrew are supported. Arabic partially.
 * Automatic fontsize selection for text subtitles.
 * Fixed SAMI text subtitles support.
 * Support for subtitles in Matroska files.
 * Support for subtitles in DVB streams.

Miscellaneous:
 * Audio visual effects filters (spectrum, scope and random).
 * Audio visual effects filter using goom.
 * Spanish, Portuguese Brazilian and Hungarian translations.
 * SAP now supports HTTP streams.
 * libcaca video output (colored ascii)

Changes between 0.6.1 and 0.6.2:
---------------------------------

Core support:
 * Fixed a nasty regression in 0.6.1 which made some streams unplayable.

Stream output:
 * Transcoder now generates proper pts/dts thus should work a lot better.
 * Improved MPEG TS muxer.

Access input:
 * Support for DVB-S/C/T cards using v4l2 API for Linux 2.6.x kernels.
 * Few fixes to the VCD navigation.

Interfaces:
 * Support for DVD menus navigation added to the wxWindows interface.

UNIX ports:
 * ALSA multi-channel support fixed and tested.
 * Fixed fullscreen with gnome metacity.

Win32 port:
 * Fixed VCD support which was broken on some machines.

iPaq port:
 * Familiar interface with Gtk+-1.2 and GPE support removed (deprecreated).

Miscellaneous:
 * Text subtitles now centered on the picture.
 * Ffmpeg decoder now generates proper pts and can be used to play
   mpeg1/2 videos.

Changes between 0.6.0 and 0.6.1:
---------------------------------

Core support:
 * There should be less bogus resampling, particularly on DVDs.
 * VLC will now wait for the medium to wake up before starting its clock
   after a pause.

Stream output:
 * Added vorbis audio support in Ogg streaming.
 * Added vorbis audio transcoding support.
 * Added mp3 audio transcoding support (when ffmpeg is compiled with mp3lame).
UNIX ports:
 * ALSA multi-channel support fixed and tested.
 * Fixed fullscreen with gnome metacity.

Win32 port:
 * Fixed VCD support which was broken on some machines.

iPaq port:
 * Familiar interface with Gtk+-1.2 and GPE support removed (deprecreated).

Miscellaneous:
 * Text subtitles now centered on the picture.
 * Ffmpeg decoder now generates proper pts and can be used to play
   mpeg1/2 videos.

Changes between 0.6.0 and 0.6.1:
---------------------------------

Core support:
 * There should be less bogus resampling, particularly on DVDs.
 * VLC will now wait for the medium to wake up before starting its clock
   after a pause.

Stream output:
 * Added vorbis audio support in Ogg streaming.
 * Added vorbis audio transcoding support.
 * Added mp3 audio transcoding support (when ffmpeg is compiled with mp3lame).
 * PS muxer can create mpeg1 files now and produce streams with system headers.
 * You can transcode a52 with more than two channels to mpga now.

Win32 port:
 * Fixed DVD support which was partly broken due to a bug in libdvdcss
 * Fixed 5.1 audio support for the sblive/audigy soundcards.
 * Fixed sound on Windows NT.

UNIX ports:
 * Fixed/improved ALSA support and enabled multi-channel audio output.
 * X11/Xvideo: Should now work on big endian machines, and you can now
   use the arrow keys to browse through the DVD menus.

iPaq port:
 * Gtk+2 interface called PDA
 * Familiar Gtk+ is now deprecreated
 * Codec a52, Faad2 and flac added
 * Video4Linux enabled (demux and transcode)
 * Stream Out with transcode support enabled (use codecs: HuffYuvv and A-law).

Interfaces:
 * Small updates/fixes to the wxWindows interface.
 * Improved HTTP remote control interface. You can now create your own HTML pages.
 * A new CORBA control plugin.

Input demux:
 * Improved support for the Matroska container format.

Miscellaneous:
 * Improved build system.
 * New video filter plugin to overlay logos.
 * Added support for Winamp 3 B4S files.
 * New subtitle module which uses freetype2 to render arbitrary fonts in any size.
   Should also work with languages like russion for instance.


Changes between 0.5.3 and 0.6.0:
---------------------------------

Core Support:
 * Channel Server support was removed (was deprecated)

Input access:
 * Fixed a big bug in ftp and http access that prevented many platforms (OSX most prominently) to view ftp and http streams.
 * Fixed large file support on Windows
 * Video 4 Linux support
 * CD Digital Audio support
 * Fixed IPv6 multicasting on Windows and OSX.

Input demux:
 * Better detection of AAC and mp3 files
 * Support for OpenDML avi files
 * More complete .mp4/.mov support
 * Very early support for the Matroska container format (don't complain if it doesn't work ;)

Codecs:
 * VLC's own MPEG1/2 decoder has been replaced with libmpeg2
 * Support for Sorenson 3 (SVQ3 or Quicktime content) via ffmpeg
 * OSX support for QDM2 and QDMC sound, often used in QT content.
 * Fixed a bug which was causing artefacts in DivX video (ffmpeg)
 * Updated our theora decoder to use the alpha 2 release of libtheora
 * If ffmpeg cannot keep up, skip and try to recover instead of stopping altogether
 * Indeo Video 3 (IV32) support for little-endian computers. (so not for OSX)

Interfaces:
 * The wxWindows interface is now fully useable as well as Unicode safe
 * New HTTP remote control interface

Stream output:
 * New stream output scheme. It is now possible to build a chain of stream outputs allowing for instance to stream and display some content at the same time.
 * The stream output now allows to transcode content on the fly.
 * Fixed major bug that prevented streaming mpeg 1/2 video with pulldown content.
 * SAP/SDP announcing support. (both IPv4 and IPv6)

Miscellaneous:
 * New reset option for the preferences
 * You can set your language in the prefences
 * New video chroma conversion module using ffmpeg
 * Added a Gentoo ebuild to the distribution
 * Added a new smaller subtitles font (now the default) + scripts to generate your own
 * SAP/SDP IPv6 support

UNIX ports:
 * Basic support for the X11 Xinerama extension.
 * New skinable interface ported to X11.
 * Run opie-vlc and zaurus-vlc as GuiServer

Mac OS X port:
 * When you add several items to the playlist, they are sorted alphabetically.
 * New about panel and revamped preferences panel.
 * Fixed the deinterlace menu.
 * Float on top, Fit to Screen and a Transparency option for video out.
 * New output dialog for transcode and display while stream capabilities.
 * New icons by Davor Orel.
 * New audio resampler. Should make VLC much faster.
 * Fixed disappearing and crackling sound (PTS is out of range bug)
 * We no longer automatically save the preferences when you quit the application
 * Arrow keys are now use to browse the menus in a DVD

Win32 port:
 * the wxWindows interface is now the default interface
 * The keyboard shortcuts are now identical to the linux version
 * Fixed the "no sound" problem on NT4
 * Improved skinnable interface (it now uses the wxWindows interface dialogs).
 * Added support for compressed skins files (.vlt files)
 * Fixed SVCD chapters support.
 * Fixed memory leak with 5.1 audio.

BeOS port:
 * Interface localization
 * Screensaver disabled if playing in fullscreen
 * A few new keyboard shortcuts
 * New full-featured Preferences window

Changes between 0.5.2 and 0.5.3:
---------------------------------

Core Support:
 * fixed DTS S/PDIF output on little-endian machines
 * support for skins at the interface level
 * new OSD module using Freetype2
 * video outputs are now destroyed when the associated input ends
 * the video output takes into account the caching delay introduced at the
   input level before dropping out of date frames.
 * configuration option to disable the translation of the interface

Input access:
 * fixed HTTP redirects
 * support for opening an entire directory
 * EOF should be detected more reliably
 * new video4linux access plug-in
 * new kfir access plug-in designed to work around a bug in the kfir driver

Input demux:
 * added stream type for some Motorola MPEG-2 video encoders
 * fix for some ogg web radio streams
 * fixed reading TS streams over HTTP

Codecs:
 * support for 3ivx D4 (not previous versions)
 * support for '3ivd' and '3vid' encodings
 * support for 'MSS1' codec ( same as WMV2 )
 * support for SAMI subtitles (untested and incomplete)
 * better SSA4 subtitles recognition
 * new codec for raw I420 video
 * improvements to the libmpeg2-based MPEG video decoder

Interfaces:
 * improvements to wxWindows based interface
   (although it still misses some important features)
 * skeleton for a Gnome2/GTK2 plug-in

Stream output:
 * new HTTP output support
 * fixed a segfault in the AVI muxer
 * fixed AV synchronization issues

Miscellaneous:
 * support for oldstyle id3 genres

UNIX ports:
 * the SDL vout plug-in will now work on big-endian machines

Mac OS X port:
 * reorderable playlist
 * fixed the hiding of the mouse on multiple monitors
 * fixed a big issue with some USB speakers
 * support for mono audio output devices
 * reset the audio-device to its default mode before quitting VLC
 * fixed several cosmetic issues
 * you can drag the controller window by its background (as it should be)
 * the messages window remembers more lines
 * delay and fps can now be overruled with subtitles files
 * http and ogg stream output options
 * Apple menu and friends will now be translated as well

Win32 port:
 * new skinnable interface
 * the directx video output doesn't crash anymore on ctrl+alt+del events.

iPAQ familiar Linux port:
 * support for FLAC audio format
 * the interface adapts to the screen size/rotation
 * playlist
 * network tab in the interface
 * "apply" handling in preferences


Changes between 0.5.1a and 0.5.2:
---------------------------------

Core support:
 * advanced config options are now hidden by default
 * new --spdif option to use the S/PDIF audio output by default
 * fixed a 'clicking' sound when switching between streams
 * new bandlimited resampler that should improve audio quality on primarily
   Mac OS X
 * fixed a problem with audio over http that caused some web radios to not work
 * DTS S/PDIF support

Codecs:
 * support for DV audio through the ffmpeg library
 * support for FLAC audio through libflac
 * new but basic MPEG video decoder based on libmpeg2
 * fixed a major bug in LPCM code (fixes a problem with iDVD disks)

Stream output:
 * support for streaming DivX 1/2/3, wmv1/2, h/i263 over MPEG-2 TS
 * new --ttl option for Time To Live

DVD support:
 * fixed quite a few problems with the dvd menu support

UNIX ports:
 * fixed the GNU-pth support

Win32 port:
 * multi-channel audio and S/PDIF support for both the DirectX and Waveout
   plugins
 * localization support via gettext is now fully working
 * rc interface is now fully useable
 * fixed the MSVC project files generation

Mac OS X port:
 * several fixes for multi channel audio devices. AC3 over SPDIF with
   M-Audio Sonica Theater still does not work. this is most likely a driver
   bug and has been reported to M-Audio. (Sonica, Revolution, Delta, Griffin
   iMate and MOTU firewire devices should work)
 * VLC now uses the default audio device
 * new info panel
 * very preliminary support for VLC control via applescript
 * support for mouse gestures
 * new priority scheme allowing to avoid lock-ups on low-end machines

Linupy port:
 * there is a whole new port for the linupy distribution used by o.a. the
   YOPY PDA. It is still experimental, please test it

Miscellaneous:
 * improved ID3 tag detection
 * changed several errors into warnings ; the frequently reported "this is
   not a PS stream, continuing" is one of these
 * mouse gestures work on windows and osx, but there still isn't any useful
   gestures
 * some support for .pls playlists used by shoutcast


Changes between 0.5.1 and 0.5.1a:
---------------------------------

Mac OS X port:
 * fixed a problem that caused VLC to select the wrong language when
   English was set as the preferred language


Changes between 0.5.0 and 0.5.1:
--------------------------------

Core support:
 * new mouse gesture interface
 * audio volume can now be changed at any time, even when no file is
   playing

Input access:
 * various minor fixes on the network inputs
 * fixed some weird URL parsing problems (/Volumes/toto:tata/harry@coin.mpg)
 * VCD: fixed track number and chapter indexing

Input demux:
 * fixed a bad initialization in the mp4 plug-in
 * new --buggy-psi option for TS streams which do not update their
   continuity counter

Codecs:
 * support for MPEG-2 intra slice refresh (aka. Slice-I) streams

DVD support:
 * fixed a bug which turned the default interface command-line only
   without the user consent

UNIX ports:
 * GTK: fixed a crash when going fullscreen or changing volume from the
   popup menu
 * X11: new screen saver disabling plug-in (--extraintf screensaver)
 * KDE: fixed compilation with KDE 3.1
 * ALSA: fixed mono files output

Mac OS X port:
 * fixed a crash on start-up on some localized systems
 * lowered real-time priorities to avoid lock-ups on slow machines
 * VLC can now be made the handler of ftp http mms and udp URLs
 * playlist enhancements
 * added half, normal and double video window menu items
 * new step forward/step backward commands
 * the dock should no longer be visible in fullscreen mode
 * the Mac OS X binary is now compiled with Ogg/Theora support
 * vlc.app is now VLC.app

Win32 port:
 * fixed the "RichEdit line insertion error" bug
 * VLC can now be run from outside its installation directory
 * fixed a bug that prevented to find the default subtitle font

BeOS port:
 * smarter BeOS priorities to avoid lock-ups
 * few enhancements in the interface (especially the Settings window)

Opie port:
 * native video output is working again
 * only commandline interface support
 * support for MPEG4, DivX through ffmpeg package


Changes between 0.4.6 and 0.5.0:
--------------------------------

Core structure:
  * object structure which allows for full re-entrancy, known as libvlc
  * new audio output architecture based on filter pipelines, providing
    S/PDIF and multi-channel support
  * localization support via gettext on most architectures
  * new stream output architecture, allowing to use VLC to unicast,
    multicast or broadcast a stream to another VLC (only MPEG 1, 2 and 4
    and A/52 streams are supported)
  * build system now uses autoconf/automake/autopoint

Input access:
  * mms:// support
  * ftp:// support
  * stability fixes in the HTTP access
  * auto-detection of RTP encapsulation
  * VCD entry points support
  * VCD image file support

Input demux:
  * support for *.asf format
  * improved support for *.avi, especially over an HTTP connection
  * support for *.mp4 and *.mov format
  * support for ogg encapsulation
  * support for raw DV format
  * support for *.wav format
  * new demuxdump demux allowing to save a stream to a file
  * raw AAC support

Stream discovery & playlists:
  * support for the SAP/SDP and SLP protocols
  * support for .m3u file format
  * support for .asx file format
  * hack to find the streaming sources in html-pages with embedded wmp

Codecs:
  * support for the microdvd, subrip, ssa1, ssa2-4 subtitles file formats
    (only available with the .avi demux)
  * support for ADPCM audio codec
  * support for raw PCM data
  * support for Cinepak video codec
  * support for DV video codec via libdv or ffmpeg
  * support for AAC audio codec via libfaad2
  * support for Xvid codec
  * support for Xiph.org's Vorbis audio codec
  * support for Xiph.org's Tremor audio codec (when compiling from sources)
  * support for Xiph.org's Tarkin and Theora video codecs (when compiling
    from sources)
  * new codecs supported by latest ffmpeg versions: WMV, WMA, SVQ 1, H263,
    H263i, MJPEG A/B
  * fixed an endianness bug in LPCM codec

DVD support:
  * experimental preliminary support for DVD menus via libdvdplay

Miscellaneous:
  * new WxWindows interface
  * all interfaces allow to dynamically change the volume, the audio
    device and the channels configuration
  * headphone channel mixer with virtual spatialization effect
  * Mozilla plugin based on libvlc for embedded playback in webpages of any
    format that VLC can play
  * new swedish translation
  * enhancements of the playlist window
  * new messages window to see debug info
  * fixed a few crashes

iPaq port:
  * slider bar in GTK+/GPE Familiar interface
  * fixed crash on directory change in Familiar interface
  * added qte_main module for use in all modules that need Opie or Qte support
  * native video output module for Qt Embedded/Opie is not working