On2 Technologies Support Blog

Flix Engine 8.0.13.0 for Linux and Windows is now available.

This release includes several new features and bug fixes, including:

• Add new video filters: blur and sharpen. See FE2_FILTER_BLUR and FE2_FILTER_SHARPEN in the header files filters/blur.h and filters/sharpen.h.
• Add new video filters: mirror and rotate. See FE2_FILTER_MIRROR and FE2_FILTER_ROTATE.
• Add a denoise filter. See FE2_FILTER_DENOISE in the header file filters/denoise.h.
• Add an enumerated type deintmode_t for the Adaptive Deinterlace filter for consistency with other filters.
• Updated mencoder source code [LINUX] to improve overall stability, update decoder/demuxer, and add a Nellymoser, Musepack SV8 audio decoder. Other mencoder changes include:
  • improved AAC stream decoding
  • default to legacy demuxer for 3GP/3G2/MP4/MOV for performance
  • ignore tracks that reference external files
  • Apply security updates oCERT-2008-013 / CVE-2008-3827
• Fix the crop video filter so that it doesn’t require both right and bottom to be set.
• Fix bug in the framerate filter that caused incorrect transitions, especially with text frames.
• Improve transcoding of certain WMV files to MOV, MP4 by discarding frames with negative timestamps. Sync issue may still exist in some cases however. [Linux]
• Fix transcode failures with certain clips by interpreting a 0 byte audio frame as an indication of the end of stream. [Linux]
• Fix chroma problems with Vp6 codec caused by input with odd width. [Linux]
• Fix trancoding of FLV files with Nellymoser audio codec. [Windows]

Note: Windows users should note that the COM library version has been incremented with this release. For .NET languages, the “Interop.flixengine_com.dll” file needs to be updated, and any C++ code will need to be recompiled. More information is available in the documentation.

Note: Linux users notice that the interface has changed, which will affect your language bindings.

See the changelog (linux|windows) for complete details on each release.

Customers can download this version from http://flix.on2.com/download

Flix Engine version 8.0.12.0 for Windows and Linux is now available.

This release enables progressive download of 3GPP, 3G2, MOV and MP4 files by controlling the location of the ‘moov’ tag with a new FE2_ISOMEDIA_FASTSTART setting. We have also added AAC and AAC Plus audio to the FLV muxer.

Several bugs have also been fixed in this release:

Note: Windows users should note that the COM library version has been incremented with this release. For .NET languages, the “Interop.flixengine_com.dll” file needs to be updated, and any C++ code will need to be recompiled. More information is available in the documentation.

See the changelog (linux|windows) for complete details on each release.

Customers can download this version from http://flix.on2.com/download

Flix Engine version 8.0.11.0 for Windows and Linux is now available.

Changes in this release:

• Updated Vp6 encoder with increased quality, especially in high motion sequences.
• Upgraded to new libpng with various bug fixes.
• New patches to mencoder to address several issues (Linux):
  • Avoid encoding timeout by disabing audio tracks with less data than reported in header
  • Avoid timestamp rollover on long material
  • Prefer FFmpeg DV decoder over qdv for DVSD
    contained within AVI files
  • Fix certain audio/video sync issues.
• Update our QuickTime source filter to improve support for multi-track video files, multi channel audio, or sampling rates greater than 48 kHz.

See the changelog (linux|windows) for complete details on each release.

Existing customers can download this version from http://flix.on2.com/download

Flix Engine version 8.0.10.2 for Windows and Linux is now available.

Changes in this release:

• Fix bug regarding the canSeekToEnd metadata in cases where audio is truncated in source clip. FE2_MUXER_FLV
• Adjust the default encode timeout to help avoid spurious failures under heavy load conditions. Timeout can also be set with FLIX_HUNG_ENCODE_TIMEOUT environment variable.
• Add pixel normalize to help avoid loss of transparency seen when re-encoding alpha content. FE2_CODEC_VP6ALPHA
• Fix bug that caused HD clips at high bitrates under VBR 2-Pass to greatly overshoot the data rate.
• Apply appropriate settings for sample rate and channels according to restrictions in output. Prior versions would fail if one of the two required parameter was missing. FE2_FILTER_RESAMPLE
• Improve stability with malformed input by checking all memory allocation return values and returning an error flag to caller. Use with FLIX_OGG_PHYMEM_PCTMAX to further increase flixd stability (libogg) (Linux)
• Allow audio timestamp to be forwarded to the application. (libogg)(Linux)
• New patches to mencoder to address several issues (Linux):
  • Improve quality in certain ASF/WMV files by choosing best available stream
  • Fix truncation issues with AVI with better AVIINDEXENTRY flag support
  • Improve DV file support
  • Fix missing audio/video by using stream even if header is incorrect
  • Fix to correctly identify endianness
  • Improve successful handling of MP3 streams
  • Fix sync issues with ASF/WMV files by forwarding decoded timestamps
  • Fix truncation issues
  • Handle video streams reporting 0×0 dimensions
  • skip malformed stream descriptions within MOV files, allowing transcode to complete successfully
  • Improve success rate for MOV files by changing how we handle file format conformance
  • combines local codecs.conf changes to one patch
• Modify end-of-stream check with animated image files (e.g., GIF) avoiding hang. (Windows)
• Fix timeout when attempting to encode certain WMV files containing ‘MSS2′ video, created by Microsoft Office LiveMeeting 2005 among others. (Windows)
• When running as a service, license failure messages will be written to the Application Event Log, rather than hanging while attempting to display a message box. (Windows)
• Upgraded version of libpng library fixing several crash bugs (Windows & Linux)

Note: Windows users who skipped the previous update (8.0.10.0) will need to update their license file to enable H.264 support which was introduced in that version.
Windows users should select “Yes” when the installer prompts: “Do you need to update your license information?” Then, re-enter your username and serial number to continue with the install. Linux users should update their license file during install also.

See the changelog (linux|windows) for complete details on each release.

Existing customers can download this version from http://flix.on2.com/download

A new version of Flix Standard is now available. Changes to this version include:

• “Vp6-S” profile added to support large frame sizes (HD) on slower CPUs. Renamed existing Vp6.2 codec profile to “Vp6-E”.
• Fix crash with video preview related to Flash Player 9 r115 (Mac).
• Add attribute to EncodingPresets.xml for Vp6-S: codec-hd=”TRUE”.
• Default to VBR, not CBR, in many presets

This is a free update for all existing customers with Flix Standard 8.x. To download the installer, visit http://flix.on2.com/download/.

Demo versions are also available.

A new version of Flix Pro is now available. Changes to this version include:

• “Vp6-S” profile added to support large frame sizes (HD) on slower CPUs. Renamed existing Vp6.2 codec profile to “Vp6-E”.
• Fix crash with video preview related to Flash Player 9 r115 (Mac).
• Change Media Editor dialog to improve support for large frame sizes (HD).
• Add attribute to EncodingPresets.xml for Vp6-S: codec-hd=”TRUE”.
• Fix the metadata tag ‘canSeekToEnd’ to use boolean value
• Fix bug that prevented Vp6 Good/Best setting from being saved
• Fix timestamp values for Cue Points to support Captionate
• Default to VBR, not CBR, in many presets
• 32 bit and alpha channel graphics supported in Overlay feature (Win)
• preview applications are now user configurable (Win)
• Improved performance.
• Fix bug with SWF “stop on first frame” showing black frame.
• Fix “Export Email” to use correct version number for Flash.
• Fix Media Editor window display of odd sized videos.

This is a free update for all existing customers with Flix Pro 8.x. To download the installer, visit http://flix.on2.com/download/.

Demo versions are also available.

Flix Engine version 8.0.10.1 for Windows and Linux is now available.

Changes in this release:

• Preliminary support for iPhone. See the H.264 codec documentation for more details.
• Fix problem that caused many third-party players to hang if source file has truncated audio stream.
• Fix regression in PNG Image Export Filter causing lost thumbnails under 2 pass, with clips misreporting their duration.
• Fix filter chain by correctly ordering the deinterlace filter and scale filter.
• Fix bitrate adjustment in AMR_NB codec to avoid possible failure -7.
• New patches to mencoder to address various sync issues, allow use of system-wide mencoder.conf, and avoid audio corruption across transitions in asf/wmv files.
  (Linux)
• Enable hdv1 support in mencoder. (Linux)
• Fix qtsource.dll to preserve alpha channel when using FE2_CODEC_VP6ALPHA. (Windows)
• Fix memory leaks related to DirectShow. (Windows)
• Address data timeout issue in flvsplit.dll by observing sampling rate within Mp3 data. (Windows)

  Note: Windows users who skipped the previous update (8.0.10.0) will need to update their license file to enable H.264 support which was introduced in that version.
  Windows users should select “Yes” when the installer prompts: “Do you need to update your license information?” Then, re-enter your username and serial number to continue with the install. Linux users should update their license file during install also.

  See the changelog (linux|windows) for complete details on each release.

  Existing customers can download this version from http://flix.on2.com/download

We are releasing a minor update to On2 Flix Live 8.0.3.1 today to address the following issue:

• logout of connection with Limelight Networks when running on Windows 2003 Server.

To download the installer, visit http://flix.on2.com/download/. If you have previously customized your “bitrates.xml” file, then create a backup before installing this update.

On2 Flix Live 8.0.3.0 is now available. Changes in this release include:

• Vp6-S codec profile now supported. Use the codec=”vp6s” attribute within the bitrates.xml file.
• New deinterlace filter added. Use the < deinterlace > element within the bitrates.xml file.
• Fix support for Limelight Networks’ Content Delivery Network (CDN)

To download the installer, visit http://flix.on2.com/download/. If you have previously customized your “bitrates.xml” file, then create a backup before installing this update.

Flix Engine version 8.0.10.0 for Windows and Linux is now available.

Changes in this release:

• Add H.264 and AAC codecs (FE2_CODEC_AAC, FE2_CODEC_AACPLUS, FE2_CODEC_H264). New header files: codecs/aac.h and codecs/h264.h
  (Note: you must update your license file during installation to enable this feature.)
• 3GPP2 support is now available with FE2_MUXER_3G2. (Note: you must already have 3GPP enabled, and update your license file during installation to enable this feature.) Contact sales@on2.com for further details.
• Add muxer for MOV and MP4 container formats (FE2_MUXER_MOV, FE2_MUXER_MP4). Renamed header files: muxers/3gp.h -> muxer/isomedia.h
• Add FE2_VP6_PROFILE which allows selection of VP6-S in addition to VP6-E (default). See API documentation for further details.
• Add FE2_LAME_RC_MODE, allows selection of ABR/VBR in addition to legacy (default) CBR.
• Update mencoder snapshot to r24143.
  A full list of differences can be obtained via the subversion logs: (svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer/trunk). Issues addressed include: AC3 setup regression introduced prior to r22906 causing loss of audio in output.
• Add ColdFusion CGI sample (Windows)
• Fixed bug with FE2_CODEC_VP6, to avoid output artifacts with files encoded using FE2_VP6_CONCURRENCY and FE2_VP6_TEMPORAL_RESAMPLING caused by keyframes not being produced at FE2_VP6_KFFREQ.
• Attempt to close input file at encode completion- avoids potential hang when dealing w/corrupt input file.
• Add input timeout similar to windows (8.0.9.0) to avoid corrupt files from hanging encode thread. (Linux)
• Update flvdecvp6.dll to address decoder memory leak (Windows).
• Compile flixengine_com.jar with -source 1.5 option allowing for use under older versions of Java w/o a recompile. (Windows)

Windows users who are updating an earlier version should select “Yes” when asked, “Do you need to update your license information?” Then, re-enter your username and serial number to update the license file, enabling H.264, and continue with the install. Windows users should also note that the COM library version has been incremented with this release. For .NET languages, the “Interop.flixengine_com.dll” file needs to be updated, and any C++ code will need to be recompiled. More information is available in the documentation.

Linux users who are updating an earlier version must answer “n” when the installer prompts: “Would you like to reuse this license (y/n)? [y]:”. Then re-enter your username and serial number to update the license file enabling H.264 and continue with the install.

See the changelog (linux|windows) for complete details on each release.

Existing customers can download this version from http://flix.on2.com/download