[2.1.0] - 2024-05-17

API updates

• One config parameter added within the padding size. Config param structure size remains unchanged
• Presets 6 and 12 are now pointing to presets 7 and 13 respectively due to the lack of spacing between the presets
• Further preset shuffling is being discussed in #2152

Encoder

• Added variance boost support to improve visual quality for the tune vq mode
• Improve the tradeoffs for the random access mode across presets:
• Speedup of 12-40% presets M0, M3, M5 and M6 while maintaining similar quality levels
• Improved the compression efficiency of presets M11-M13 by 1-2% (!2213)
• Added ARM optimizations for functions with c_only equivalent

Cleanup Build and bug fixes and documentation

• Use nasm as a default assembler and yasm as a fallback
• Fix performance regression for systems with multiple processor groups
• Enable building SvtAv1ApiTests and SvtAv1E2ETests for arm
• Added variance boost documentation
• Added a mailmap file to map duplicate git generated emails to the appropriate author

[2.0.0] - 2024-03-13

Major API updates

• Changed the API signaling the End Of Stream (EOS) with the last frame vs with an empty frame
• OPT_LD_LATENCY2 making the change above is kept in the code to help devs with integration
• The support of this API change has been merged to ffmpeg with a 2.0 version check
• Removed the 3-pass VBR mode which changed the calling mechanism of multi-pass VBR
• Moved to a new versioning scheme where the project major version will be updated every time API/ABI is changed

Encoder

• Improve the tradeoffs for the random access mode across presets:
• Speedup presets MR by ~100% and improved quality along with tradeoff improvements across the higher quality presets (!2179,#2158)
• Improved the compression efficiency of presets M9-M13 by 1-4% (!2179)
• Simplified VBR multi-pass to use 2 passes to allow integration with ffmpeg
• Continued adding ARM optimizations for functions with c_only equivalent
• Replaced the 3-pass VBR with a 2-pass VBR to ease the multi-pass integration with ffmpeg
• Memory savings of 20-35% for LP 8 mode in preset M6 and below and 1-5% in other modes / presets

Cleanup and bug fixes and documentation

• Various cleanups and functional bug fixes
• Update the documentation to reflect the rate control changes

https://github.com/yuzu-emu/yuzu

ICYMI, Yuzu settled with Nintendo for $2.4M and tl;dr said that Yuzu's primary purpose was to aid and abet piracy. Nintendo won outright.

https://twitter.com/OatmealDome/status/1764715696250843321

"I tend to spread positive energy," Hassouna says. "But when the war started, there was no positive energy."

His darkest hour came on Feb. 12.

The Israeli military unleashed heavy bombings to provide cover for commandos during a successful hostage rescue mission. At least 74 Palestinians were killed in that bombing campaign, according to Gaza health officials.

Hassouna's mother, father, brother, sister-in-law and young nieces and nephew were among them. They were killed as they slept in the home where they were sheltering. It was the one night Hassouna happened to sleep over at a friend's house.

"Now I am by myself," he says. "Why should I live my life without a family?"

And an extra article giving more background and lead up https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-general-runs-out-of-road-kyiv-washington/

Does anyone know how to determine the level of grain synth used in an encoded video? I have .webms that I've encoded with ffmpeg and svt-av1 but I don't have that grain synth information anymore.

In fact it would be nice if I could just see any other information about an encoded video (rate factor, preset used, etc). These details don't appear when using mediainfo so I presume they are lost and unknowable. But grain synth occurs at decode time, so that should still be something I can figure out, right?

Archive link. https://archive.is/N4Rqj

Some personal editorializing: This is a pretty remarkable first because of how captive we Americans are to pharma prices. Famously, when Medicare Part D was brought into existence by law it restricted the federal government from negotiating Part D drug prices. To me, shopping for drugs in Canada is tackling the symptom and ignores the cause. I wonder if this gets more traction with more states how it might affect drug prices in Canada, too.

The real solution to all this, of course, would be nationalize the healthcare industry in all aspects and to create a single payer healthcare system.

Huge improvements for AV1 users over the last stable HandBrake release.

The way they talk about it makes it sound like they invented the written word, but that notwithstanding the fonts actually look really nice in my opinion.

I think with the weight of Apple finally behind AV1 it is as blessed of a format as anything can be. Sisvel be damned.

And, a new media engine now includes support for AV1 decode, providing more efficient and high-quality video experiences from streaming services.

I do not see AV1 encode support on this chip's announcement, however.