Gizmodo: encoding

Samsung SC-MX20 Is YouTube, PMP Friendly With H.264 Shooting

Jason Chen — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:45:00 EDT

Samsung's SC-MX20 follows up the MX10 with some fairly useful features such as h.264 video mode for better YouTube, iPod, iPhone and PMP compatibility, as well as a max 720x480 resolution for DVD-quality video. It stores up to 16 hours on one 32GB SDHC card, has three hours of battery life (best-in-class they claim?), 34x optical zoom, image stabilization and "3D noise reduction." Out in August for $280 in black, red and white. Not too bad a price if you're looking to go a little higher than the entry-level Flip cams. Not having to re-encode everything you shoot is real nice too. [Samsung via Electronista]

Dealzmodo: DivX Pro Free For a Limited Time

Jason Chen — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:10:01 EST

We love watching DivX, but what if you want to create DivX? You'd normally have to pony up for the DivX Pro pack to let you encode your favorite movies into our favorite format, but for a limited time you can download DivX Pro for free. Think of it as an early Xmas present to get more people creating content in their format. Wait, I see what they're doing! [DivX via Wal-You via Cyber Net News]

Elgato's Turbo 264 USB Stick Encodes H.264 for Your iPod, iPhone and Apple TV

Jason Chen — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 20:40:32 EDT

Following up on the rumor that Apple was going to add an H.264 hardware encoding/decoding chip into all upcoming Macs, Elgato has released an H.264 USB stick that does just that. What does this mean to you? Well, a USB stick would be second best to an internal chip (like was speculated before) but the effect is the same.

Instead of using your processor to encode and decode video, this Turbo 264 offloads the job so you're free to do other things. The implications of this are recording a screencast in real time, or doing real-time transcoding of various content that you can stream to your Apple TV. Or, you can just use it (rather boringly) to make videos for your iPod and iPhone fast.

For now, it's only available in Europe for 99 Euros. – Jason Chen

Turbo 264 [Macwelt]

Apple to Add H.264 Hardware Decoding to All Machines?

Jason Chen — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 16:15:35 EST

Bob Cringely of PBS fame has it on good "rumor" authority that Apple's planning to add H.264 hardware support to all of its machines. As in the iMac, the MacBook, the MacBook Pro, the Mac Pro, and even the Mac Mini. Why is this important? Because a $50 hardware chip (that's how much it costs Apple) will be able to handle all iTunes video flawlessly, allowing the CPU(s) to relax and put its feet up, instead of busting its ass rendering Pirates of the Caribbean like it does now.

The benefit of this is the ability to play video smoother on lower-end hardware (see Apple TV), and the possibility of DVR usage. How's that? Because this same H.264 chip is capable of encoding as well as decoding, which means you may be able to turn any Mac into an H.264 DVR, or "effortlessly" record screencasts without taxing your CPU, which is doing whatever it is you're currently recording. – Jason Chen

The Great Apple Video Encoder Attack of 2007 [PBS]

Dummies' Guide to DivX On Your 360

Jason Chen — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 15:30:28 EST

Did you have to ask your daughter's nerdy—and honestly, kinda creepy—friend to come over and set up your TiVo? Then you've no doubt had trouble getting your Xbox 360 to play media other than standard DVDs. Good news for you, as Tweaktown's got a huge guide on setting up a PC and a 360 to stream DivX and XviD files on the fly.

The walkthrough goes into mind numbing detail on what PC to use, what codecs you need, how to set up port forwarding (not always necessary), and setting up the TVersity software. Old hat if you're a PC buff, but useful for everyone else. – Jason Chen

Playing DivX and Xvid content on Xbox 360 - An easy guide! [Tweaktown]

Leica M Lens Encoding

Jason Chen — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 14:41:29 EDT

For use with their upcoming digital M camera, Leica's announcing a 6-bit encoding scheme for all new M lenses. Each lens will have a unique 6-bit code that will be recognized by the M camera, which can be used to identify the lens and optimize image quality. The M camera will also store that information into image metadata for easy reference in image editing applications.

All new lenses from Leica will support this new code, but if you've got a supported current or discontinued lens (check the list to see if you do), you can get an authorized Leica dealer add the code on your lens for 95 Euros ($120). You'll probably want to wait until after the World Cup, since most dealers may be "busy". – Jason Chen

Leica M lenses coding for digital [Digital Photography Review]