[x265] [ANN] x265 0.6 is released

[Steve Borho]

x265 0.6 is a regularly scheduled release

There were large improvements in compression efficiency since 0.5, mostly a
result of the completion of weightp and b-pyramid.  There is also a large
amount of new assembly code; replacing most of the compiler intrinsic
functions and adding coverage for some new primitives.


= New Features =

* CLI reads input video from stdin
* Main10 profile is enabled, requires a HIGH_BIT_DEPTH build
* weightp is now complete enough to be enabled by default
* performance presets have been defined, matching x264 preset names
* b-pyramid (hierarchical B frames) now supported
* Constant Rate Factor rate control is considered stable
* Adaptive Quantization introduced, still experimental

Adaptive Quantization is still considered experimental. We are not always
seeing the expected improvements to SSIM when it is enabled, and thus it is
still not enabled by default.


= API Changes =

* x265_nal data members renamed
* x265_picture now has colorSpace member
* --weightp enabled by default
* default parameters now match our medium preset
* new x265_param_default_preset() method for assigning preset and tune
* new x265_param_alloc() and x265_param_free() methods for version safety
* new x265_picture_alloc() and x265_picture_free() methods for version
safety

The public data structures have changed enough that apps compiled against
previous versions of x265 must be recompiled to use x265 0.6.  We are
taking steps to add version safety to the public interface.  If you use the
new alloc/free methods for the param and picture structures, and use
x265_param_parse() to set param values by name, you will likely not have to
recompile your application to dynamically link against later releases of
x265.


= New CLI Options =

* --y4m overrides detection of Y4M input stream, ex: x265 --y4m - out.hevc
< vid.y4m
* --version long option alias for -V
* -p/--preset sets performance preset
* -t/--tune sets parameter tuning
* --[no-]b-pyramid enabled by default
* --input-csp color space parameter, only i420 is supported in this release
* --crf constant rate factor rate control
* --aq-mode and --aq-strength

See x265 --help for more details


= Upcoming improvements =

* motion compensated weightp analysis (using lookahead data)
* CU-tree (MBtree adapted from x264)
* VBV rate control
* assembly for HIGH_BIT_DEPTH builds

-- 
Steve Borho
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.videolan.org/pipermail/x265-devel/attachments/20131203/80f3a820/attachment.html>