---- FairUse Wizard ----

The FairUse Wizard is a tool for converting your DVD-Video material into a
DivX AVI form. This is for the purpose of allowing you to exercise your rights
under the "fair use" provisions of copyright laws.

Version notes:

0.1 beta    First public release

0.2 beta    Video resizer now uses low pass and cubic reconstruction filters
            Squashed an NTSC IVTC subpicture synchronisation bug

0.21 beta   Fixed a bug with NTSC IVTC sometimes not counting fields properly,
              which would cause a slight loss of sync
            Tweaked the NTSC IVTC to work a bit better on movies with a lot
              of "noise" present in the transfer (older movies)
            Fixed a DivX codec problem where it would insert many keyframes
              by itself if the number of pixels per frame was less than
              184320; this could cause significant quality problems
            Increased timeouts so they are less likely to happen if the system
              is loaded up with some other task; added some diagnostics to
              show status of decoder timeouts

0.22 beta   *** IMPORTANT NOTE: With this version, the project and chain file
              formats have been changed. You should finish any current
            sessions before trying to use this version. ***

            Added better error messages when the encoders have problems (like
              running out of disk space, etc)
            Fixed an IFO parsing bug which would cause a crash if a title-set
              had no menu VOBs
            Fixed the IFO parsing to (hopefully) handle angles properly; each
              angle should now appear as a separate program chain
            Fixed a small bug with the subpicture next/previous buttons
            Changed the way subpictures with no end time are handled
            Added a timeout at the lowest DVD access layer to try to resolve
              a problem with scratched disks

0.23 beta   Added a key fallback mechanism and more diagnostic output to try
              to resolve the problem with a few DVDs where the key can't be
              found

0.24 beta   Added an extra check for anamorphic titles that seem to have
              inconsistant aspect ratio flags
            Removed the key fallback mechanism that was added in 0.23 beta
              because it didn't fix the key problem

0.25 beta   Added an automatic key retry mechanism to fix a problem getting
              keys from some DVDs using some DVD drives; you need to create a
              new project if you want to take advantage of this fix

0.26 beta   Changed the AVI writer so it is more compatible with streams
              generated by other programs
            Changed the way anamorphic/non-anamorphic titles are detected,
              hopefully all titles will be correctly detected now
            Modified the "gross" error detector to be a bit more sensitive,
              hopefully it will pick up all visible codec errors now
            Fixed a problem with the demuxer that occurred when there was
              skipped data in the streams
            Increased the timeouts, especially when the decoder is waiting
              for all the encoders to finish up


Main features:

  All-in-one solution - Converts straight from DVD, the only other software
  you need is a working ASPI layer (but see yet to be implemented features
  below).

  Fully integrated MM4 support - Video is encoded at up to 10 different
  bitrates/codec types simultaneously, for later "cross cutting" into the
  final output file.

  Best quality for a fixed size - You specify the size (disk space) of the
  output file, and the best quality file that will fit that space is produced.

  Variable keyframe interval - You can configure the minimum and maximum
  keyframe intervals. This avoids the "sharpening effect" by not inserting
  keyframes on static scenes.

  Codec errors fixed - The DivX codec will no longer produce freeze frames/
  grey blocks/mirrored blocks, etc.

  SMP support - During the encoding phase, multiple processors will be used.
  (The actual utilisation depends on the number of encodings being created.)

  Field combination modes - Fields can be realigned (PAL), IVTCed (NTSC) or
  simply decoded natively as directed by the DVD.


Yet to be implemented features (these are currently being worked on):

  Audio processing - Currently, audio tracks are listed, but not demuxed
  or output. When specifying the final file size, you also specify the
  audio bitrate and space is left so that there is enough room to muxed in
  the audio later. For now you will have to produce the audio with another
  method/tools.

  Multi-part output - There is currently no support for splitting the
  output file into (say) 650MB pieces, so you will have to do that yourself
  for now.


Notes:

  Resources required - This program is designed to achieve maximum quality
  with a small output file size. All other considerations are secondary. It
  is quite slow, so a fast processor is recommended (multi-processor is
  better). A lot of disk space will be required, usually at least 6GB up to
  12GB or more depending on what you are trying to do. It is recommended
  that you have at least 128MB of RAM per processor.

  Output width/height & compression ratio - When choosing the output
  dimensions, a compression ratio of between 120:1 and 150:1 is recommended.
  The less action there is in the movie, the higher the ratio you should be
  able to achieve with the same number of encodings and quality. Also
  important is the quality of the video on the DVD. Older movies may contain
  a lot of "noise" in the transfer. This strains the DivX codec, and so a
  lower ratio is recommended. If the DVD video transfer is very "clean" then
  this will compress well and a higher ratio can be used.

  Diff values - The program uses a model to measure how "different" a
  compressed frame looks to the original. This "diff" value can range from
  0 to 50000 or more. A value below about 9000 means virtually no noticable
  difference. Values between 9000 and 11000 are very good quality. Once the
  diff value starts to exceed 11000, more and more differences will be
  visible. The algorithm is not perfect and may give higher diff values to
  about 1% of frames that still look ok to a human. This is not a problem,
  as these frames just get a little bit more bitrate than they need.

  Cross cut threshold - When the cross-cut list is generated, it will tell
  you what diff threshold it used. Any value less than 11000 is usually
  excellent. If it is between 11000 and 12000 then it may be acceptable to
  you. If it is above 12000 then you may need to give it more file size,
  or maybe reencode with smaller horizontal/vertical dimensions. Because
  the program tries to keep a constant quality throughout the file, a high
  diff threshold can mean the entire file looks poor, not just the high
  action scenes.
