GSpot 2.2 released

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Posted on Tuesday 27th of May, 2003 at 00:59 by SirQUK
Source:

Source: Doom9

GSpot is an utilty for finding out what avi and codecs you have installed on your system, which is extremely handy when converting Div-X or X-Vid to MPEG standards. It really is one of those "Must have" utilities!.

Features:

Establishes what video codecs (audio and video) are required to play an AVI file.
Determines whether these codecs are installed on your system.
Isolates problems associated with these codecs.
Simple operation - Basic use: "File > Open", then read results
Identifies download induced problems (truncated files, "cooked" files, etc.)
Shows framerate, duration, aspect ratio, bitrates, AVI structure info, and more.
Displays and allows editing of RIFF info (title, etc); displays "hidden" ASCII info.
Drag and Drop and "Send To" support, multi-file (batch) processing support
Copy/Paste or text export GSpot information - format is user configurable.
Built-in database of 350 video and 150 audio codec types
Advanced UI including "dual-mode" and hyperlinked "persistent" tool tips
Full support for OGG media files as well as AVI stream formats
Identification (only) of non-AVI files (.mpg, .mov, .qt, .rm, .swf, .wmv, .asf, etc.)
Supports VFW, ACM, DirectShow and DMO codec types (audio and video)
Win95/98/ME/NT/2K/XP
No Install, No spyware, No advertising, No registration
Free

Changelog and future plans:

Shows all installed codecs capable of playing the format being examined, not just the first one found, and a new database allows GSpot to cross-reference equivalent format codes (e.g. the 4-digit audio code used by ACM codecs to the 32-character "GUID" used by DirectShow codecs).
The DirectShow render info is now shown as a single "chain of filters" for clarity, and the analysis is no longer limited to a small number of filters.
Smoother operation due to a new multithreaded design. System codec information loads in the background and rendering now performed as a background operation.
ListViews are now resizable. Misconfigured codecs are shaded in light red. The option dialog has been simplified.
Shows whether or not audio frames are "split" across interleave chunks; displays "Frame Quality" value in bits/pixel-sec; displays separate audio and video stream sizes and the ratio thereof; shows filesize shown in MB and KB as well as bytes, and play duration in frame count as well as time; aspect ratios now appear as a small integer ratio (e.g. 9:4 rather than 1.750 or ~9:4 instead of 1.762).
Added crash protection. In the past, GSpot has been known to fail when used on certain systems. This is generally due to damaged, misconfigured, conflicting, or poorly written codec drivers. As GSpot accessed them, GSpot itself appeared to fail. In this version, wherever possible, crashes are "intercepted" and an explanatory message is displayed. Furthermore, GSpot will attempt to identify which particular codec was the culprit.
Bug Fixes: Fixed a rare but annoying "No more dialogs after rendering" bug, a number of export-related issues, a read-only file bug, and numerous smaller problems as well.
Soon: Ability to distinguish between WMA & DivX 3 (both the file data and the codecs); This will help sort out a messy situation which causes a lot of confusion and missing-audio problems for people.
Soon: Selectively enable/disable or register/unregister codecs by right clicking on them, permitting the user to control which codec is used - on a format by format basis if possible. This will be extremely useful for many situations.

Not quite yet: