Vorbis dev - Nov 2008 - On merging aoTuV patches

Soon, Firefox 3.1 and other browsers will start to support vorbis and users will
increase vorbis use on the net. Most users (as most Linux distributions) are
however using the reference xiph.org vorbis library which generate worse files
than the aoTuV library from http://www.geocities.jp/aoyoume/aotuv/ .

According to latest discussion:
https://trac.xiph.org/ticket/1251
the aoTuV code should have been reviewed before merging it in the reference
xiph.org library. So, is there some news on this? It would be nice to have that
merged before the masses start putting vorbis file on the net for the Web 2.0
revolution.

Thanks

On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 4:13 PM, Fabio <fabio.ped at libero.it>
wrote:
> using the reference xiph.org vorbis library which generate worse files
> worse files
> worse
I'm sorry, but that's a bad choice of wording.  The reference encoder
creates files far superior to MP3, which is what people are used to.
The aoTuV tunings simply take Vorbis quality into the next level in
some low-bitrate cases.

This shouldn't be a worry for you.
> So, is there some news on this?
Efforts are currently focused on the Thusnelda encoder for Theora.
The aoTuV code review will likely come next.

-Ivo

> On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 4:13 PM, Fabio <fabio.ped at libero.it>
wrote:
> > using the reference xiph.org vorbis library which generate worse files
> > worse files
> > worse
> 
> I'm sorry, but that's a bad choice of wording.  The reference
encoder
> creates files far superior to MP3, which is what people are used to.
MP3 is a nearly 20 year old technology and mostly tuned for higher 
bitrates. Vorbis will probably compete with the AAC (mainly sponsored 
by Apple and its Safari browser) and WMA (Microsoft and Internet 
Explorer) flavours in the lower-midrange bitrates (web streaming).
> The aoTuV tunings simply take Vorbis quality into the next level in
> some low-bitrate cases.
The aoTuV version can compete with AAC/WMA:
http://www.listening-tests.info/
but not the reference library:
http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/VorbisEncoders
> This shouldn't be a worry for you.
It is instead, and at least for two reasons:
- when a web developer should choose between the reference xiph 
encoder found in its application/distribution and AAC based only on 
the quality it will choose the latter, so I (and other that only use 
free formats) won't be able to listen to that music;
- if a developer will use aoTuV rather than the reference libvorbis he found in
its application/distribution I'll get:
 * a higher quality at the same bitrate price, or
 * a lower bitrate at a comparable quality.