Painting a New Picture of Pentium 4: Tweaked MPEG4 Encoding

Intel's Famous Old Efficiency

Before I get into the discussion of this special version of FlasK MPEG, I would like to express my impression with Intel's dedication, swiftness and professionalism in dealing with my Pentium 4 update article from Wednesday.

Intel had certainly not ignored my second P4-article. Instead of dismissing it as just another piece of bad press about Pentium 4, several extremely dedicated Intel employees spit in their hands and got to work right away, even scarifying a good night sleep and time with their families to sort this issue out. The result, as you will see below, speaks for itself.

You can say what you want about Intel, but you've got to envy them for having employees of this caliber. I certainly do. You also have to give them the highest respect for reacting quickly and wisely at the same time. I personally stand in awe and have to admit that Intel really caught me on the wrong foot here. Intel has a lot of mistakes and I am not forgetting this, but the above reaction deserves a huge amount of credit.

I hope that this issue is also able to show you, my readers, how much is actually happening behind the scenes. Technical journalism is not a black and white kind of job. It's not just testing, writing and then publishing. There is a lot more going on and I hope you appreciate that I am trying to involve you in this once in a while. You don't only have a right to know. I think that in several ways you've got the duty to know.

There's another thing I might add. MPEG4 encoding and DVD-ripping in general, as well as FlasK MPEG and similar software in particular is seen by some groups (especially the self-important and money-thirsty movie industry) as pure piracy stuff. This is another reason why Intel could have dismissed the whole MPEG4-issue. Still Intel decided to get involved and make 'its hands dirty' with the coding of a possible 'video piracy application'. I very much respect this as well.