this here is a small overline of what x264 has gone through.
pointing out some of the 'more abused' options and features that are utilized today.
for using old builds without avs support, get avs2yuv to convert .avs scripts to YUV format for experimentation.
timestamprev#revision comments
year 2003
somewhere in timeprex264 is born
year 2004
2004-06-03 15:29:331x264 repository created (at core version 8)
2004-07-16 14:26:1911SSE2
2004-08-28 18:19:4743r40 - 2pass support
r43 - eval.c for compilation
2004-09-22 03:07:4848--subme 1->5
2004-09-29 12:02:1849--scenecut
2004-12-22 15:52:1370--frames
2004-12-30 18:58:0678--direct and --help listing default values
year 2005
2005-01-05 01:59:2983reorganize/fix frame type selection
2005-01-18 16:32:20101finish subpel for b-frames
2005-02-19 20:26:03132--level (no restrictions applied by level though - up to user to be compatible)
2005-03-04 07:52:35150--b-pyramid
2005-03-10 16:42:24160--chroma-qp-offset
2005-03-10 18:03:55161Add AVS support
2005-04-11 23:24:25196Add MP4 CLI support and officially support mingw32
(not built with mp4 support due to using old API though)
2005-04-17 14:43:17208--progress
2005-05-11 11:57:43223VBV init/max/buffer options
2005-05-23 21:34:57237--zones (initial)
2005-05-29 14:28:49240--threads (thread support via slicing)
2005-06-17 04:21:48264--qp 0 (lossless support)
2005-07-22 11:51:10280CLI - mkv output support
2005-09-24 14:54:49299update to GPAC 0.4 API - mp4 support with modern gpac available
2005-10-10 18:51:26327allow non mod16 resolutions
2005-11-03 18:20:47360--trellis
2005-11-18 06:20:07368--b-rdo
2005-12-29 23:56:49390--bime (btw, make fprofiled w/ r378)
year 2006
2006-01-13 01:54:10399CLI - large file support
2006-03-05 02:01:58457--direct auto
2006-03-20 19:00:52476--subme 7
2006-03-26 16:40:20484CLI - y4m input support
2006-07-31 20:17:18543--threads auto
2006-09-30 23:05:15572custom deadzones
2006-10-28 21:17:33595rd refinement in subme 7 (btw, vfw support dropped w/ r581)
year 2007
2007-03-14 17:11:11631x86_64 SSSE3 satd + quant
2007-04-05 12:11:03645x86 SSSE3 satd; nasm->yasm
2007-07-17 07:24:26667r665: extend zones to take more ratecontrol params
r667: define strtok_r in mingw
2007-09-15 02:34:05676threaded ESA
2007-11-20 01:07:17696avoid memory loads that span cache borders
year 2008
2008-01-27 06:36:11728--me tesa
2008-03-19 16:00:34765r764: get_ref_sse2
r765: satd_4x4_ssse3
2008-03-24 00:18:07789CABAC ASM
2008-04-20 20:25:53823--asm fully controls assembly used
2008-06-02 14:53:018612pass VBV + improved VBV handling
2008-06-08 01:02:04874r873: SSE 4.1 + enable phadd on penryn
r874: rework which ASM to use on which CPU
2008-06-15 13:59:25886more inline ASM and runtime ASM check
2008-07-10 11:25:43906fix and enable I_PCM macroblocks
2008-07-17 22:26:29915set stream level according to settings rather than defaulting to 5.1
2008-08-29 21:02:30952remove rate control equation (--rceq)
2008-09-15 06:26:13971r969: --b-adapt 2
r970: --psy-rd
r971: psy-rd ASM
2008-09-20 22:38:06984GSOC branch part1: hpel speedups
2008-09-28 06:34:44994High 4:4:4 profile lossless -> High 4:4:4 Predictive
2008-10-01 22:42:53996remove --bime --brdo; rework --subme: adding in submes 8+9
2008-11-05 06:37:451019Initial SSE 4.2 for Nehalem chips
2008-11-12 19:50:311028Nehalem optimization part 2