[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH] Make decoding alpha optional for some codecs.

[Michael Niedermayer]

On Wed, Sep 18, 2013 at 12:58:04PM +0200, Reimar Döffinger wrote:
> Michael Niedermayer <michaelni at gmx.at> wrote:
> >On Wed, Sep 18, 2013 at 06:04:59AM -0400, compn wrote:
> >> On Wed, 18 Sep 2013 08:37:51 +0000, Paul B Mahol wrote:
> >> >On 9/17/13, Reimar Doeffinger <Reimar.Doeffinger at gmx.de> wrote:
> >> >> For codecs where decoding of a whole plane can simply
> >> >> be skipped, we should offer applications to not decode
> >> >> alpha for better performance (ca. 30% less CPU usage
> >> >> and 40% reduced memory bandwidth).
> >> >> It also means applications do not need to implement support
> >> >> (even if it is rather simple) for YUVA formats in order to be
> >> >> able to play these files.
> >> >> Tested by manually hacking avcodec_default_get_format,
> >> >> suggestions for how to test in FATE welcome.
> >> >>
> >> >
> >> >Why you think this change is so important that should be
> >> >commited?
> >> 
> >> it sounds similar to other cpu saving decoder features that ffmpeg
> >has.
> >> like 'skiploopfilter' or 'skipnonref' or 'fast'.
> >> 
> >> do those features take similar amounts of code?
> >> 
> >> do you think skipping alpha could be done in a simpler way?
> >
> >what about if this alpha skip is done similarly to gray only decoding?
> >that is a AVOption setable skip_alpha instead of get_format()
> >One advantage would be that it would not need any changes on the
> >user application side, the user (or app) could just set skip alpha
> >and the alpha decoding would be skiped
> >to keep the code simple tha format could be left as a YUVA format
> >only skiping the code that fills the alpha plane
> >this should avoid the messy pixfmt setup code
> 
> It raises the question what we have that get_format stuff for if it's no good to be used for anything.
> Also leaving it as yuva would requiring initializing the alpha plane IMO, so it doesn't help for the bandwidth usage.
> But if that is more acceptable I don't mind. I don't think it is good design at all though.

i have no real preferrance between the solutions, it was just a
suggestion that might lead to simpler code.

and a if a callback like get_format() can be made unused all the better
simpler API IMHO ...

[...]

-- 
Michael     GnuPG fingerprint: 9FF2128B147EF6730BADF133611EC787040B0FAB

If a bugfix only changes things apparently unrelated to the bug with no
further explanation, that is a good sign that the bugfix is wrong.
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