[FFmpeg-soc] AAC Encoding - Where we stand, what's left

[Alex Converse]

On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 3:05 PM, Diego Biurrun<diego at biurrun.de> wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 08, 2009 at 03:02:43PM -0400, Alex Converse wrote:
>> On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 2:36 PM, Diego Biurrun<diego at biurrun.de> wrote:
>> > On Wed, Jul 08, 2009 at 01:49:59PM -0400, Alex Converse wrote:
>> >> On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 6:52 AM, Kostya<kostya.shishkov at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >> > On Wed, Jul 08, 2009 at 12:25:09PM +0200, Diego Biurrun wrote:
>> >> >> On Mon, Jul 06, 2009 at 10:38:55PM -0400, Alex Converse wrote:
>> >> >> > On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 9:28 PM, Diego Biurrun<diego at biurrun.de> wrote:
>> >> >> > > On Mon, Jul 06, 2009 at 09:14:00PM -0400, Alex Converse wrote:
>> >> >> > >>
>> >> >> > >> To be frank, at this point it seems like it might be prudent for me to
>> >> >> > >> stop working on this
>> >> >> > >
>> >> >> > > Uh, why?
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > Getting faac free (by dropping long forgotten profiles and
>> >> >> > reimplementing things from spec), seem like less effort than getting
>> >> >> > FFmpeg to faac quality (running around trying to fix bugs in someone
>> >> >> > else's codebase). Building on 26.410 v8.0.0 is attractive because it
>> >> >> > is already better quality than ffmpeg and faac and includes a working
>> >> >> > SBR implementation which would require tons of work to add to ffmpeg
>> >> >> > or faac.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> What is "26.410 v8.0.0", where can I find it and how is it licensed?
>> >> >
>> >> > 3GPP TS 26.410 aka AAC encoder floating point code. Guess license by
>> >> > yourself ;)
>> >>
>> >> All of the encoder source lacks copyright notices/licensing terms
>> >>
>> >> >From the Documentation:
>> >>
>> >> No part may be reproduced except as authorized by written permission.
>> >> The copyright and the foregoing restriction extend to reproduction in all media.
>> >>
>> >> © 2008, 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TTA, TTC).
>> >> All rights reserved.
>> >>
>> >> >From the build system:
>> >>
>> >> # Copyright (c) Coding Technologies 2003
>> >> # All Rights Reserved
>> >
>> > So this is completely nonfree, you may neither modify nor distribute it.
>> > This is not something you can use as a base for your work unless you
>> > wish to throw your time away...
>>
>> Let's not forget that lame started out as a dist10 patchset.
>
> That was before my time, what is dist10?
>
>> Libfaac has two incompatible licenses.
>
> Yes, that's why it is crap and needs to be replaced.  The 3GPP AAC
> encoder has just one license: prohibitively nonfree.  There is really
> nothing more to say about it...
>
> What is your point exactly?

It's the best AAC encoder with source available. I don't see a path to
merging our AAC encoder anytime in the near future.

I also think we are getting to the point where an encoder without SBR
is a bit of a joke.

--Alex