[MPlayer-dev-eng] vp3 etc

[Daniel B. Miller]

hi --

In response to some earlier posts about the VP3 source tree --

(arpi): really we want to see native linux version of your codec - instead
of win32
loader hack. do you plan it? i've seen a few linux-related files in the
source, but it looks very unfinished and unmaintained :(

Would love to do it but it's a matter of resources of course.  In the
meantime, since you are shipping the binary as part of your downloads, we
would appreciate if you will update that binary when we provide you with
the fix. The CRO call is not really necessary, especially in this case; it's
only there to check on an obscure early version of Win95 that did not do
context switching correctly with the P4.  The real question we need to
know is if the processor *and* the OS properly support XMM instructions.
For now I have commented out the OS check and depend entirely on the
processor ID.

Mike Melanson:

>	I've invested a little time ferreting through the VP3 source code
as I'm convinced it should be possible to take a few files and adapt them
to the MPlayer source tree. Remember when I said that the VP3 source
couldn't possibly be as much of a mess as MPlayer? Well, I'm beginning to
think that they're on equal footing...:) VP3 source is the type that
uses a lot of its own custom jargon that you have to cut through (just
remember that cx/dx => compress/decompress).

Ok, guilty as charged.  This codebase represents many, many man-years of
development with essentially one team, and we did not have the time &
money to clean it up the way
we would like.  We're planning to get it on Sourceforge so it can be
properly maintained, and of course we encourage other developers to get
involved and help us.  We will also be releasing a new open-source project
called VpVision, which is a PVR (Personal Video Recording) application
using VP3 and Vorbis audio.  Right now it's a Windows app but we would
love to see it on Linux as well.  This will introduce the VP3 file format,
which will be very similar to AVI (but with some important restrictions to
help with synchronization, seeking, and progressive download).

>	That said, I believe there's much to be gleaned from the VP3
source, such as a working reference implementation of a Quicktime plugin.
That may prove to be very educational.

I hope so.  It's also a damned good codec, especially in comparison to
anything else you can get unfettered source for.  We're hoping that the
format will become very popular, as everyone can get the
source code and do whatever they want with it.  As you all know, most of
the codecs, file formats, and streaming protocols out there are heavily
controlled by major corporations with potentially conflicting and
unpleasant agendas.  You guys have done a great job of ferretting through
all that, but wouldn't the world be a better place if a freely available
and fully documented format took the world by storm?  I guess fantasy is
free...

bye for now



 ___  Dan Miller
(++,) Founder, CTO, On2.com