Codec Idea

[chacham15]

I want to write a codec which abstracts the network away from a video file. I dont want to write my own compressor/decompressor , though, as I dont really like signal processing. Therefore, I want this codec to act on top of another codec like divx. The idea for this came from how I noticed that you can play partial files as long as the header was present. Does something like this already exist? If not, does anyone have any suggestions about how to start?

Thanks!

[check]

You mean you want to stream compressed video from one machine to another, and decode it on the remote machine? That's not a video codec you need, you just need to implement a better file transfer protocol than the one you use.
If you are on Windows you could implement this as a custom file source filter in the Directshow environment.

[surfchen]

Sounds like implementing a container....

[chacham15]

Yea, I want to stream the data accross the machines and decode it on the receiving machine. However, I want it to be a sort of end all to streaming in that it doesnt just stream divx, wmv, or whatever format/codec but can potentially stream all of them. Also, I would like it to be able to play while the file is transferring. So I dont think that this is purely a better file transfer protocol because I have to somehow interface this with a media player. I dont want to write a media player, but rather an interface to allow all media players to take advantage of this protocol (hence my original idea for a codec). I dont see how a container would help with this problem. So, in sum, I guess the real problem is as follows: I want to create a streaming protocol that will allow a generic media player to play streaming files of any format. Again, any help/pointers to where to look for how to do this is greatly appreciated.

[nm]

Although I'm not very familiar with DirectShow, I think this is exactly what "a custom file source filter", that check proposed, would be able to solve when implemented appropriately.

[foxyshadis]

So you want to recreate rtsp? There are plenty of streaming media solutions already, like TVersity, that can stream or convert media as necessary depending on the device.