Dirac - BBC will rule future codecs

lexor · 1st May 2004, 01:23

BBC's R&D is hard at work developing The Dirac Project

taken from their site:

Quote:

Dirac is a general-purpose video codec aimed at resolutions from QCIF (180x144) to HDTV (1920x1080) progressive or interlaced. It uses wavelets, motion compensation and arithmetic coding and aims to be competitive with other state of the art codecs.

Sirber · 1st May 2004, 03:18

Hi

Many project say that they will be the best. None so far. Stop dreaming and use xvid or realvideo

P0l1m0rph1c · 1st May 2004, 04:46

It's amazing what slashdot can do to an unknown video codec....[/useless_post]

stephanV · 1st May 2004, 10:26

Quote:

Originally posted by Sirber
Hi

Many project say that they will be the best. None so far. Stop dreaming and use xvid or realvideo

They are saying they're competative, not the best. Anyway, there's no point in wrting off a codec before you've seen what it can do. Or do you believe XviD and RealVideo are the best we'll ever get? (if they are the best anyway)

kilg0r3 · 1st May 2004, 11:16

Hey, come on. A company like the BBC has done preliminary resaerch and now offers it to the opensource community. I think this is great, eventhough they might be a bit late, taking into account the number of existing codecs.

jimmy basushi · 1st May 2004, 11:22

stephenv i believe sirber is replying to the topic.

i also would love to see this compared to our current greats rv10 and xvid (check codec test) when the devels believe it can compete.

dragongodz · 2nd May 2004, 03:44

also they say

Quote:

It has been developed as a research tool, not a product, as a basis for further developments.

and

Quote:

An experimental version of the code, written in C++, was released under an Open Source licence agreement on 11th March at http://sourceforge.net/projects/dirac.

so no it wasnt developed to strictly try and take on other codecs or be a product. simply dismissing it is not right either as it may be of interest to other codec developers in some way(or not as they choose).

SeeMoreDigital · 2nd May 2004, 11:44

A friend of mine, from time to time, does some sub-contract work for the BBC and has spoken to a few people in their R&D department about this!

It all started when he asked one of these R&D guys what digital format the BBC was intending to use to store their massive library of 'live' broadcast material.

Back in 2002 (when DVD and Mpeg2 was still taking off) he was told that the R&D department was working on something 'way better' than Mpeg2. "Was it Mpeg4"? my friend asked. "Absolutely not"! came back the reply. "What is it then"? It's a secret at the moment... but follow me and I'll show you some examples.

Out came a shiny CD-R with approx 60 mins of broadcast quality audio and video on it... some soccer match I think it was...

Anyway, apparently it was "the dogs bollocks"!

Cheers

chilledoutuk · 2nd May 2004, 14:29

any chance of anyone compiling this and posting it on here?
would be much apeciated

Latexxx · 2nd May 2004, 14:50

It doesn't have an encoding app. Somebody needs to do program which utilises the encoding system provided by the BBC's library.

Nic · 3rd May 2004, 13:53

Woah...this makes h264 seem fast.

I've thrown a bit of code together to go from AVS File to Dirac, and doing my first 50 frame encode as I type this. It's gonna take some time. I'll report back on quality and maybe screen shots if it encodes ok.

Cheers,
-Nic

kilg0r3 · 3rd May 2004, 14:02

Quote:

Originally posted by Nic
[B]doing my first 50 frame encode as I type this. It's gonna take some time.

Ah, now come on Nic, you're not using your pocket calc again, are you?

Nic · 3rd May 2004, 14:15

@kilg0r3: I could have drawn the pictures quicker

Now im writing app to view the YUV files it decodes to. I think I did it at too higher a bitrate, 50 frames at 352x288 came out at 845,671 bytes. I'll let you know what it looks like soon

-Nic

ac-chan123 · 3rd May 2004, 15:06

For .yuv(single file with muliple Frames) you can use Avisynth with rawsource filter/plugin(http://www.avisynth.org/warpenterprises/).

AC-Chan(Robert Vincenz)

Nic · 3rd May 2004, 15:12

It uses a .hdr and .yuv file for the yuv format. I've just written a little mfc app for viewing, which will suffice for now. But thanks for the tip.

Dirac definitely encodes ok. Slow but everythings working. Doing more tests at FD1 res. ill post pics

Cheers
-Nic

ps
Ok FD1 is too slow to even try. I had a shower and lunch and came back it had only done 2 frames. When I tried 352x288, the I Frames are fine but intermediate ones have weird artefacts on them. Also seeing I set the streaming preset the bitrate was extremely high. This codec needs a lot of work, but nice to see a opensource wavelet codec being developed...

slavickas · 5th May 2004, 19:13

Quote:

Originally posted by Nic
It uses a .hdr and .yuv file for the yuv format. I've just written a little mfc app for viewing, which will suffice for now. But thanks for the tip.

http://www.ee.columbia.edu/~ywang/Re...YUVGenius.html
maybe suits your needs?

LigH · 23rd October 2004, 00:35

Now that guliverkli made a DS splitter filter, and the source is at version 0.4.3, IMHO it's about time to have a Win32 binaries distributor with regular builds; anyone volunteering?!...

SeeMoreDigital · 23rd October 2004, 00:42

Agreed... a compile would be nice.

Cheers

Sharktooth · 23rd October 2004, 16:02

Here's my build (0.4.3 sources): http://ebola.gamersrevolt.it/dirac/dirac-0.4.3.rar
I did not check it coz i'm a bit busy but it should work.

Sharktooth · 23rd October 2004, 17:32

Sorry i couldnt edit the prev. message however i tested the build and it works.

1st May 2004, 03:18	#2 \| Link
Sirber Registered User Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Canada Posts: 8,776	Hi Many project say that they will be the best. None so far. Stop dreaming and use xvid or realvideo __________________ Detritus Software

1st May 2004, 11:16	#5 \| Link
kilg0r3 ! - User - ! Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 1,081	Hey, come on. A company like the BBC has done preliminary resaerch and now offers it to the opensource community. I think this is great, eventhough they might be a bit late, taking into account the number of existing codecs. __________________ Keep your tone warm and your sigs decent!

2nd May 2004, 11:44	#8 \| Link
SeeMoreDigital Life looks better in HDTV Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: UK Posts: 10,026	A friend of mine, from time to time, does some sub-contract work for the BBC and has spoken to a few people in their R&D department about this! It all started when he asked one of these R&D guys what digital format the BBC was intending to use to store their massive library of 'live' broadcast material. Back in 2002 (when DVD and Mpeg2 was still taking off) he was told that the R&D department was working on something 'way better' than Mpeg2. "Was it Mpeg4"? my friend asked. "Absolutely not"! came back the reply. "What is it then"? It's a secret at the moment... but follow me and I'll show you some examples. Out came a shiny CD-R with approx 60 mins of broadcast quality audio and video on it... some soccer match I think it was... Anyway, apparently it was "the dogs bollocks"! Cheers __________________ Still confused about anamorphic images? Then look here! \| Main Encoding Interests: Hardware device playback \| My Gear \|

2nd May 2004, 14:50	#10 \| Link
Latexxx Registered User Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Tampere, Finland Posts: 618	It doesn't have an encoding app. Somebody needs to do program which utilises the encoding system provided by the BBC's library. __________________ A/V moderator @ hydrogenaudio.org My weird old sh*t: http://www.nic.fi/~lhahne/ http://last.fm/user/Latexxx/

3rd May 2004, 15:12	#15 \| Link
Nic Moderator Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: England Posts: 3,260	It uses a .hdr and .yuv file for the yuv format. I've just written a little mfc app for viewing, which will suffice for now. But thanks for the tip. Dirac definitely encodes ok. Slow but everythings working. Doing more tests at FD1 res. ill post pics Cheers -Nic ps Ok FD1 is too slow to even try. I had a shower and lunch and came back it had only done 2 frames. When I tried 352x288, the I Frames are fine but intermediate ones have weird artefacts on them. Also seeing I set the streaming preset the bitrate was extremely high. This codec needs a lot of work, but nice to see a opensource wavelet codec being developed... Last edited by Nic; 3rd May 2004 at 17:12.

1st May 2004, 04:46	#3 \| Link
P0l1m0rph1c h4x0r5 0n teh yu0r pC? Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 156	It's amazing what slashdot can do to an unknown video codec....[/useless_post]

1st May 2004, 11:22	#6 \| Link
jimmy basushi Registered User Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: russia -> australia Posts: 143	stephenv i believe sirber is replying to the topic. i also would love to see this compared to our current greats rv10 and xvid (check codec test) when the devels believe it can compete.

2nd May 2004, 14:29	#9 \| Link
chilledoutuk Registered User Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 334	any chance of anyone compiling this and posting it on here? would be much apeciated

3rd May 2004, 13:53	#11 \| Link
Nic Moderator Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: England Posts: 3,260	Woah...this makes h264 seem fast. I've thrown a bit of code together to go from AVS File to Dirac, and doing my first 50 frame encode as I type this. It's gonna take some time. I'll report back on quality and maybe screen shots if it encodes ok. Cheers, -Nic

3rd May 2004, 14:15	#13 \| Link
Nic Moderator Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: England Posts: 3,260	@kilg0r3: I could have drawn the pictures quicker Now im writing app to view the YUV files it decodes to. I think I did it at too higher a bitrate, 50 frames at 352x288 came out at 845,671 bytes. I'll let you know what it looks like soon -Nic

3rd May 2004, 15:06	#14 \| Link
ac-chan123 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 219	For .yuv(single file with muliple Frames) you can use Avisynth with rawsource filter/plugin(http://www.avisynth.org/warpenterprises/). AC-Chan(Robert Vincenz)

23rd October 2004, 00:35	#17 \| Link
LigH German doom9/Gleitz SuMo Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Germany, Gardelegen Posts: 1,476	Now that guliverkli made a DS splitter filter, and the source is at version 0.4.3, IMHO it's about time to have a Win32 binaries distributor with regular builds; anyone volunteering?!...

23rd October 2004, 00:42	#18 \| Link
SeeMoreDigital Life looks better in HDTV Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: UK Posts: 10,026	Agreed... a compile would be nice. Cheers __________________ Still confused about anamorphic images? Then look here! \| Main Encoding Interests: Hardware device playback \| My Gear \|

23rd October 2004, 16:02	#19 \| Link
Sharktooth Mr. Sandman Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Haddonfield, IL Posts: 10,818	Here's my build (0.4.3 sources): http://ebola.gamersrevolt.it/dirac/dirac-0.4.3.rar I did not check it coz i'm a bit busy but it should work. __________________ MPEG-4 ASP Custom Matrices: EQM V1(old), EQM AutoGK Sharpmatrix (aka EQM V2), EQM V3HR (updated 01/10/2004), EQM V3LR, EQM V3ULR (updated 04/02/2005), EQM V3UHR (updated 17/12/2004) and EQM V3EHR (updated 05/10/2004) Info about my ASP matrices. MPEG-4 AVC Custom Matrices: EQM AVC-HR Info about my AVC matrices My x264 builds. Mooo!!!

23rd October 2004, 17:32	#20 \| Link
Sharktooth Mr. Sandman Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Haddonfield, IL Posts: 10,818	Sorry i couldnt edit the prev. message however i tested the build and it works. __________________ MPEG-4 ASP Custom Matrices: EQM V1(old), EQM AutoGK Sharpmatrix (aka EQM V2), EQM V3HR (updated 01/10/2004), EQM V3LR, EQM V3ULR (updated 04/02/2005), EQM V3UHR (updated 17/12/2004) and EQM V3EHR (updated 05/10/2004) Info about my ASP matrices. MPEG-4 AVC Custom Matrices: EQM AVC-HR Info about my AVC matrices My x264 builds. Mooo!!!

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