Google Summer Of Code: FFmpeg need developers

[Cyberace]

If you have C language programming skills and like to contribute to a worthy project then checkout this request from the FFmpeg (http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net/index.php)'s mailing-list:

Hi,
To all of you FFmpeg groupies/lurkers out there on the list who have always wanted to contribute to the project but have never been sure what to do, this might be your chance to jump in. Google is sponsoring their second Summer of Code which rewards students with stipends of up to US$4500 to develop open source software. FFmpeg is one of the qualified projects this year. For ideas about what you could do for FFmpeg in relation to this project, visit:

http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=FFmpeg_Summer_Of_Code

The student application period opens today (Monday, May 1) and closes Monday, May 8.

Good luck!
--
-Mike Melanson
FFmpeg (http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net/index.php) is an audio/video conversion tool. It includes libavcodec (and libavformat), the leading open source codec (and demuxer/muxer) library.

[Cyberace]

Here is a list of just some (open source) projects that heavily rely on the FFmpeg codec library:

ffdshow
MPlayer
XINE
VideoLAN/VLC
XBMC (Xbox Media Center)
Dr. DivX
BeSweet
MythTV

[Kurtnoise]

I'm curious about that :

Vorbis : Implement a Vorbis encoder
MP3 : Implement a simple MP3 encoder

Why reinvent the wheel instead of improve existing tools ?

[Nic]

@Kurtnoise13: I think in MP3 (read: lame)'s case it's licensing issues (GPL rather than LGPL), and in vorbis' case the size of the code. I think they'd much rather have a vorbisenc.c that already uses existing functionality in ffmpeg.
At present they have to rely on external libraries, which they don't like to do.

-Nic

[Kurtnoise]

@Kurtnoise13: I think in MP3 (read: lame)'s case it's licensing issues (GPL rather than LGPL)
LAME and FFmpeg are both LGPL...so.

[Cyberace]

Yes size matters a lot, I understand that they are looking for a smaller (once compiled) MP3 encoder, a small 'footprint' is imortant for embedded devices that rely on FFmpeg, ...small also generally means faster and more optimized (in most cases).

Personally I hope they find developers for VC-1 and AAC/AACplus decoders, would be great if there was LGPL versions of those now that BluRay and HD-DVD will use them.

[Nic]

@Kurtnoise13: You are correct of course, my brain wasn't on yesterday