GristyMcFisty used our news submit to tell us that the BBC has demoed a very early version of its new open source video codec at the Linuxworld exhibition today. The Dirac video codec which is currently in alpha release can deliver equivalent results to Mpeg 2 video encoded formats using just 50% of the bandwidth needed. The codec is being touted for a wide range of applications from storage of video content to streaming video. The lead developer wants to collaborate with the open source community and various academics to help enhance the development of the technology.
The Dirac video codec is a general purpose video encoding codec which uses, wavlets, motion compensation and arithmetic coding techniques to make it one of the most advanced open source codecs available. The leader on the project said that the codec could be used on devices such as mobile phones to High Definition television. In its current alpha form the Dirac video codec has problems that need to be addressed, currently the codec does not work in real time and compression needs to be optimized.
The BBC is working to integrate the technology into its other systems but would welcome any help on developing the new video codec. The Dirac video technology was conceived three years ago and is now scheduled to go into beta in 12 - 15 months. The BBC hopes that by the time new codec hits beta release it will be integrated into players such as Windows Media Player and Apples QuickTime. Dirac will be released under the Mozilla Public Licence 1.1 when it is finally finished.
| The BBC demoed an early version of an open source codec Dirac is a general purpose video codec which uses wavelets, motion compensation and arithmetic coding techniques to achieve what Davies described as the most advanced open source codec ever developed. Davies said the codec could live on anything from mobile phones to high-definition TVs but not before a lot of further work is completed. For one thing, Dirac doesn"t currently work in real-time. Davies also reckons that the compression offered by the technology could be further optimised. The BBC is working on integrating the technology with its other systems, but the corporation would welcome more help in developing Dirac. The technology - first conceived more than three years ago - is scheduled to go into beta within the next 12 to 15 months. By that point the BBC hopes the technology will be integrated within a number of video players such as windows Media Player and QuickTime. Dirac is being released under the Mozilla Public License 1.1. Davies said the BBC had taken care to make sure the technology could be taken up by the community without entangling developers in patent disputes. |
Looks like a new open source codec will be winging its way onto the internet scene before long.
Source: BBC
