Linked by Eugenia Loli on Wed 17th Sep 2008 23:09 UTC
Dirac is an advanced royalty-free video compression format designed for a wide range of uses, from delivering low-resolution web content to broadcasting HD and beyond, to near-lossless studio editing. The v1.0.0 version was released yesterday, and the new VLC version supports playback of .ts/.drc Dirac files.
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Member since:2005-06-28
After installing this, command-line encoding/transcoding can be done via GStreamer's gst-launch syntax, though I appreciate that this is only "easy" if you already know how gst-launch works.
GSt's encoding syntax is a nightmare, it almost doesn't make sense. I personally feel more at home with ffmpeg, but mencoder is manageable too if you are willing to spend the time to test stuff.
They do seem to be lacking Windows binaries, which is probably something they should fix. There do seem to be DirectShow filters available though, once you've got it compiled.
I have no compiler on Windows, and I have no compiler on ubuntu either (which is the reason why I moved from Arch and Gentoo to Ubuntu: so I won't have to deal with that anymore.)
What I have, is a perfectly compatible Video for Windows-compliant $500 video editor that I want to use. BBC needs to decide if they want to stay researchers or to offer a production solution. I know that they might be waiting for Adobe or MainConcept or Sony to step up and create these tools, but honestly, with h.264 for delivery and Cineform for intermediate needs this is not realistic. BBC needs to offer the full solution to be relevant in today's video world.
There's also a (somewhat over-complicated IMHO) guide to encoding Big Buck Bunny into Dirac from the source PNGs
I saw that and it's overkill. Plus, I don't remember the last time Steven Spielberg used... PNGs to create a video. Anyways, there should have been a tutorial about how to use it in ffmpeg which is easier. And if possible, to also offer an ffmpeg binary with dirac compiled in.
Member since:2005-06-29
Plus, I don't remember the last time Steven Spielberg used... PNGs to create a video.
He, and other professional cinematographers, probably uses TIFF, Cineon/DPX or OpenEXR sequence files... true standards instead of other formats usually more adopted by the television market... where speed and costs are more important than absolute quality...
Dirac may be useful in the TV market, but hardly on cinema...
But we are some years away from a (real) useful workflow and application compatibility... I hope Dirac will be delivered as a standard codec in desktops by then and maybe a good alternative too the h264 codec in the web.
...but I hope some good, and competitive, performance binaries are available soon... if so and Dirac gets popular soon, maybe hardware acceleration aren't too far away...
Member since:2006-01-16
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2006-02-01
The package is gstreamer0.10-schroedinger, or something very similar to that. It's definitely in Ubuntu Gutsy, though I can't remember what version. Debian, Fedora, Gentoo etc have the latest version as far as I know.
After installing this, command-line encoding/transcoding can be done via GStreamer's gst-launch syntax, though I appreciate that this is only "easy" if you already know how gst-launch works.
They do seem to be lacking Windows binaries, which is probably something they should fix. There do seem to be DirectShow filters available though, once you've got it compiled.
The wiki on diracvideo.org is the main source of info at the moment it seems. For example,
http://diracvideo.org/wiki/index.php/Schroedinger_Encoder_Parameter...
gives a list of all the different settings for the Schroedinger encoder. There's also a (somewhat over-complicated IMHO) guide to encoding Big Buck Bunny into Dirac from the source PNGs, at
http://www.diracvideo.org/wiki/index.php/Encode_Big_Buck_Bunny
You did, and I apologise. I thought I'd changed it back quickly enough when I realised my mistake, but apparently not
EDIT: Ach. I meant Ubuntu Hardy, not Gutsy. Or 8.04, anyway. Stupid code names.
Edited 2008-09-18 00:27 UTC