Dirac 1.0.0 released.
| From: | Dirac <diracinfo-AT-rd.bbc.co.uk> | |
| To: | dirac-announce-AT-lists.sourceforge.net | |
| Subject: | Dirac 1.0.0 released. | |
| Date: | Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:54:22 +1000 | |
| Message-ID: | <1221616462.6098.5.camel@hobbes.rd.bbc.co.uk> | |
| Cc: | lwn-AT-lwn.net, zooko-AT-zooko.com |
Dirac 1.0.0 has been released. The release tarball can be downloaded from http://diracvideo.org/download/dirac-research or http://sourceforge.net/projects/dirac Dirac Compression System ------------------------- Dirac is a video compression system that provides general-purpose video compression and decompression tools comparable with state-of-the-art systems. Dirac is a format and compression technology, not a specific codec. The most important part of the Dirac project is the specification which can be found at http://diracvideo.org/specifications Dirac Project ------------- The initial implementation of Dirac at resulted in a research implementation which is referred to as the Dirac codebase. It is now called dirac-research. It is a reference implementation and also a codebase for future algorithmic developments. Dirac 1.0.0 is the release of this codebase. Dirac website ------------- Information about Dirac and the associated projects can be found at http://diracvideo.org What's new in this release -------------------------- Several alpha and beta releases have preceded this release. The changes in 1.0.0 release are: - Compliance with Dirac Bytestream specification 2.2.2 - Adaptive GOP structure - Improved motion estimation. - Improved pre-filtering. - Major code refactor of encoder classes. - Added conversion utility for horizontal 3/4 filtering. - DirectShow Filter released to be able to play back Dirac v2.2.2 files raw bytestreams and Dirac wrapped in AVI in Windows Media Player and MPlayer Classic. Dirac website ------------- Information about Dirac and the associated projects can be found at http://diracvideo.org Dirac content creation and playback ----------------------------------- Information on the end-user applications that support Dirac can be found at http://diracvideo.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page#End_user_a...
Posted Sep 17, 2008 12:34 UTC (Wed)
by coriordan (guest, #7544)
[Link] (6 responses)
The licences used are GPL, LGPL, MIT, and MPL, and it seems all parts can be relicensed under GPL/LGPL. Here's the explanation from their FAQ:
What are the license conditions?
Posted Sep 17, 2008 15:05 UTC (Wed)
by stevenj (guest, #421)
[Link] (5 responses)
Posted Sep 17, 2008 15:42 UTC (Wed)
by zooko (guest, #2589)
[Link] (4 responses)
This would be different if the dirac-research implementation were also available under MIT, as the schroedinger implementation is. In that case, people would be able to extend the dirac-research implementation with proprietary changes and redistribute the result.
Posted Sep 17, 2008 16:11 UTC (Wed)
by drag (guest, #31333)
[Link]
The MIT license doesn't address the patent issue in any manner. Which is possibly one of the reasons why it's chosen. (they want Dirac to be accepted by everybody and not just the open source crowd. That means working with proprietary software and that means patent issues)
If I remember correctly the mp3 codecs from Fluendo are under the MIT license, but the patent licensing that goes along with the binaries and source code effectively make them 'proprietary' codecs.
So by releasing the codec under MIT and GPL-related licenses (which loosely covers patent-related issues in a non-bulletproof manner) Dirac is effectively assuring us that they have a commitment towards Free media codecs and keeping Dirac open that you won't get if you do pure-bsd or pure-mit license then have end users convert it over GPL.
In other words, by releasing under the GPL they are making a commitment towards covering end users from related patents they own. This commitment is not expressed if they release it under a pure-MIT license.
Posted Sep 18, 2008 7:57 UTC (Thu)
by job (guest, #670)
[Link] (2 responses)
Posted Sep 18, 2008 9:05 UTC (Thu)
by coriordan (guest, #7544)
[Link] (1 responses)
Yup. Here's Stallman's quote:
I agree. It is wise to make some of the Ogg Vorbis code
available for use in proprietary software, so that commercial companies doing
proprietary software will use it, and help Vorbis succeed in competition with
other formats that would be restricted against our use.
That quote is from 2001. I wonder would it actually be better, in these rare cases when a permissive licence is best, for the developers to *also* release under the GNU GPL so that the patent and DRM non-restriction promises are clear. Hmm.
Posted Sep 18, 2008 13:24 UTC (Thu)
by zooko (guest, #2589)
[Link]
Now that job and coriordan have pointed out these strategic considerations, it seems like they probably chose to do it this way because of these strategic considerations: they want the schroedinger implementation to be re-used in proprietary products for better market penetration of the codec itself, while they want the dirac-research implementation to have enforced reciprocality so that new innovations have to be open.
Just a guess.
Posted Sep 17, 2008 12:36 UTC (Wed)
by Tuxie (guest, #47191)
[Link] (2 responses)
Posted Sep 17, 2008 16:14 UTC (Wed)
by drag (guest, #31333)
[Link]
It's designed specifically for running HD content over the Internet...
Posted Sep 17, 2008 16:25 UTC (Wed)
by zooko (guest, #2589)
[Link]
E-mail zooko@zooko.com, or upload it to the tahoe test grid:
Posted Sep 17, 2008 19:11 UTC (Wed)
by ttonino (guest, #4073)
[Link]
Posted Sep 18, 2008 5:15 UTC (Thu)
by jd (guest, #26381)
[Link]
Second, I have to wonder if this is being considered for the new Japanese ultra-high definition television. When you're talking about resolutions 24 or more times as great as high definition TV, you're obviously not going to be using MPEG II. At least, not if you still intend on supporting a thousand or so channels on the same fiber. Dirac might not get you all the gain you need, but any gain is good gain.
Last, it's nice that people are hosting some Dirac footage, but to get it "well-known", you really need a Youtube-like site that hosts it and (as far as necessary) plugins for browser/OS combos that don't support it. Any idea if anyone's doing anything like that?
the licence is GPL, LGPL, MIT, and MPL
The Schrodinger software is available under any of the GPLv2, MIT or MPL licences. Libraries may also be used under LGPL.
The Dirac research software source code is licenced under the Mozilla Public License Version 1.1, and allows relicensing under the GPL and LGPL.
Our intention is that code be used as widely and as freely as possible. This is why we have allowed (re-)licensing under the terms of the GPL and LGPL licences. Both the research and Schrodinger codebases can be used in free and commercial projects.
This seems a bit silly, although harmless. The MIT/X11 license is sufficient to be compatible with essentially all other free-software/open-source licenses, and is strictly more permissive than the GPL, LGPL, or MPL.
the licence is GPL, LGPL, MIT, and MPL
the licence is GPL, LGPL, MIT, and MPL
the licence is GPL, LGPL, MIT, and MPL
the licence is GPL, LGPL, MIT, and MPL
Stallman on Ogg Vorbis using permissive licence
Stallman on Ogg Vorbis using permissive licence
Awesome!
Awesome!
what does it *look* like?
Dirac 1.0.0 released.
Three questions