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[add] Dirac encoder (BBC's open source wavelet video encoder) support
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[add] Dirac encoder DLL

The inclusion of Dirac in MediaCoder is great news. Many thanks .

iPlayer is certainly in favour with the BBC at the moment. But this does NOT mean that Dirac has been dumped in favour of iPlayer plans. In fact it is entirely possible that Dirac will be chosen for a platform agnostic version of the iPlayer.

The BBC Trust, who now ultimately governs the BBC, has given approval to iPlayer, but they have said that a platform agnostic version (not MS Windows only, but including MACs and Linux) must be made available within a reasonable time scale (24 months is stated in one of the BBC trust releases). In order to achieve this they need a platform agnostic video codec and Dirac fits very nicely into this slot.

Overall the project IS proceeding well (even if that is not always apparent from without).

We have been doing a lot of work on something we call Dirac Pro, which is a high quality, high bit rate, version of Dirac aimed at professional video production (makes sense for the BBC, no?). We now have hardware for this, which will be launched (for sale) at NAB (the US broadcasting trade show). We are standardising Dirac Pro, as VC-2, through the SMPTE. Whilst Dirac Pro may not seem directly relevant to Dirac, nevertheless it has proved extremely useful for Dirac’s development. The SMPTE standard will be a subset of Dirac and so will help us provide a final version of the Dirac spec and software.

We have continued to work on the Dirac code, as you will see from checkins to CVS. We are also working with Fluendo on the Schodinger implementation of Dirac. One of our tasks at the moment is to make sure that Dirac, Schrodinger and the specification (version 10.4 on the web site) are in agreement. Cross checking them has turned up quite a few bugs, which we are addressing.

We are also working on real time encoding hardware for Dirac (for HDTV). This work has also been very helpful in refining the Dirac specification.

So, from the outside it may appear that things are going slowly. But inside the project the team is working hard and, I think, making good progress. I’m not going to promise specific dates but we are getting there as fast as we can. And we still DO have the support of the BBC.

Future wise I am hoping that we can make another release of the Dirac software within the next month or two (I know it has been a while since the last one). I’m hoping that Schrodinger will soon be finished. We will be exhibiting both Dirac and Dirac Pro at public shows and exhibitions in the coming year.

Tim