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Dirac: BBC Open Source Video Codec

NickFitz writes "Need To Know this week has a piece about Dirac, a BBC R&D project to produce a video codec, which has been released as an Open Source project. From BBCi: 'Dirac is a general-purpose video codec aimed at resolutions from QCIF (180x144) to HDTV (1920x1080) progressive or interlaced... Our algorithm seems to give a two-fold reduction in bit rate over MPEG-2 for high definition video (e.g. 1920x1080 pixels), its original target application. It has been further developed to optimise it for internet streaming resolutions.'"

6 of 523 comments (clear)

  1. outstanding! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    After reading the specs for this codec, let me just say that it blows the competition out of the water.

    I've been trying to encode real-time high quality video and this is the only package that works on my P2-450. Seriously, this is the way to go.

    GO BBC!

  2. Re:Xvid? by Jameth · · Score: 2, Troll

    This is total crap. Xvid can be interleaved with audio just fine and is enormously better than just a series of JPEGs.

    The parent is completely full of crap.

  3. Chauvinistic comments aside... by curious.corn · · Score: 1, Troll

    ... on which I refuse to argue, just mention. This is fantastic news folks! A publicly owned company, devoted to the production of Common Goods contributed to worldwide society an open, free (perhaps even performant) platform for the storage and distribution of the Commons' Intellectual Property. Socialist? Yeah, you betcha! (I'm sorry, I can't resist) Come on, quit whining and splitting hairs; you can't appreciate this stuff because it simply flies in the face of "american individualism":there's no Project Lead success icon to identify with, no blessed marketplace competition for the consumer's best interest, no visionary research successfully spinned off; just a bland, subsidized (sin!) government agency chewing on a political choice and actually delivering something concrete... oh, the horror! I expect to be modded into Flamebait oblivion but heck, aren't we always yapping about choice, information freedom and accessibility? If you don't like all this and rather shill for WMP or QT you only have to swipe your credit card at the cashier... grrr... if you feel for your pet open source codec, don't... this one is another tool in the fight agains the information mongers, how can that bother you is beyond me...

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    Mi domando chi à il mandante di tutte le cazzate che faccio - Altan
  4. Re:Duplicating work? by rduke15 · · Score: 0, Troll

    so making movies in iMovie is difficult.

    But isn't making movies in iMovie supposed to be difficult anyway? Isn't it supposed to just convince you of forking out the money for Final Cut Pro?

  5. Re:shut up COMMUNIST by curious.corn · · Score: 0, Troll

    no my boy... this is Socialism at it's best... Communism is supposed to be a "transitory dictatorship" led and governed by an intellectual aristocracy towards a better future (TM). Think today's China (it's the US's latest "date"). Socialism is more like: listen, we're human beings, no matter how lazy and assholes there's a limit to how much mud we're supposed to swallow. In principle everybody is supposed to receive enough education to disenfranchise from whatever social ghetto and satisfy one's aspiration to the fullest potential (or some kind of blackmail to prevent peasants from raiding your mansion), enough _medical_care_ to live as healthily as possible for as long as possible (or some kind of massively distributed sanitary insurance). In essence it's the evolution of Renaissance's centrality of the human being, redefined by Illuminism's rationality and focus on people's lifespan rather than the soul's salvation. The main concept is to preserve anyone from the brutality of our animal heritage (even murderers aren't killed because that bloodspill would en-savage the whole concept of justice...) It flies in the face of many people, but for me it's the best possible deal: I'm expected to live my little life trying my best to make a buck, but no matter how bad I fail I can always fall on my feet and keep trying. It really helps with angst and paranoia... if only it worked so well in Italy too! What really surprises me is that the US helped us out of the worst war ever fought (while by today's standards EU should cuddle homeless under a cold bridge) and came to be the somewhat savage, torn society it is today (where two family incomes aren't enough to provide for a family and a peaceful future) So my boy, watch less FOX, relax that competition fixation and have a bite at your local library... there's a lot more beyond propaganda :-)

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    Mi domando chi à il mandante di tutte le cazzate che faccio - Altan
  6. Re:Duplicating work? by evilviper · · Score: 0, Troll

    Despite what the Apple marketing machine says... OS X is no more a Unix system than Windows is.

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