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Jon Bringing WMV9 to Linux
julie-h writes "DVD Jon has done it again. This time it wasn't Apple the target, but Microsoft's WMV9 video format. There is as always a working Proof of Concept program with screenshots."
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When will people learn not to get links to their blogs on the main page of /. ?
Here's the Google Cache link.
- Story
- Screenshot 1
- Screenshot 2
--J.People people.... Jon just has access (legally this time) to the VC1 reference codec and sources. He simply decided to look at how easy it was to use this in VLC. From what i remember (this was more than 6 weeks ago or something) it was half a days work. Mind you that he didn't release anything. He doesn't need to. He said that the VC1 licensing terms are less strict than MPEG4 and Jon can just use the sources after the VC1 codec is 100% final, which isn't too far off. (btw. MPEG group should really get their act together, cause VC1 truly has better licensing atm and people are getting fed up with the MPEG mess).
It does not seem that DVD Jon has completely released his project yet, so if you are want to play WMVs in linux now, try using xine. Quote from the xine site: "...It also decodes multimedia files like AVI, MOV, WMV, and MP3 from local disk drives...". With the small collection of trailers and a few movies from lmule (it's like emule), I have not experienced one problem with xine.
"Windows Media Video 9 DMO" is simply using the windows dll for playback, this on the otherhand is an open-source implementation so it is much faster as it doesn't need any translation of library/system calls. This is probably better for non-x86 based PCs as they cannot use dll's that were built for an x86.
At least not how you are thinking of open source. It's an open standard, controlled by SMPTE, that you can license. Thus it's probabaly illegal to use this without paying the license fee. So it's open in that anyone can get it, it's controlled by a standards body, not MS, but it's not OSS.
Now VC-1 and WM-9 are pretty much the same, and at this point it's not a huge streatch to take the VC-1 code and develop it to a full blown WM-9 player (which he seems to have done). However MS could chanve the WMV format at any time they like, and break compatibility. VC-1 will remain what ti is and they can't change it without SMPTE's approval (which makes the changes available to everyone), however WMV isn't necessiarly going to be the same thing.
WMV9 (a.k.a. VC-1) and H.264 are not yet in the standard for the HD-DVDs. They were sent to SMPTE for approval as standards in the HD-DVD standard. Microsoft apparently did some futzing and might have WMV9 disqualified due to some fibs told to SMPTE.
Currently there is a codec for WMV9, Microsoft owns it. Some other companies have liscensed it. The standard might be available but it takes a long time to work out an efficient codec that gives a good picture. In a few years it may be at a quality where TV stations will use it for interstation to air broadcast. But that is whith proffesional coders working on it.
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
this appears to be using the vlc and vc-1 source code to give vlc wmv support. no dlls needed and it should compile and work just peachy on your platform (might require some #ifdef work to take care of the endian differences, but should be a relatively trivial operation)
Using the DLLs is very slow, which makes a huge difference when you're trying to play 1080 videos on your system. Actually, using the DLLs via mplayer is faster than Media Player on Windows, but with source, it will get MUCH FASTER. A good example is when ffmpeg got native SVQ3 support:
Plus, you will have less problems with bugs, the ablity to playback on non-x86 systems, and the potential for encoding support in the future.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Incase you are wondering, why port WM9 to linux?
Some HDTV quality video is only in WM9, and some HDTV-DVD's also. Also for those pay music services that only use WM9.
http://www.wmvhd.com/
Total rubbish. India was known as India long before. Hindustan was never a word used by the British. Columbus genuinely thought he had found India: that's why the Caribbean islands are known, even today, as the "west Indies". As others have pointed out, your "in dios" explanation is totally bogus, but it's typical of slashdot that you'll get a +5 informative for it.
The Video Codec is WMV3, the whole shebang together with the new audio Codec and lots of DRM is just called Windows Media 9!
;-) I've been waiting for that for a long time, and the WMV3-videos that wouldn't run with Mplayer and VLC REALLY started to piss me off...
Thank you, Jon!
That is correct, however Norway is a member of EØS, think of it as a quasi-EU for those who didn't want to join EU but still wants a part of the fun. Basically most of what applies to EU countries applies to EØS countries as well. But not everything. For the interested norwegian, Odin provides a good read on this.
A little clarification for us non-Norwegians may be useful here: EØS means EEA in English.
“Wait for Hurd if you want something real” –Linus