X264 Project Announces Blu-ray Encoding Support

An anonymous reader writes "The x264 project has announced the first free software encoder to be able to generate Blu-ray compliant video. In addition, the announcement comes with a torrent of an x264-encoded Blu-ray disc containing entirely free content, such as the Open Movie Project videos. While there are still no free software Blu-ray authoring tools, hopefully this will change now that video and audio are taken care of so that everyone will be able to make their own Blu-rays without expensive proprietary software. Additionally, it seems the Criterion Collection is a friend of free software, having sponsored the effort to confirm x264's compliance with the Blu-ray spec."

Comments

The first question that popped into my head

[Daimanta]

Isn't x264 (heavily) patent encumbered? And does that mean that the makers(or distributers?) have to pay a licensing fee? I know that it makes me weary to roll this out in a setting other than my home computing enviroment.

Anyone to easy my mind/confirm my suspicions?

Re:The first question that popped into my head

[Anonymous Coward]

The patent licensing fees for H.264 (20 cents per encoder) are the least of your problems if you're commercially publishing a Blu-ray disc. The license fees for *everything else*, up to and including the Blu-ray name itself, are much more onerous. But anyone making Blu-rays for commercial purposes already deals with this.

Re:The first question that popped into my head

[squiggleslash]

Forget about the patents. In order to publish any Blu-ray content, you have to encrypt it, which means buying a key from the AACS. Blu-ray players are not allowed to read unencrypted pressed BD discs (some will play unencrypted BD-Rs with a BD layout, though as I understand it that's increasingly rare.)

This project is about as useful to the free software movement as a "free software" iPhone development kit.

Re:The first question that popped into my head

[beelsebob]

x264 is a video encoder, not a format. You're thinking of h264, which x264 encodes into.

h264 has been used on Blurry disks since day 1.

Re:The first question that popped into my head

[NicknamesAreStupid]

Yes, that is what I read when researching blu-ray verses HD-DVD, and I thought it would be its downfall. Sony has managed to create its own market and tied every loose end to a patent or license agreement. It was an amazing piece of business. I think they get a royalty on every blank disc too. The MPAA and RIAA must love it too, as you can track to the source of every publishing. I bet that even the government of China loves it. Hell, our department of insecurity must love it too. Actually, all those people who have capital equipment invested in DVD manufacturing must love it as well, because smaller publishers are not going to be $tepping up from DVD-R anytime soon. It should also help the streaming media businesses justify a higher cost basis. Talk about win-win, blu-ray has it all.

Re:The first question that popped into my head

[node 3]

You know who else loves it? People who, because of Blu-ray, get to watch high bitrate 1080p movies on their large TVs.

Re:The first question that popped into my head

[PopeRatzo]

But what if I'm an independent filmmaker and want to make my high-def movies available in Blu-ray and let people download them online? I've already done this with standard hi-def, making a DVD image available via bittorrent.

I wonder if I'd need to pay any patent holders the vig? Because if I do, fuck it, I'm OK with my current formats.

Anybody got any idea?

Re:The first question that popped into my head

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you sure about that? Don't the pressed discs have the same file/directory structure as BD-Rs, and so if they can play those files unencrypted on BD-Rs, why couldn't they on pressed discs?

No, as I said BD-Rs don't have the same file/directory structure. And even if they did, and a Blu-ray player actually was one of the early ones that allowed an "unencrypted Blu-ray image" on a BD-R to be playable, it cannot LEGALLY (as in the licensing forbids it) read one from a pressed disc. The BD player has to perform a check, and if it's a pressed disc, it MUST check the disc is encrypted and has a ROM Mark.

Unencrypted Blu-ray material using the BD Video layout is permitted on DVD5/DVD9s, however.

Re:The first question that popped into my head

[Kjella]

h264 has been used on Blurry disks since day 1.

If we're going to be pedantic, it's H.264.

And there's nothing else in the parent's post which suggests he might not bother spelling everything properly?

Re:The first question that popped into my head

[Malc]

You do not need to encrypt content on a BDROM - go and read the AACS spec, which is publicly available on the AACS LA's website. CPS Units on a BD Prercorded can be either encrypted on unencrypted for Basic Titles, per the CCI.

You are correct though that to replicate a BD that you need to pay an AACS fee, but that's now down to $500, IIRC.

I haven't see any issues with players playing back Type A CMF burnt to BDRE (i.e. partial AACS, as sent to replicators before AACS processing). This is how most authoring houses test their content. In fact, I don't even remember having to specify unencrypted + no disable Copy Permission Indicator when testing on the PS3 recently - at one time we had to burn to BD-REv3 format (which is annoying because that format doesn't support everything in BDROM).

BD9

[tepples]

If you burn a Blu-ray Disc file system onto DVD+R DL, it's called BD9.

Free BD Authoring Tool: Multiavchd

[spblat]

There is in fact a free software Blu-ray authoring tool. And it is rather nice.

http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/

Re:Free BD Authoring Tool: Multiavchd

[Anonymous Coward]

You aren't free to use any definition of free you want, you know. Here on Slashdot, free means "free to do as RMS approves."

Re:Free BD Authoring Tool: Multiavchd

[harlows_monkeys]

FTFL: "multiAVCHD is free and no one can charge you, should you decide to obtain/download it."

Hence, spikeb is correct. It is not Free Software. It is software that costs $0.

Re:Free BD Authoring Tool: Multiavchd

[maxume]

If you at least capitalize it (like "Free Software"), you give your readers a hint that you are talking about something specific, rather than 'free' in general.

It is still ambiguous, but it is better.

Re:Free BD Authoring Tool: Multiavchd

[hairyfeet]

I'll probably get hate for this, but I don't care, this drives me fricking nuts! Can we PLEASE STOP with letting RMS try to completelt subvert the meaning of a word simply because we are talking about software? Everything else on the planet if you say free it means it don't cost you money. If I say I'll give you a free stereo, do you ask me for the blueprints? NO! But RMS wants to completely change the meaning of the word when it comes to software.

So from now on I suggest Free= don't cost anything, whereas licensed free, or LF for short= GPL and similar software. That way free still means the same thing it does everywhere else, and LF means you get the source and can do what you want within the license. Maybe I'm off here, but it sounds like a fair and reasonable way to differentiate the two without getting into the "Free VS Gratis" bullshit that comes along anytime someone pasts a link to some freeware.

Re:Free BD Authoring Tool: Multiavchd

[spblat]

You must be new here.

Watch it buddy, I'm in the highly prestigious and arbitrarily exclusive 5 Digit UID Club. I'm 1.57 orders of magnitude less new here than you. ;-)

Re:Free BD Authoring Tool: Multiavchd

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Can we PLEASE STOP with letting RMS try to completelt subvert the meaning of a word simply because we are talking about software? Everything else on the planet if you say free it means it don't cost you money.

You are free to use the word anyway you want.

Re:Free BD Authoring Tool: Multiavchd

[nstlgc]

In his defense, he said it was free software, not Free Software.

Re:Free BD Authoring Tool: Multiavchd

[don.g]

Young whippersnappers these days crowing about their 5 digit UIDs...

Re:Free BD Authoring Tool: Multiavchd

[maelstrom]

Get off my lawn.

Re:Free BD Authoring Tool: Multiavchd

[alexandre]

I hadn't seen a UID war in such a long time that I almost forgot about them...
Those youngsters with their retro trends :P

Re:Free BD Authoring Tool: Multiavchd

[Hal_Porter]

Free Tibet?

Offer only valid when purchasing another Tibet at the normal price.

lame was created and is used

[YesIAmAScript]

Even though mp3 is patent encumbered. This project is along those same lines.

As long as someone's putting in the effect...

[Dialecticus]

Additionally, it seems the Criterion Collection is a friend of free software, having sponsored the effect to confirm x264's compliance with the Blu-ray spec.

Well, then I give them an A for effect. :)

Re:Concentrate on making a better open codec.

[Gordonjcp]

would anything x264 only be considered free software where the shackles of 'patented software' don't apply

You can't patent software. Well, you *can* in the USA, but they seem to be happy to legislate themselves into a technological backwater. I hope the rest of the world hasn't left them too far behind when they finally figure it out.

Well if decryption has been broken ...

[dingram17]

Since it appears that the BD encryption has been hacked, what is to stop people encrypting their discs with the key of a major studio if they want to distribute pressed discs? I can't imagine that a group of naughty people wanting to distribute some propaganda is going to be too concerned about IP violations if the message being promoted was not all that savoury. So basically the BluRay people thought that by banning unencrypted (plain) pressed discs (which was perfectly fine with DVD) then someone BD rips would be stopped. Instead all that they've achieved is to make it hard for legit users of the format to do what they should be able to, and the unauthorised duplicators are ripping the discs to alternate formats anyway.

Re:LOL open source

[oakgrove]

Why don't you freetards just buy a mac and use real world professional software to do your work?...

You are like the Amish of the computer industry.

So, I should stop using free software and go to a system that is based on, you guessed it, free software. You do realize that OSX would be nothing like its current form without the completely free and open source software that it is layered on top of, right? For most intents and purposes, the OSX that you seem so fond of is little more than a set of libraries and a pretty face plastered on top of mountains of open source software. Now who's the freetard?