Slashdot Mirror
Bluecherry Releases GPL'd MPEG-4 Driver
azop writes "Today Bluecherry released a GPL'd driver for its multiple-input MPEG-4 hardware compression cards. The driver supports audio and video capture from 4-, 8-, and 16-channel single-card encoders using the Video4Linux and ALSA APIs. More information about the driver and its features can be found on Bluecherry's development blog and on Ben Collins' personal blog. Bluecherry is the first Linux software company to release a complete driver based on Linux kernel APIs (Video4Linux and ALSA) for multiple-input hardware-compressed MPEG-4 capture cards under the GPL. The cards are designed for security applications (digital video recording), but other applications could potentially make use of the compressed streams and Video4Linux API integration. An H.264 version is 'in the works.'"
The actual decoding is being done on the card, and the company (at least according to their blog posts) licenses the relevant patents for the card. Since all you're doing in software is sending the card encoded data and getting back processed data, you don't have to worry about patent claims. Not that it isn't BS that the manufacturer has to pay royalties to implement an algorithm on their hardware, but at least it isn't an issue for the users.
That's a funny coincidence. Bluecherry is the same people I bought my home surveillance equipment from. They actually have a neat little linux LiveCD that you can get for testing your hardware once you receive it. They also indicate which of their hardware is compatible with ZoneMinder, a open source linux app I use for surveillance. I really was happy with the service. I know this probably sounds like an advert, but if I have good experience I want others to know about it.