I actually like the world you describe. While Flash is admittedly cool, too many animations suck up too much of my CPU, which is esp. bad when its just an advertisement. Fortunately, Java applets are passe because I dislike their constant loading and latent interactivity. Embedded streaming media might be nice if there were some concensus on formats and not crutched up by broken javascript. Seems HTML and CSS are working rather well for 99% of my needs. In addition, I am really becoming disgusted with ATM fees and credit card interest rates. So many businesses wanting me to pay them to use my own hard-earned money!
Kino uses mjpegtools, if installed, for MPEG-2 export. So, quality is judged by mpeg2enc in mjpegtools. I don't know of a comparison, but there are likely some in forums or mailing list posts somewhere. In the Kino forum, we have heard users reporting great satisfaction with mpeg2enc output over many Windows solutions. MainConcept's codecs are used a lot in the Windows world with partnerships with many NLE makers. So, it is safe to make assume it is one of the better ones. It would be nice to do some comparison sometime as I have the tools for both platforms. I would have to do some research to determine a good methodology and measure, but I'd rather spend my time continuing to work on Kino.
XDocs is only competition to the rarely utilized PDF Forms technology, not to PDF entirely. OfficeXML + XDocs does compete somewhat with PDF + PDF Forms.
What is more interesting is that W3C is close to finalizing a candidate recommendation called XForms, and XDocs appears to be very similar in its goals and the requirements it fulfills.
I had been working on a COM server-side XForms processor for my former employer until recently. The goals of a server-side processor are mostly to automate many mundane tasks of web application development: data binding and validation. There are other interesting open source server-side XForms or XForms-inspired processors in Java: chiba.sf.net and Apache Cocoon.
Here is a Mozilla bugzilla feature request. However, I currently do not have the bandwidth to work on a Mozilla version independently due to other Free Software project committments. It would be interesting to combine with some recent achievements in Mozilla embedded WYSIWYG editing like xopus2.
You can purchase a RCA DTC-100 HD ATSC/DirecTV Tuner (~USD$500) and add a 169time.com HDVR and Advantage VX-1 (~USD$2,000). The HDVR adds firewire to the DTC-100 and transmits/receives standard mpeg2-ts as well as DirecTV's proprietary format. The Advantage VX-1 is a little GNU/Linux box that runs a proprietary program on Linux 1394 to convert the DirecTV stream to standard mpeg2-ts on-the-fly. Maybe someone will be able to figure out the DirectTV stream format coming off the HDVR and release a Free version? This combination lets you record to a HD D-VHS machine: ~USD$600 for a Mitsubishi or $1,200 if you want the JVC D-VHS with a MP@HL MPEG-2 decoder (the DTC-100 has a builtin decoder too).
The experimental mpeg1394 driver lets one record mpeg2-ts to and playback from a HDD. It works with D-VHS machines and the 169time.com HDVR.
Hi Dan, this is Dan! What a great Slashdot article, eh?
FYI, to the readers. "captaineo" did nearly all work on our mpeg1394 driver to make linux1394 emulate a D-VHS deck (minus DTheater support). While he wants to output content he generates to his D-VHS deck, I have been working with http://www.169time.com/ to provide interoperability with their HDVR product. This HDVR mod lets one record, completely digitally, HDTV broadcasts off-the-air or from DirecTV to D-VHS. They will soon be releasing the satellite functionality as a device based on GNU/Linux. The mpeg1394 driver could provide them with a PVR solution down the road, but for now it will let you roll your own very basic digital disk recorder.
If you are at all interested in HDTV recording, check it out and support 169time.
Video cards have 2D acceleration, not just 3D acceleration. This means they do the work of drawing lines, boxes, text, pictures, etc. Surprisingly, that mundane work takes a lot of CPU power.
I still don't get it. I understand 2D video overlays and 3D OpenGL/Direct3D. I am not aware of another 2D vector graphics accelleration API. IE does not use Direct3D for rendering. Can someone point me to the relevant DirectX API that IE would use for page rendering?
In OS X, the rendering model is different from previous OSes. OS X makes extensive use of alpha-blending, bezier curves, and other goodies that video cards flat-out don't support. Thus, the work has to be done by the CPU.
This I understand and agree with.
Better video acceleration in OS X won't directly make tables render faster, but they'll offload the work of drawing those tables to the screen, allowing the CPU to spend more time working on the table itself. The end result is.....accelerated page rendering!
My understanding is that in all mainstream browsers tables are rendered into offscreen bitmaps using the CPU.
So, the PDF engine of OS/X and the gluttony of Aqua surely are culprits along with code maturity.
Jimmy Grewal, Microsoft's program manager for the Mac version of Internet Explorer, agreed that the problem lies with OS X, not the browser. In particular, he said hardware graphics acceleration was largely missing from OS X at this stage in its development. "The effort of drawing something to the screen (on Windows) can be offloaded to a graphics card, but in OS X the CPU is heavily involved," he said.
Exactly how does a video card or DirectX accellerate page rendering--minus video and 3D plugins, of course? I've heard of accelleration in the form of OpenGL/Direct3D, DirectDraw/XVideo, and Motion Compensation. This sounds like bs to me.
I suspect maturity of the code is the big culprit as well as the trend of inefficient UI skins ala WinXP and Aqua. I noticed a considerable performance penalty upgrading to WinXP on even a dual Athlon XP 1600.
Ah yes, you seek an HDTV PVR. Well, if you buy a Windows over-the-air (OTA) HDTV receiver card like the Telemann HiPix, Access DTV, or Hauppage WinTV-HD, they provide HDTV capture and have onboard MPEG-2 decoders to output true ATSC signals to a digital monitor. The software is not robust though so it's rarely worth even trying. HiPix and WinTV-HD store vanilla MPEG-2 transport streams; Access format is proprietary.
On Linux, it is possible to capture OTA DTV/HDTV using just a WinTV-D. Heroine's libmpeg3 can parse and decode MPEG-2 transport streams, but good luck getting ATSC signals out of that arrangement. However, Teralogic is the company behind the MPEG-2 coder chip used in the above 3 products--their Janus platform. They have a different, but similar chipset called Cougar designed for set-tops that they have ported to Linux and call the Cougar-L platform. Perhaps someday we will see support for Janus on Linux.
Finally, the non-PC way to do it is to use a standard settop receiver like the RCA DTC-100, a modification from http://www.169time.com/ that adds firewire ports, and a D-VHS deck. Now, for Linux, I am aware of some Linu1394 developers that are exploring the creation of a D-VHS driver. The concern here is that JVC appears to hold a patent on this format.
To me, the compelling feature of iPod is the IEEE 1394 (Firewire) interface. Unfortunately, the Linux HFS+ filesystem is immature. Besides, the iPod hard drive size is quite limited.
Perhaps there will be a more rosy future with the next generation Creative Labs Nomad. Why do you think the new Audigy sports a 1394 port? Just a bonus feature for users with 1394 hard drives and miniDV cams? I don't think so; Creative Labs would not include it unless they had a real use for it:
As for Firewire, if it's a standard OHCI chip, then you'll be able to use the Linux1394 drivers and edit all the video you can eat. If it's a proprietary Sony interface, then we're stuck with whatever access they decide to release (if anything).
As a Linux 1394/DV developer, I am very interested in this exact application. Currently, our video editor Kino typically consumes less than 20MB RAM, so without a WM or GNOME, it is feasible. Unfortunately, from information by a Japanese poster to the linux1394-devel mailing list, the IEEE1394 hardware is proprietary and not OHCI. I wish Sony would contribute drivers because they could attach all sorts of storage devices to the PS2 as well this way.
I have a WinTV-HD. Yes, it outputs full ATSC through component output. The big difference between WintTV-HD and WinTV-D is that the -HD has a hardware MPEG-2 decoder so it is not dependent upon the CPU for decoding and so it is not dependent upon the video card for the proper video out signal.
The PVR function of the WinTV-HD software is quite weak, but I can record MPEG-2 transport streams to the hard drive as long as I do not use the component output mode. Instead, I must use the RGB output mode. I can not hear sound while capturing unless I use the direct AC-3 SPDIF output to my amp, but my amp only has one connector, which I usually leave connected to the digital out connector on the Soundblaster Live for
DVD playback.
IIRC, The Telemann HiPix also records standard MPEG-2 transport streams to the hard drive.
I purchased a 34 inch, 4x3, direct view (tube) HDTV monitor for $1495 from a maker called Sampo. It has VGA input and can display computer RGB output at 1024x768. I run my WinTV-HD at 1440x1080i with the component output.
The biggest problem I have is with reliable reception even with a decent powered antenna in the attic. Some channels never work unless there is a low pressure weather system.
Adam Williams' Linux mpeg library can decode MPEG-2 Transport Streams that he can record using a WinTV-D that does have Linux drivers.
This is not multimedia, it is audio
on
DeMuDi Linux
·
· Score: 1
As I am a Debain user and work mostly with video (1394, DV, Kino, gstreamer), I became interested in this distro. However, after inspecting the packages list it becomes apparant this is an *audio* distro, not a multimedia distro. What about video, drawing, animation, and 3D tools too?
Oh well,
+-DRD-+
I agree, a USB HDD is a joke. Also, Sony should not limit themselves to PCMCIA boxes either. Linux has Firewire(tm) available as an experimental susbsytem in Linux kernel 2.4.3 or at http://linux1394.sourceforge.net/. Recently added is the SBP-2 module for support for all kinds of storage devices including HDD, CD, DVD, DVD-RAM, and flash memory readers. There is an unofficial ip1394 module too, but it is not yet fully standards compliant.
Now, I wonder if their X server supports the XVideo extension?
Slashdot Mirror
I actually like the world you describe. While Flash is admittedly cool, too many animations suck up too much of my CPU, which is esp. bad when its just an advertisement. Fortunately, Java applets are passe because I dislike their constant loading and latent interactivity. Embedded streaming media might be nice if there were some concensus on formats and not crutched up by broken javascript. Seems HTML and CSS are working rather well for 99% of my needs.
In addition, I am really becoming disgusted with ATM fees and credit card interest rates. So many businesses wanting me to pay them to use my own hard-earned money!
Peter,
I just wanted to express my thanks to you for hanging around here and providing information.
This looks like just what I have been waiting for.
Kino uses mjpegtools, if installed, for MPEG-2 export. So, quality is judged by mpeg2enc in mjpegtools. I don't know of a comparison, but there are likely some in forums or mailing list posts somewhere. In the Kino forum, we have heard users reporting great satisfaction with mpeg2enc output over many Windows solutions. MainConcept's codecs are used a lot in the Windows world with partnerships with many NLE makers. So, it is safe to make assume it is one of the better ones. It would be nice to do some comparison sometime as I have the tools for both platforms. I would have to do some research to determine a good methodology and measure, but I'd rather spend my time continuing to work on Kino.
XDocs is only competition to the rarely utilized PDF Forms technology, not to PDF entirely. OfficeXML + XDocs does compete somewhat with PDF + PDF Forms.
What is more interesting is that W3C is close to finalizing a candidate recommendation called XForms, and XDocs appears to be very similar in its goals and the requirements it fulfills.
I had been working on a COM server-side XForms processor for my former employer until recently. The goals of a server-side processor are mostly to automate many mundane tasks of web application development: data binding and validation. There are other interesting open source server-side XForms or XForms-inspired processors in Java: chiba.sf.net and Apache Cocoon.
Here is a Mozilla bugzilla feature request. However, I currently do not have the bandwidth to work on a Mozilla version independently due to other Free Software project committments. It would be interesting to combine with some recent achievements in Mozilla embedded WYSIWYG editing like xopus2.
This IS already possible--at a price!
You can purchase a RCA DTC-100 HD ATSC/DirecTV Tuner (~USD$500) and add a 169time.com HDVR and Advantage VX-1 (~USD$2,000). The HDVR adds firewire to the DTC-100 and transmits/receives standard mpeg2-ts as well as DirecTV's proprietary format. The Advantage VX-1 is a little GNU/Linux box that runs a proprietary program on Linux 1394 to convert the DirecTV stream to standard mpeg2-ts on-the-fly. Maybe someone will be able to figure out the DirectTV stream format coming off the HDVR and release a Free version? This combination lets you record to a HD D-VHS machine: ~USD$600 for a Mitsubishi or $1,200 if you want the JVC D-VHS with a MP@HL MPEG-2 decoder (the DTC-100 has a builtin decoder too).
The experimental mpeg1394 driver lets one record mpeg2-ts to and playback from a HDD. It works with D-VHS machines and the 169time.com HDVR.
Hi Dan, this is Dan! What a great Slashdot article, eh?
FYI, to the readers. "captaineo" did nearly all work on our mpeg1394 driver to make linux1394 emulate a D-VHS deck (minus DTheater support). While he wants to output content he generates to his D-VHS deck, I have been working with http://www.169time.com/ to provide interoperability with their HDVR product. This HDVR mod lets one record, completely digitally, HDTV broadcasts off-the-air or from DirecTV to D-VHS. They will soon be releasing the satellite functionality as a device based on GNU/Linux. The mpeg1394 driver could provide them with a PVR solution down the road, but for now it will let you roll your own very basic digital disk recorder.
If you are at all interested in HDTV recording, check it out and support 169time.
I still don't get it. I understand 2D video overlays and 3D OpenGL/Direct3D. I am not aware of another 2D vector graphics accelleration API. IE does not use Direct3D for rendering. Can someone point me to the relevant DirectX API that IE would use for page rendering?
This I understand and agree with.
My understanding is that in all mainstream browsers tables are rendered into offscreen bitmaps using the CPU.
So, the PDF engine of OS/X and the gluttony of Aqua surely are culprits along with code maturity.
Exactly how does a video card or DirectX accellerate page rendering--minus video and 3D plugins, of course? I've heard of accelleration in the form of OpenGL/Direct3D, DirectDraw/XVideo, and Motion Compensation. This sounds like bs to me.
I suspect maturity of the code is the big culprit as well as the trend of inefficient UI skins ala WinXP and Aqua. I noticed a considerable performance penalty upgrading to WinXP on even a dual Athlon XP 1600.
Ah yes, you seek an HDTV PVR. Well, if you buy a Windows over-the-air (OTA) HDTV receiver card like the Telemann HiPix, Access DTV, or Hauppage WinTV-HD, they provide HDTV capture and have onboard MPEG-2 decoders to output true ATSC signals to a digital monitor. The software is not robust though so it's rarely worth even trying. HiPix and WinTV-HD store vanilla MPEG-2 transport streams; Access format is proprietary.
On Linux, it is possible to capture OTA DTV/HDTV using just a WinTV-D. Heroine's libmpeg3 can parse and decode MPEG-2 transport streams, but good luck getting ATSC signals out of that arrangement. However, Teralogic is the company behind the MPEG-2 coder chip used in the above 3 products--their Janus platform. They have a different, but similar chipset called Cougar designed for set-tops that they have ported to Linux and call the Cougar-L platform. Perhaps someday we will see support for Janus on Linux.
Finally, the non-PC way to do it is to use a standard settop receiver like the RCA DTC-100, a modification from http://www.169time.com/ that adds firewire ports, and a D-VHS deck. Now, for Linux, I am aware of some Linu1394 developers that are exploring the creation of a D-VHS driver. The concern here is that JVC appears to hold a patent on this format.
To me, the compelling feature of iPod is the IEEE 1394 (Firewire) interface. Unfortunately, the Linux HFS+ filesystem is immature. Besides, the iPod hard drive size is quite limited.
Perhaps there will be a more rosy future with the next generation Creative Labs Nomad. Why do you think the new Audigy sports a 1394 port? Just a bonus feature for users with 1394 hard drives and miniDV cams? I don't think so; Creative Labs would not include it unless they had a real use for it:
http://audigy.boom.ru/2.htm
+-DRD-+
As a Linux 1394/DV developer, I am very interested in this exact application. Currently, our video editor Kino typically consumes less than 20MB RAM, so without a WM or GNOME, it is feasible. Unfortunately, from information by a Japanese poster to the linux1394-devel mailing list, the IEEE1394 hardware is proprietary and not OHCI. I wish Sony would contribute drivers because they could attach all sorts of storage devices to the PS2 as well this way.
I have a WinTV-HD. Yes, it outputs full ATSC through component output. The big difference between WintTV-HD and WinTV-D is that the -HD has a hardware MPEG-2 decoder so it is not dependent upon the CPU for decoding and so it is not dependent upon the video card for the proper video out signal.
The PVR function of the WinTV-HD software is quite weak, but I can record MPEG-2 transport streams to the hard drive as long as I do not use the component output mode. Instead, I must use the RGB output mode. I can not hear sound while capturing unless I use the direct AC-3 SPDIF output to my amp, but my amp only has one connector, which I usually leave connected to the digital out connector on the Soundblaster Live for
DVD playback.
IIRC, The Telemann HiPix also records standard MPEG-2 transport streams to the hard drive.
I purchased a 34 inch, 4x3, direct view (tube) HDTV monitor for $1495 from a maker called Sampo. It has VGA input and can display computer RGB output at 1024x768. I run my WinTV-HD at 1440x1080i with the component output.
The biggest problem I have is with reliable reception even with a decent powered antenna in the attic. Some channels never work unless there is a low pressure weather system.
Adam Williams' Linux mpeg library can decode MPEG-2 Transport Streams that he can record using a WinTV-D that does have Linux drivers.
As I am a Debain user and work mostly with video (1394, DV, Kino, gstreamer), I became interested in this distro. However, after inspecting the packages list it becomes apparant this is an *audio* distro, not a multimedia distro. What about video, drawing, animation, and 3D tools too? Oh well, +-DRD-+
Now, I wonder if their X server supports the XVideo extension?
+-DRD-+