Recherche avancée

Sur d’autres sites (4621)

• MediaCodec hardware decoder much slower with different server configuration ?

  19 octobre 2013, par mathieujofis

  I've been using the Android MediaCodec in order to (hardware) decode H.264 frames on my Galaxy S4 coming from a Live 555 RTSP live (real-time) stream. After changing my Live 555 server configuration from using ffmpeg (with x264) to encode frames, to using strictly x264 to encode frames, the time to decode frames with MediaCodec takes much longer. Basically, MediaCodec can't keep up with the stream, and displays the video in slow motion, getting slower and slower as time goes on. Going back to ffmpeg isn't a solution for me, because I need the ability to encode into discrete NAL units, rather than a whole frame like ffmpeg does.

  I was wondering if this was either : A) An issue with the way my server is encoding NAL units, or B) An issue with my Android client, specifically the way it is receiving and decoding NAL units.

  My encoding configuration with x264 is :

  x264_param_default_preset(&param,"ultrafast", "zerolatency:fastdecode");
  
  param.i_threads = 1;
  
  param.i_bframe = 1;
  
  param.i_width = image_width;
  
  param.i_height = image_height;
  
  param.i_fps_num = 60;
  
  param.i_fps_den = 1;
  
  param.i_keyint_max = 10;
  
  
  
  param.rc.i_rc_method = X264_RC_ABR;
  
  param.rc.i.bitrate = 6000;
  
  param.i_sps_id = 7;
  
  param.b_repeat_headers = 1;
  
  param.b_annexb = 0;

  My Android MediaCodec client is set up as follows :

  I receive each individual NAL unit on a separate Live 555 RTSP client thread. Each NAL is put into a queue along with its size and presentation time. A separate decoder thread grabs NALs from this queue, and if there are none available, waits until there are.

  Some notes :

  What I generally see happen is the queue starts filling up with NALs, instead of staying close to empty. So, I know that the decoder thread is not working fast enough. I don't think this is an inherent problem with decoding on an Android phone (for example, processing limitations) because it does the same thing for very low bitrates— also again, it DID work when I was using ffmpeg to encode. If I omit certain NAL units, the decoder can start to keep up. Since I'm using Cyanogenmod 10.1, bumping up the minimum CPU frequency helps, too.

  Edit :

  Here is a log of the Android client, as well as a log highlighting the garbage collector specifically—

  Entire Logcat :

  10-15 16:40:03.955: D/DecodeActivity(18859): INFO_OUTPUT_BUFFERS_CHANGED
  
  10-15 16:40:03.995: E/OMX-VDEC-1080P(288): Sync frame received
  
  10-15 16:40:03.995: E/OMX-VDEC-1080P(288):  No color conversion required
  
  10-15 16:40:03.995: E/OMX-VDEC-1080P(288): Get_parameter: OMX_IndexParamPortDefinition: nPortIndex (1), nFrameWidth (1280), nFrameHeight (720), nStride (1280), nSliceHeight (736), nBitrate (-1073741824), xFramerate (0x1e), nBufferSize (1433600), nBufferCountMin (4), nBufferCountActual (8), bBuffersContiguous (1918394328), nBufferAlignment (1075643347), bEnabled (1), bPopulated (1), eCompressionFormat (0x0), eColorFormat (0x7fa30c03)
  
  10-15 16:40:03.995: D/DecodeActivity(18859): New format {height=720, what=1869968451, color-format=2141391875, slice-height=736, crop-left=0, width=1280, crop-bottom=719, crop-top=0, mime=video/raw, stride=1280, crop-right=1279}
  
  10-15 16:40:04.005: E/OMX-VDEC-1080P(288): set_frame_rate: frm_int(4966) fps(201.369308)
  
  10-15 16:40:04.015: W/IInputConnectionWrapper(1069): showStatusIcon on inactive InputConnection
  
  10-15 16:40:04.025: I/ActivityManager(698): Displayed com.mathieu.alloclient.javadecoder/.MainActivity: +617ms
  
  10-15 16:40:04.025: E/OMX-VDEC-1080P(288): set_frame_rate: frm_int(4766) fps(209.819550)
  
  10-15 16:40:04.125: E/OMX-VDEC-1080P(288): set_frame_rate: frm_int(4733) fps(211.282486)
  
  10-15 16:40:04.445: E/OMX-VDEC-1080P(288): set_frame_rate: frm_int(4711) fps(212.269150)
  
  10-15 16:40:04.495: E/OMX-VDEC-1080P(288): set_frame_rate: frm_int(4700) fps(212.765961)
  
  10-15 16:40:05.676: E/OMX-VDEC-1080P(288): set_frame_rate: frm_int(4688) fps(213.310577)
  
  10-15 16:40:06.087: D/dalvikvm(698): WAIT_FOR_CONCURRENT_GC blocked 1ms
  
  10-15 16:40:06.207: D/dalvikvm(698): GC_EXPLICIT freed 4120K, 39% free 24216K/39664K, paused 7ms+9ms, total 117ms
  
  10-15 16:40:06.537: D/ALSADevice(288): standby: handle 0x40024450 h 0x0
  
  10-15 16:40:06.577: D/alsa_ucm(288): snd_use_case_set(): uc_mgr 0x400fbfb0 identifier _verb value Inactive
  
  10-15 16:40:06.577: D/alsa_ucm(288): Set mixer controls for HiFi Lowlatency enable 0
  
  10-15 16:40:06.577: D/alsa_ucm(288): Setting mixer control: SLIMBUS_0_RX Audio Mixer MultiMedia5, value: 0
  
  10-15 16:40:06.577: D/alsa_ucm(288): snd_use_case_set(): uc_mgr 0x400fbfb0 identifier _disdev value Line
  
  10-15 16:40:06.577: D/alsa_ucm(288): disdev: device Line not enabled, no need to disable
  
  10-15 16:40:06.577: D/alsa_ucm(288): snd_use_case_set(): uc_mgr 0x400fbfb0 identifier _disdev value Speaker
  
  10-15 16:40:06.577: D/alsa_ucm(288): Set mixer controls for Speaker enable 0
  
  10-15 16:40:06.577: D/alsa_ucm(288): Setting mixer control: RX5 MIX1 INP1, value: ZERO
  
  10-15 16:40:06.587: D/alsa_ucm(288): Setting mixer control: RX5 MIX1 INP2, value: ZERO
  
  10-15 16:40:06.587: D/alsa_ucm(288): Setting mixer control: LINEOUT2 Volume, value: 0
  
  10-15 16:40:06.587: D/alsa_ucm(288): Setting mixer control: LINEOUT4 Volume, value: 0
  
  10-15 16:40:06.587: D/alsa_ucm(288): Setting mixer control: RX5 Digital Volume, value: 0
  
  10-15 16:40:06.587: D/AudioUsbALSA(288): exitPlaybackThread, mproxypfdPlayback: -1
  
  10-15 16:40:06.587: D/AudioUsbALSA(288): closeDevice handle 0x0
  
  10-15 16:40:06.587: D/AudioUsbALSA(288): closeDevice handle 0x0
  
  10-15 16:40:17.638: E/OMX-VDEC-1080P(288): set_frame_rate: frm_int(4677) fps(213.812271)
  
  10-15 16:40:17.698: E/OMX-VDEC-1080P(288): set_frame_rate: frm_int(4644) fps(215.331604)
  
  10-15 16:40:20.681: E/OMX-VDEC-1080P(288): set_frame_rate: frm_int(4633) fps(215.842865)
  
  10-15 16:40:21.111: E/OMX-VDEC-1080P(288): set_frame_rate: frm_int(4611) fps(216.872696)
  
  10-15 16:40:25.746: D/dalvikvm(698): GC_CONCURRENT freed 5829K, 41% free 23778K/39664K, paused 10ms+24ms, total 165ms
  
  10-15 16:40:28.448: E/MP-Decision(1385): num online cores: 4 reqd : 3 available : 4 rq_depth:2.800000 hotplug_avg_load_dw: 74
  
  10-15 16:40:28.448: E/MP-Decision(1385): DOWN cpu:3 core_idx:3 Ns:3.100000 Ts:240 total_time_down:243.000000
  
  10-15 16:40:30.841: W/SystemClock(698): time going backwards: prev 16555345563411(ioctl) vs now 16555345441341(ioctl), tid=764
  
  10-15 16:40:44.684: D/dalvikvm(698): GC_CONCURRENT freed 5302K, 41% free 23774K/39664K, paused 6ms+9ms, total 107ms
  
  10-15 16:40:57.467: E/OMX-VDEC-1080P(288): set_frame_rate: frm_int(4577) fps(218.483719)
  
  10-15 16:41:14.383: D/dalvikvm(698): GC_CONCURRENT freed 5371K, 41% free 23768K/39664K, paused 7ms+8ms, total 146ms
  
  10-15 16:41:14.403: E/MP-Decision(1385): num online cores: 3 reqd : 4 available : 4 rq_depth:4.500000 hotplug_avg_load_dw: 89
  
  10-15 16:41:14.403: E/MP-Decision(1385): UP cpu:1 core_idx:1 Nw:1.900000 Tw:140 total_time_up:0.000000
  
  10-15 16:41:14.403: E/MP-Decision(1385): UP cpu:2 core_idx:2 Nw:2.700000 Tw:90 total_time_up:0.000000
  
  10-15 16:41:14.403: E/MP-Decision(1385): UP cpu:3 core_idx:3 Nw:3.500000 Tw:90 total_time_up:922.000000
  
  10-15 16:41:27.466: E/kickstart(862): Total bytes received so far: 48
  
  10-15 16:41:27.466: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: RECEIVED <-- SAHARA_HELLO
  
  10-15 16:41:27.466: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: SENDING --> SAHARA_HELLO_RESPONSE
  
  10-15 16:41:27.466: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: sahara_mode                         = 2
  
  10-15 16:41:27.466: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: m_comm->sahara_hello_packet_rx.mode = 2
  
  10-15 16:41:27.466: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: helloRx.mode                        = 2
  
  10-15 16:41:27.466: E/kickstart(862): Total bytes received so far: 64
  
  10-15 16:41:27.466: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: RECEIVED <-- SAHARA_MEMORY_DEBUG
  
  10-15 16:41:27.466: E/kickstart(862): Total bytes received so far: 116
  
  10-15 16:41:27.466: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: 0x46980000, len=000C0000, "m9kefs1", ""
  
  10-15 16:41:27.466: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: STATE <-- SAHARA_WAIT_MEMORY_REGION
  
  10-15 16:41:27.466: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: Saving "/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/m9kefs1"
  
  10-15 16:41:27.526: E/kickstart(862): Total bytes received so far: 786548
  
  10-15 16:41:27.526: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: Received: 786432 bytes
  
  10-15 16:41:27.526: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: Writing to disk
  
  10-15 16:41:27.526: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: Successfully wrote to disk
  
  10-15 16:41:27.526: E/kickstart(862): Received file "m9kefs1"
  
  10-15 16:41:27.576: E/kickstart(862): Sync finish Received file "m9kefs1"
  
  10-15 16:41:27.576: E/kickstart(862): 786432 bytes transferred in 0.106s (7.10 MBps)
  
  10-15 16:41:27.576: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: num_debug_entries not >=0
  
  10-15 16:41:27.576: E/kickstart(862): Successfully downloaded files from target 
  
  10-15 16:41:27.576: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: SENDING --> SAHARA_RESET
  
  10-15 16:41:27.576: E/kickstart(862): Total bytes received so far: 786556
  
  10-15 16:41:27.576: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: RECEIVED <-- SAHARA_RESET_RESP
  
  10-15 16:41:27.576: E/kickstart(862): Sahara protocol completed
  
  10-15 16:41:27.576: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: STATE <-- SAHARA_WAIT_HELLO
  
  10-15 16:41:27.746: E/MP-Decision(1385): num online cores: 4 reqd : 3 available : 4 rq_depth:2.100000 hotplug_avg_load_dw: 79
  
  10-15 16:41:27.746: E/MP-Decision(1385): DOWN cpu:3 core_idx:3 Ns:3.100000 Ts:240 total_time_down:244.000000
  
  10-15 16:41:49.598: D/dalvikvm(698): GC_CONCURRENT freed 5339K, 41% free 23775K/39664K, paused 10ms+7ms, total 134ms
  
  10-15 16:42:17.225: I/ActivityManager(698): Start proc com.cyanogenmod.lockclock for service com.cyanogenmod.lockclock/.weather.WeatherUpdateService: pid=18954 uid=10028 gids={50028, 3003, 1028}
  
  10-15 16:42:17.865: D/WeatherXmlParser(18954): Weather updated: WeatherInfo for Santa Barbara@ Tue Oct 15 16:42:17 PDT 2013: Fair(34), temperature 29°C, low 11°, high 27°, humidity 14%, wind 11km/h at W
  
  10-15 16:42:17.945: I/ActivityManager(698): No longer want com.google.android.apps.uploader (pid 13565): empty #17
  
  10-15 16:42:24.021: D/dalvikvm(698): GC_CONCURRENT freed 5277K, 41% free 23770K/39664K, paused 8ms+11ms, total 106ms
  
  10-15 16:42:35.983: W/ThrottleService(698): unable to find stats for iface rmnet0
  
  10-15 16:42:59.476: D/dalvikvm(698): GC_CONCURRENT freed 5345K, 41% free 23770K/39664K, paused 6ms+13ms, total 168ms
  
  10-15 16:43:02.098: E/kickstart(862): Total bytes received so far: 48
  
  10-15 16:43:02.098: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: RECEIVED <-- SAHARA_HELLO
  
  10-15 16:43:02.098: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: SENDING --> SAHARA_HELLO_RESPONSE
  
  10-15 16:43:02.098: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: sahara_mode                         = 2
  
  10-15 16:43:02.098: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: m_comm->sahara_hello_packet_rx.mode = 2
  
  10-15 16:43:02.098: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: helloRx.mode                        = 2
  
  10-15 16:43:02.098: E/kickstart(862): Total bytes received so far: 64
  
  10-15 16:43:02.098: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: RECEIVED <-- SAHARA_MEMORY_DEBUG
  
  10-15 16:43:02.108: E/kickstart(862): Total bytes received so far: 116
  
  10-15 16:43:02.108: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: 0x46980000, len=000C0000, "m9kefs2", ""
  
  10-15 16:43:02.108: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: STATE <-- SAHARA_WAIT_MEMORY_REGION
  
  10-15 16:43:02.108: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: Saving "/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/m9kefs2"
  
  10-15 16:43:02.158: E/kickstart(862): Total bytes received so far: 786548
  
  10-15 16:43:02.158: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: Received: 786432 bytes
  
  10-15 16:43:02.158: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: Writing to disk
  
  10-15 16:43:02.168: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: Successfully wrote to disk
  
  10-15 16:43:02.168: E/kickstart(862): Received file "m9kefs2"
  
  10-15 16:43:02.218: E/kickstart(862): Sync finish Received file "m9kefs2"
  
  10-15 16:43:02.218: E/kickstart(862): 786432 bytes transferred in 0.113s (6.65 MBps)
  
  10-15 16:43:02.218: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: num_debug_entries not >=0
  
  10-15 16:43:02.218: E/kickstart(862): Successfully downloaded files from target 
  
  10-15 16:43:02.218: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: SENDING --> SAHARA_RESET
  
  10-15 16:43:02.218: E/kickstart(862): Total bytes received so far: 786556
  
  10-15 16:43:02.218: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: RECEIVED <-- SAHARA_RESET_RESP
  
  10-15 16:43:02.218: E/kickstart(862): Sahara protocol completed
  
  10-15 16:43:02.218: E/kickstart(862): EVENT: STATE <-- SAHARA_WAIT_HELLO
  
  10-15 16:43:17.563: W/SystemClock(698): time going backwards: prev 16722067121029(ioctl) vs now 16722066968441(ioctl), tid=764
  
  10-15 16:43:34.610: D/dalvikvm(698): GC_CONCURRENT freed 5359K, 41% free 23772K/39664K, paused 9ms+9ms, total 113ms
  
  10-15 16:43:36.452: E/MP-Decision(1385): num online cores: 3 reqd : 4 available : 4 rq_depth:3.900000 hotplug_avg_load_dw: 100
  
  10-15 16:43:36.452: E/MP-Decision(1385): UP cpu:1 core_idx:1 Nw:1.900000 Tw:140 total_time_up:0.000000
  
  10-15 16:43:36.452: E/MP-Decision(1385): UP cpu:2 core_idx:2 Nw:2.700000 Tw:90 total_time_up:0.000000
  
  10-15 16:43:36.452: E/MP-Decision(1385): UP cpu:3 core_idx:3 Nw:3.500000 Tw:90 total_time_up:194.000000
  
  10-15 16:44:09.965: D/dalvikvm(698): GC_CONCURRENT freed 5369K, 41% free 23779K/39664K, paused 8ms+8ms, total 103ms
  
  10-15 16:44:09.965: D/dalvikvm(698): WAIT_FOR_CONCURRENT_GC blocked 30ms
  
  10-15 16:44:10.605: E/MP-Decision(1385): num online cores: 4 reqd : 3 available : 4 rq_depth:2.800000 hotplug_avg_load_dw: 133
  
  10-15 16:44:10.605: E/MP-Decision(1385): DOWN cpu:3 core_idx:3 Ns:3.100000 Ts:240 total_time_down:244.000000
  
  10-15 16:44:12.707: E/MP-Decision(1385): num online cores: 3 reqd : 4 available : 4 rq_depth:4.100000 hotplug_avg_load_dw: 116
  
  10-15 16:44:12.707: E/MP-Decision(1385): UP cpu:1 core_idx:1 Nw:1.900000 Tw:140 total_time_up:0.000000
  
  10-15 16:44:12.707: E/MP-Decision(1385): UP cpu:2 core_idx:2 Nw:2.700000 Tw:90 total_time_up:0.000000
  
  10-15 16:44:12.707: E/MP-Decision(1385): UP cpu:3 core_idx:3 Nw:3.500000 Tw:90 total_time_up:97.000000
  
  10-15 16:44:14.008: E/MP-Decision(1385): num online cores: 4 reqd : 3 available : 4 rq_depth:1.700000 hotplug_avg_load_dw: 140
  
  10-15 16:44:14.008: E/MP-Decision(1385): DOWN cpu:3 core_idx:3 Ns:3.100000 Ts:240 total_time_down:240.000000
  
  10-15 16:44:14.759: E/MP-Decision(1385): num online cores: 3 reqd : 4 available : 4 rq_depth:4.900000 hotplug_avg_load_dw: 132
  
  10-15 16:44:14.759: E/MP-Decision(1385): UP cpu:1 core_idx:1 Nw:1.900000 Tw:140 total_time_up:0.000000
  
  10-15 16:44:14.759: E/MP-Decision(1385): UP cpu:2 core_idx:2 Nw:2.700000 Tw:90 total_time_up:0.000000
  
  10-15 16:44:14.759: E/MP-Decision(1385): UP cpu:3 core_idx:3 Nw:3.500000 Tw:90 total_time_up:97.000000
  
  10-15 16:44:15.360: E/MP-Decision(1385): num online cores: 4 reqd : 3 available : 4 rq_depth:2.300000 hotplug_avg_load_dw: 139
  
  10-15 16:44:15.360: E/MP-Decision(1385): DOWN cpu:3 core_idx:3 Ns:3.100000 Ts:240 total_time_down:243.000000
  
  10-15 16:44:15.560: E/MP-Decision(1385): num online cores: 3 reqd : 4 available : 4 rq_depth:3.900000 hotplug_avg_load_dw: 133
  
  10-15 16:44:15.560: E/MP-Decision(1385): UP cpu:1 core_idx:1 Nw:1.900000 Tw:140 total_time_up:0.000000
  
  10-15 16:44:15.560: E/MP-Decision(1385): UP cpu:2 core_idx:2 Nw:2.700000 Tw:90 total_time_up:0.000000
  
  10-15 16:44:15.560: E/MP-Decision(1385): UP cpu:3 core_idx:3 Nw:3.500000 Tw:90 total_time_up:95.000000
  
  10-15 16:44:16.361: E/MP-Decision(1385): num online cores: 4 reqd : 3 available : 4 rq_depth:2.500000 hotplug_avg_load_dw: 132
  
  10-15 16:44:16.361: E/MP-Decision(1385): DOWN cpu:3 core_idx:3 Ns:3.100000 Ts:240 total_time_down:242.000000
  
  10-15 16:44:16.661: E/MP-Decision(1385): num online cores: 3 reqd : 4 available : 4 rq_depth:3.700000 hotplug_avg_load_dw: 127
  
  10-15 16:44:16.661: E/MP-Decision(1385): UP cpu:1 core_idx:1 Nw:1.900000 Tw:140 total_time_up:0.000000
  
  10-15 16:44:16.661: E/MP-Decision(1385): UP cpu:2 core_idx:2 Nw:2.700000 Tw:90 total_time_up:0.000000
  
  10-15 16:44:16.661: E/MP-Decision(1385): UP cpu:3 core_idx:3 Nw:3.500000 Tw:90 total_time_up:97.000000
  
  10-15 16:44:20.605: E/MP-Decision(1385): num online cores: 4 reqd : 3 available : 4 rq_depth:1.700000 hotplug_avg_load_dw: 122
  
  10-15 16:44:20.605: E/MP-Decision(1385): DOWN cpu:3 core_idx:3 Ns:3.100000 Ts:240 total_time_down:244.000000
  
  10-15 16:44:20.615: W/ProcessStats(698): Skipping unknown process pid 19038
  
  10-15 16:44:20.615: W/ProcessStats(698): Skipping unknown process pid 19041

  Garbage collector entries in Logcat :

  10-15 16:40:06.087: D/dalvikvm(698): WAIT_FOR_CONCURRENT_GC blocked 1ms
  
  10-15 16:40:06.207: D/dalvikvm(698): GC_EXPLICIT freed 4120K, 39% free 24216K/39664K,   paused 7ms+9ms, total 117ms
  
  10-15 16:40:25.746: D/dalvikvm(698): GC_CONCURRENT freed 5829K, 41% free 23778K/39664K, paused 10ms+24ms, total 165ms
  
  10-15 16:40:44.684: D/dalvikvm(698): GC_CONCURRENT freed 5302K, 41% free 23774K/39664K, paused 6ms+9ms, total 107ms
  
  10-15 16:41:14.383: D/dalvikvm(698): GC_CONCURRENT freed 5371K, 41% free 23768K/39664K, paused 7ms+8ms, total 146ms
  
  10-15 16:41:49.598: D/dalvikvm(698): GC_CONCURRENT freed 5339K, 41% free 23775K/39664K, paused 10ms+7ms, total 134ms
  
  10-15 16:42:24.021: D/dalvikvm(698): GC_CONCURRENT freed 5277K, 41% free 23770K/39664K, paused 8ms+11ms, total 106ms
  
  10-15 16:42:59.476: D/dalvikvm(698): GC_CONCURRENT freed 5345K, 41% free 23770K/39664K, paused 6ms+13ms, total 168ms
  
  10-15 16:43:34.610: D/dalvikvm(698): GC_CONCURRENT freed 5359K, 41% free 23772K/39664K, paused 9ms+9ms, total 113ms
  
  10-15 16:44:09.965: D/dalvikvm(698): GC_CONCURRENT freed 5369K, 41% free 23779K/39664K, paused 8ms+8ms, total 103ms
  
  10-15 16:44:09.965: D/dalvikvm(698): WAIT_FOR_CONCURRENT_GC blocked 30ms
  
  10-15 16:44:24.389: D/dalvikvm(698): GC_EXPLICIT freed 3618K, 41% free 23768K/39664K, paused 12ms+11ms, total 123ms

• Announcing the first free software Blu-ray encoder

  25 avril 2010, par Dark Shikari — blu-ray, x264

  For many years it has been possible to make your own DVDs with free software tools. Over the course of the past decade, DVD creation evolved from the exclusive domain of the media publishing companies to something basically anyone could do on their home computer.

  But Blu-ray has yet to get that treatment. Despite the “format war” between Blu-ray and HD DVD ending over two years ago, free software has lagged behind. “Professional” tools for Blu-ray video encoding can cost as much as $100,000 and are often utter garbage. Here are two actual screenshots from real Blu-rays : I wish I was making this up.

  But today, things change. Today we take the first step towards a free software Blu-ray creation toolkit.

  Thanks to tireless work by Kieran Kunyha, Alex Giladi, Lamont Alston, and the Doom9 crowd, x264 can now produce Blu-ray-compliant video. Extra special thanks to The Criterion Collection for sponsoring the final compliance test to confirm x264′s Blu-ray compliance.

  With x264′s powerful compression, as demonstrated by the incredibly popular BD-Rebuilder Blu-ray backup software, it’s quite possible to author Blu-ray disks on DVD9s (dual-layer DVDs) or even DVD5s (single-layer DVDs) with a reasonable level of quality. With a free software encoder and less need for an expensive Blu-ray burner, we are one step closer to putting HD optical media creation in the hands of the everyday user.

  To celebrate this achievement, we are making available for download a demo Blu-ray encoded with x264, containing entirely free content !

  On this Blu-ray are the Open Movie Project films Big Buck Bunny and Elephant’s Dream, available under a Creative Commons license. Additionally, Microsoft has graciously provided about 6 minutes of lossless HD video and audio (from part of a documentary project) under a very liberal license. This footage rounds out the Blu-ray by adding some difficult live-action content in addition to the relatively compressible CGI footage from the Open Movie Project. Finally, we used this sound sample, available under a Creative Commons license.

  You may notice that the Blu-ray image is only just over 2GB. This is intentional ; we have encoded all the content on the disk at appropriate bitrates to be playable from an ordinary 4.7GB DVD. This should make it far easier to burn a copy of the Blu-ray, since Blu-ray burners and writable media are still relatively rare. Most Blu-ray players will treat a DVD containing Blu-ray data as a normal Blu-ray disc. A few, such as the Playstation 3, will not, but you can still play it as a data disc.

  Finally, note that (in accordance with the Blu-ray spec) the disc image file uses the UDF 2.5 filesystem, which may be incompatible with some older virtual drive and DVD burning applications. You’ll also need to play it on an actual Blu-ray player if you want to get the menus and such working correctly. If you’re looking to play it on a PC, a free trial of Arcsoft TMT is available here.

  What are you waiting for ? Grab a copy today !

  UPDATE : Here is an AVCHD-compliant version of the above, which should work better when burned on a DVD-5 instead of a BD-R. (mirror)
  

  What’s left before we have a fully free software Blu-ray creation toolkit ? Audio is already dealt with ; AC3 audio (aka Dolby Digital), the format used in DVD, is still supported by Blu-ray, and there are many free software AC3 encoders. The primary missing application is a free software Blu-ray authoring tool, to combine the video and audio streams to create a Blu-ray file structure with the menus, chapters, and so forth that we have all come to expect. But the hardest part is dealt with : we can now create compatible video and audio streams.

  In the meantime, x264 can be used to create streams to be authored using Blu-Print, Scenarist, Encore or other commercial authoring tools.

  More detailed documentation on the new Blu-ray support and how to use it can be found in the official commit message. Do keep in mind that you have to export to raw H.264 (not MKV or MP4) or else the buffering information will be slightly incorrect. Finally, also note that the encoding settings given as an example are not a good choice for general-purpose encoding : they are intentionally crippled by Blu-ray restrictions, which will significantly reduce compression for ordinary non-Blu-ray encoding.

  In addition to Blu-ray support, the aforementioned commit comes with a lot of fun extras :

  x264 now has native variable-framerate ratecontrol, which makes sure your encodes get a correct target bitrate and proper limiting of maximum bitrate even if the duration of every frame is different and the “framerate” is completely unknown. This helps a lot when encoding from variable-framerate container formats such as FLV and WMV, along with variable-framerate content such as anime.

  x264 now supports pulldown (telecine) in much the same fashion as it is handled in MPEG-2. The calling application can pass in flags representing how to display a frame, allowing easy transcoding from MPEG-2 sources with pulldown, such as broadcast television. The x264 commandline app contains some examples of these (such as the common 3:2 pulldown pattern).

  x264 now also exports HRD timing information, which is critical for compliant transport stream muxing. There is currently an active project to write a fully DVB-compatible free software TS muxer that will be able to interface with x264 for a seamless free software broadcast system. It will likely also be possible to repurpose this muxer as part of a free software Blu-ray authoring package.

  All of this is now available in the latest x264.

  http://mirror05.x264.nl/Dark/bluray%20fail.png

• Announcing the first free software Blu-ray encoder

  25 avril 2010, par Dark Shikari — blu-ray, x264

  For many years it has been possible to make your own DVDs with free software tools. Over the course of the past decade, DVD creation evolved from the exclusive domain of the media publishing companies to something basically anyone could do on their home computer.

  But Blu-ray has yet to get that treatment. Despite the “format war” between Blu-ray and HD DVD ending over two years ago, free software has lagged behind. “Professional” tools for Blu-ray video encoding can cost as much as $100,000 and are often utter garbage. Here are two actual screenshots from real Blu-rays : I wish I was making this up.

  But today, things change. Today we take the first step towards a free software Blu-ray creation toolkit.

  Thanks to tireless work by Kieran Kunyha, Alex Giladi, Lamont Alston, and the Doom9 crowd, x264 can now produce Blu-ray-compliant video. Extra special thanks to The Criterion Collection for sponsoring the final compliance test to confirm x264′s Blu-ray compliance.

  With x264′s powerful compression, as demonstrated by the incredibly popular BD-Rebuilder Blu-ray backup software, it’s quite possible to author Blu-ray disks on DVD9s (dual-layer DVDs) or even DVD5s (single-layer DVDs) with a reasonable level of quality. With a free software encoder and less need for an expensive Blu-ray burner, we are one step closer to putting HD optical media creation in the hands of the everyday user.

  To celebrate this achievement, we are making available for download a demo Blu-ray encoded with x264, containing entirely free content !

  On this Blu-ray are the Open Movie Project films Big Buck Bunny and Elephant’s Dream, available under a Creative Commons license. Additionally, Microsoft has graciously provided about 6 minutes of lossless HD video and audio (from part of a documentary project) under a very liberal license. This footage rounds out the Blu-ray by adding some difficult live-action content in addition to the relatively compressible CGI footage from the Open Movie Project. Finally, we used this sound sample, available under a Creative Commons license.

  You may notice that the Blu-ray image is only just over 2GB. This is intentional ; we have encoded all the content on the disk at appropriate bitrates to be playable from an ordinary 4.7GB DVD. This should make it far easier to burn a copy of the Blu-ray, since Blu-ray burners and writable media are still relatively rare. Most Blu-ray players will treat a DVD containing Blu-ray data as a normal Blu-ray disc. A few, such as the Playstation 3, will not, but you can still play it as a data disc.

  Finally, note that (in accordance with the Blu-ray spec) the disc image file uses the UDF 2.5 filesystem, which may be incompatible with some older virtual drive and DVD burning applications. You’ll also need to play it on an actual Blu-ray player if you want to get the menus and such working correctly. If you’re looking to play it on a PC, a free trial of Arcsoft TMT is available here.

  What are you waiting for ? Grab a copy today !

  UPDATE : Here is an AVCHD-compliant version of the above, which should work better when burned on a DVD-5 instead of a BD-R. (mirror)
  

  What’s left before we have a fully free software Blu-ray creation toolkit ? Audio is already dealt with ; AC3 audio (aka Dolby Digital), the format used in DVD, is still supported by Blu-ray, and there are many free software AC3 encoders. The primary missing application is a free software Blu-ray authoring tool, to combine the video and audio streams to create a Blu-ray file structure with the menus, chapters, and so forth that we have all come to expect. But the hardest part is dealt with : we can now create compatible video and audio streams.

  In the meantime, x264 can be used to create streams to be authored using Blu-Print, Scenarist, Encore or other commercial authoring tools.

  More detailed documentation on the new Blu-ray support and how to use it can be found in the official commit message. Do keep in mind that you have to export to raw H.264 (not MKV or MP4) or else the buffering information will be slightly incorrect. Finally, also note that the encoding settings given as an example are not a good choice for general-purpose encoding : they are intentionally crippled by Blu-ray restrictions, which will significantly reduce compression for ordinary non-Blu-ray encoding.

  In addition to Blu-ray support, the aforementioned commit comes with a lot of fun extras :

  x264 now has native variable-framerate ratecontrol, which makes sure your encodes get a correct target bitrate and proper limiting of maximum bitrate even if the duration of every frame is different and the “framerate” is completely unknown. This helps a lot when encoding from variable-framerate container formats such as FLV and WMV, along with variable-framerate content such as anime.

  x264 now supports pulldown (telecine) in much the same fashion as it is handled in MPEG-2. The calling application can pass in flags representing how to display a frame, allowing easy transcoding from MPEG-2 sources with pulldown, such as broadcast television. The x264 commandline app contains some examples of these (such as the common 3:2 pulldown pattern).

  x264 now also exports HRD timing information, which is critical for compliant transport stream muxing. There is currently an active project to write a fully DVB-compatible free software TS muxer that will be able to interface with x264 for a seamless free software broadcast system. It will likely also be possible to repurpose this muxer as part of a free software Blu-ray authoring package.

  All of this is now available in the latest x264.

  http://mirror05.x264.nl/Dark/bluray%20fail.png