FATE just hit 200 individual test specs. I added a bunch of new H.264 tests that Michael has recently fixed. FFmpeg now perfectly decodes 115/136 of the base H.264 conformance vectors (and a bunch of the extended vectors as well, but I still haven’t gotten to those yet).
Thanks again to Suxen Drol for working on the Electronic Arts family of FMV formats. Thanks to his efforts, FFmpeg can now decode DCT files such as the ones found in Need for Speed II for the PlayStation:
The file has to come from the Sony PlayStation version since DCT files contain data that is designed to be fed directly into the PS1’s Motion Decoder hardware.
In case you don’t carefully track FFmpeg development, much recognition goes out to Michael for a lot of work on the H.264 decoder. Thanks to his efforts over the past week or so, I have been able to add about 2 dozen more H.264 conformance tests. Presently, FFmpeg can decode 92/136 of the suite’s vectors across all supported configurations.
Also, finally, I have started to add encoding tests to FATE. The first test is designated idroq-video-encode. I was stuck on this for awhile while I tried to understand what sort of test material I should use. I eventually realized that there are perfectly adequate (and stunningly complicated) images already generated by FFmpeg’s videogen.c program that is built and run by ‘make test’. If you are not familiar, they look like this:
Some people attack that graph as being outdated. They’re right, you know– I really should update it to see how much more of a mess the situation currently is. I showed the graph to the leader of the PulseAudio project at LinuxTag in 2007 and he was quick to point out that it was missing quite a few tangled vines. I wager that there are 3 or 4 more boxes to add as well.
What strikes me as I review LH’s growing archive is how few topics he has touched on. I keep reading since I am confident he will eventually cover them.
New format showcase time! Gregory Montoir contributed to FFmpeg a playback system for MVI files, which are a custom container for transporting Motion Pixels video data. Another format down.
It’s a little unclear how this format differs from the more familiar MVI1 and MVI2 codecs that are encapsulated inside AVI files. But this is probably a big step towards supporting those formats as well.
Peter Ross/Suxen drol is up to his old tricks by contributing a decoder for CMV files. Here’s what our one sample looks like:
After a brief hiccup, FATE is back online, and with some new tests: motionpixels and ea-cmv, for the formats listed above, and duck-dk4.
