I decided it is time to stop talking about what I going do and start talking about how I am going to do it. I want to try my hand at creating a new video codec. This is my first attempt at such a feat. I need to write both the encoder and decoder simultaneously. I need to develop some idea about which coding theories I wish to test and how I will go about testing them. I need test vectors for encoding.

But first and foremost, I need a name for this new codec. I have decided on “Palettized Animation Video Codec.” That is what its name shall be unless someone can come up with a better name. The fourcc shall be ‘PAVC’ which is yet unclaimed (although ‘PDVC’ is claimed according to fourcc.org). Since this is an article about PAVC, I need to lead in with some cool shots of old video games, if only as a reminder of this endeavor’s challenge:

Crystalis, NES Widely regarded as the finest video game ever produced

Solar Jetman, NES Perhaps the toughest Nintendo game to get the hang of

Read the rest of this entry »

Originally, I was building this hypothetical video codec around old 8-bit NES videos. However, my Old Skool gaming colleague, Trixter, suggested that I think more generally and design the codec around video output from 1st and 2st generation gaming consoles. For reference, these generations are defined as:

• 1st-generation: Atari 2600/5200/7800, Intellivision, Colecovision, Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System, etc. 1976-1988
• 2nd-generation: Sega Genesis/CD/32X, Super NES, TurboGrafx-16, Neo Geo. 1989-1993

Writing about this codec idea is so much fun because I get to use colorful video game screenshots. For example:

U.N. Squadron, Super Nintendo

Golden Axe, Sega Genesis

Read the rest of this entry »

[a continuation of Custom NES Video Codec]

Data compression is all about analyzing the nominal characteristics of a particular type of data and understanding how that data can best be coded using the least amount of information. Let’s look at some of the characteristics of NES video:

Fun NES Screenshots:
Battletoads	Blaster Master

Read the rest of this entry »

The 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is my favorite video game console of all time. I even used to maintain a native Linux NES emulator named TuxNES to help preserve the nostalgia.

<– Simon vs. the undead fish monsters in Konami’s original Castlevania Link, the hope of Hyrule, takes on the Octoroks in the original Legend of Zelda –>

But I love these: Videos showcasing tool-assisted “Time Attacks”. The basic idea is that the people behind the videos use a variety of feature-rich console emulators to get through games very quickly using some very clever methods. Watching a video from start to finish usually lets you relive the experience of playing through the entire game, all in 10-20 minutes, nominally.

The video is encoded with the DivX codec; the frames are each 256×224 at 60 frames/sec (for NTSC games; 50 fps for PAL games). Audio is generally encoded as MP3 audio at 32-64 kbps. As a multimedia freak, I have to admit that it is a little frustrating to watch these videos which are typically encoded with ISO MPEG-4 (under the fourcc DIVX). So I started to wonder if it would be possible to develop a custom codec specifically for coding this type of video, and losslessly.

Read the rest of this entry »