Interview With BBC Dirac Developer Thomas Davis 170
arclightfire writes "The subject of the BBC video codec Dirac has been here before, but we've managed to get an interview with Thomas Davies, Senior R&D Engineer at the BBC who devised the Dirac algorithm. Interesting to note that the codec should be with Mplayer soon; "As far as players go, we'll be submitting a patch to Mplayer to allow it to play Dirac pretty soon." And info about the tech developments in Dirac; "I used tried and techniques, like wavelets, which weren't in standards at the time, and tried to develop them. And that's what we'll continue to do as the algorithm develops. So we've tried to build on some pretty well-understood technology, and also tried to do some new things with it. We're patenting the new stuff, quite a bit of which hasn't got into the software yet. The license means that these patents are licensed for free within the Dirac software.""
Now... (Score:1, Funny)
Great codec, awful name (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Great codec, awful name (Score:3, Funny)
US media won't use it (Score:1, Funny)
Re:No jokes about Wendys? (Score:3, Funny)
They could at least write it with ResEdit! (Score:1, Funny)
MWC [asx.com.au]
I think the Dirac project is fantastic and is a good example of public money being used for the public good.
what? (Score:4, Funny)
did they have anything to do with python?
Dang, now when they invent the FTL telephone... (Score:5, Funny)
Another SF classic (Cities in Flight) shot down by careless scientist types. Goldarn it!
Re:US media won't use it (Score:2, Funny)
Sorry about that one then.
I still don't think the US media will use it, because it rhymes with (the bizarre way they choose to pronounce) Iraq .
Re:Great codec, awful name (Score:2, Funny)
network television (Score:5, Funny)
Re:what? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Interesting... (Score:3, Funny)
Your mission, if you decide to accept it, is to catalogue 80,000 hours worth of pixel colours in movies and video so it can be searched by location, actors, presenters, producer, camera operator, sound operator, objects, clothes, sky, clouds, landmarks, time, direction, events, astronomical, geological, geopolitical events, age and anything else that a producer may want on a whim at 5.30pm, 30 minutes prior to presenting the evening news.