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| On Jul 24, 2013, at 2:42 AM, Perry Mitchell wrote: > I would argue that much of this work will in fact be shot onto RAW and then transferred to the edit codec in the grading facility. Perhaps therefore the first target for a prospective new codec should be the likes of Blackmagic to add to Resolve. I agree that getting Blackmagic to add support to Resolve would be a big deal. Resolve works in float, so I know that many users export OpenEXR sequences to make sure they don't lose anything. They would probably prefer to export to a movie format, but right now there are none that can do float. Even if they don't want float, they probably want a lossless format. Seems like a good match. We will need you guys to lobby them. In my mind, the parameters for this project are: 1. Movie format designed for pro users. It will include codecs that can handle higher bit depths (including float) and lossless compression. It will also support metadata such as timecode, color space, and anything else relevant. 2. Everything must be open source, including all the codecs. This guarantees that the format can be supported on any platform now and in the future. Users can be confident that movies created today can be read many years from now with no problem. All code must use the BSD license (or similar) so that commercial software may freely adopt it. 3. Everything must be patent-free. Otherwise someone supporting the format would have to send a check to MPEG LA or whoever. As far as cameras are concerned, AVCHD and XAVC use patents (H.264), DVCPRO HD and ProRes have no official open source library (although maybe someone could create one). I think it'd be great if someone like Blackmagic were to release codecs as open source and then we could incorporate them. FFmpeg includes DVCPRO HD, DNxHD, and ProRes codecs, but they're licensed under the LGPL. So close! Maybe I could be convinced to allow LGPL, but it would mean commercial software would have to install an FFmpeg DLL, which is a drag. I think we'll start with the available BSD codecs and then debate the pros and cons of adding LGPL ones. If someone could write a ProRes codec for FFmpeg, they can write one for general consumption as well. Brendan |
