News archives
From MediaCoderWiki
About the upcoming MediaCoder 0.6.0 - 2007-01-15
Sorry for very few updates in the last 2 weeks. After the new year, I've been spending day and night working on the new version in which lots and lots of ugly code got re-written. Besides some functionality adds, there are some breakthroughs in the decoding and encoding part. However, because of the big change in the code, I'm still testing the new version. I'm going to release as soon as it going stable with most functions.
Here is the changlog (still expanding) of the new version:
- [add] raw video frames are retrieved from video source (MPlayer, AVISynth etc.) and sent to video encoders instead of letting video encoders to do decoding (in other words, MediaCoder is no longer a just launcher for various video encoders but can help them to decode what they can't, just like what MediaCoder deals with audio previously)
- [add] video source and encoder can be freely coupled which used to have many limits (experimental)
- [add] audio decoding, video decoding and audio/video encoding can now be done in individual process/thread (good for multi-core processors)
- [add] use theora reference encoder (which can only eat raw I420/YV12 and PCM data) to replace ffmpeg2theora (no longer need it)
- [add] preset per file feature (specifying individual preset for each file)
- [add] raw audio/video statistics
- [add] Flash Video producing extension
- [add] tag editing extension
- [add] audio/video playback/encoding benchmark extension (a bit like 3DMark, but benchmarking for audio/video performance, may come a bit later)
- [add] native AVISynth support (both audio and video source)
- [fix] transcoding process unexpected ending fixed
- [fix] PSP plug-in breakage fixed
- [fix] many combinations of input and output formats that didn't use to work have the chance to work
- [update] lots of code segments rewritten (less dependent on Win32 API) and classes reconstructed for better future development and the upcoming Linux porting
- [update] better process control mechanism and better portability
- [update] improved console window
MediaCoder tested on Vista - 2006-12-03
With the release of Vista RTM, MediaCoder is tested on Vista. Most of the functions have no problems on Vista. For more information, please refer to MediaCoder on Vista section.
MediaCoder on Linux with WINE - 2006-12-01
Today a user has sent me a screenshot of MediaCoder running with WINE on Linux and report that the program runs quite well. This is a great news. For more information, please refer to MediaCoder on Linux section.
Clip selection dialog added - 2006-11-28
Clip Selection Dialog is added in build 2777. With this dialog, selecting a clip is easier. However, if the duration of the file cannot be retrieved correctly, this dialog won't work.
Linux porting under development - 2006-11-15
I will soon start porting of MediaCoder (maybe partial) to Linux. WINE will be depended on for some codecs provides Windows only binary. If you have any thoughts about Linux porting, please tell me on the forum. Before start porting, I'll add theora support first by wrapping ffmpeg2theora.
Version 0.5.1 released - 2006-11-05
After 3 months' pre-release cycle, MediaCoder 0.5.1 is released. This version features lots of improvements and fix-ups over the previous version. Though still far from 1.0, the current version of MediaCoder already has good usability and performance as well as good extensibility.
Feedbacks are welcomed on the new release.
Notice - 2006-08-31
I will quit from my job in 30 days and will devote to MediaCoder development full-time. A series of work will get into the saddle. Here is my TODO list after I get full-time on MediaCoder.
- Fixing all critical bugs
- Improving CD/VCD/DVD ripping features
- Full and native AVISynth support
- Linux porting (XUL as GUI)
- Improve MediaCoder extension infrastructure and finish document on MediaCoder extension development
- Establishment of web site for getting and submitting extensions
- Distributed (cluster) transcoding
- Batch transcoding report form
- Multi-lingual support
If you can make any contribution in these aspects, or wanna join the development, please contact me.
MediaCoder extension - 2006-08-20
MediaCoder extension is implemented, which is pure HTML and JavaScript based (rendered by XULRunner, in-window video playback enabled). An extension development tutorial will be out soon.
Here is more information about extension.
New skinned UI mode - 2006-08-04
Coming soon in 0.5.1
Statement from the author - 2006-07-19
I must say MediaCoder is not a software fit for everyone. It is best for those who at least knows how to do transcoding via command lines, those who knows the meaning of most of the terms in audio/video field, those who can read (some of) source code of a software and can figure what is a bug and what is a limitation.
MediaCoder relies on lots of open source software, and I build these underlying softwares from their latest source code getting from their CVS/SVN (and sometimes do some patches on them), because I like new and cutting-edge functions. However, newest is not always the best. These software may have bugs. In this case, users will feel MediaCoder does something wrong and the author is not responsible to have released something not able to work normally.
I'm trying to make MediaCoder fit for every one by adding the device plug-ins, but this will simply increase my work load (to implement many plug-ins). Please understand my place. I do want to make it a real swiss army knife of audio/video transcoding, because I'm interested in this and want to make something cool and useful. But, I'm a full-time software engineer and can only use my free time to do development and bugfix for the software. I've done all that I can do.
I will go on with the development as long as I can still think of something to be done and to be fixed. I hope everyone can have enough latitude and understanding. That's what I expect for most.
About the removal of AMR NB/WB encoder
I have received an email from VoiceAge Corporation, who claims that they are the owner of AMR and doesn't allow me to include it in MediaCoder without paying to them. So AMR encoder will probably disappear in next release, but I will keep the interfacing code.
SourceForge shell server issue
Being having problems connecting to SourceForge shell server, I cannot update web pages for new release. 0.5.0 pre11 is out, with a much cooler cropper tool. Also some update on current progress, I'm adding support of streaming (e.g. youtube.com) transocoding to MediaCoder. In other word, you will be able to directly flash videos on youtube.com (and other video casting site) to your desired formats. It is already possible to playback online streaming media in Mediacoder now. So stay tuned!
The iPod device plug-in is finally done - 2006-07-09
Available since 0.5.0-pre9
New device mode interface - 2006-07-06
Pre-release going stable - 2006-07-01
MediaCoder 0.5.0-pre6 is going to be stable. I've switched the default version to it.
Some more screenshots of the new version - 2006-06-24
The VCD/SVCD/DVD plug-in which makes transcoding to video discs compliant MPEG files much easier than before.
The Nokia N70 plug-in.
Besides these new GUI and the new plug-in infrastructure, I've patched MEncoder in some more places to make transcoding faster and gain more possibilities. One of those is to make MEncoder possible to produce PSP Media Player compatible AVC. This will be a good news for PSP users. Also, some audio/video sync issues which have annoyed us for long have been solved by a patch.xxx
MediaCoder for device - 2006-06-22
With a unified interface for specific device transcoding, working on the device plug-in infrastructure, MediaCoder will start to support many more devices in the future, including iPod, PSP etc. The following is the screenshot of the new interface. Note that the interface is not hard-coded, but can be customized with a plug-in.
Update on the up-coming version - 2006-06-19
As you may know, I've been working on the 0.4.0 (I'm considering about giving it a higher revision number because it has so many improvements) for almost 2 weeks. The next version of MediaCoder will be XML-driven (I'm investigating XML-RPC) and web-based (most currently implemented interfaces will be kept). Web-based doesn't mean that you need Internet connection when using the software, but means that the interface are rendered as HTML with an integrated version of Mozilla Firefox. It will be possible to develop different kind of transcoder interface with HTML + JavaScript (AJAX). This will also make translation job a lot easier. I have also implemented a Winamp-like plug-in architecture to ease the job of developing interfaces for various devices. MediaCoder will be more exciting than ever and everyone (who knows only a little bit about programming) can write dedicated interfaces for his devices with MediaCoder. There is still some work to finish before I can release. So please stand by.
Here is the new web-based preference interface:
