Vorbis dev - Mar 2000 - Finally. A deadline, and a call to arms...

Hi folks,

I've been dickering around again, wasting the time away.... and today Brian
Zisk (chief Vorbis Evangelist among other things) said, "Hey!  We need to
demo
to the world on the 4th of April!"

Hooo boy.  Time to suck it up and bang it out.

The Vorbis libs are not a problem.  I'm in process of checking in my new
psychoacoustics (they're real pretty!) based on Ehmer's and
Fielder's masking
papers and making last minute updates to the libs and lib APIs.  This will be
done in time, no sweat.  Libvorbis/vorbisfile are the least of my worries.

Most of the work remaining to be done is in the details.  I need help, and I
need alot of it in the next week. Here's a partial list:

1) The website hasn't been updated since August; casual observers may think
nothing has been happening.... This requires mostly my own input but I
wouldn't
mind a few folks banging out HTML in the Xiph style.  I have a partial update
completed (oh, we also need to get www.xiph.org into CVS).  Another nice touch
that www.xiph.org needs (and must have eventually): Conversion of the whole
site from GIF to PNG.  If we're going to be a movement, we gotta do it right
(read www.burnallgifs.org for details)

2) The XMMS plugin works, but does not yet do seeking, streaming or EQ.  The EQ
is waiting on an API addition, but the other two are not.  

3) Rob: How's the FreeAMP plugin going?

4) The command line player is only about 1/10th complete.  It's relatively
easy
code that just needs to plug into the libraries and provide playback for *NIX
and Windows if we get to it.  I'd be having a blast on this one if I had
time.

5) Documentation.  Aside from a single paper on the Ogg stream encapsulation,
there is none (on the format, programming APIs, or general trivia).  I realize,
of course, that writing docs requires understanding Vorbis.  Anyone with time
to Hoover all the details out of me feel up for this? I'll give the outlines
and start the documents, but I need someone to actually write the stuff... 

To be fair, there's nothing in the code so incomplete it can't be demoed
or
shown, although I'd like a few more of the 'final' bitstream
modifications in
place before the world slashdots www.xiph.org.  My major concern is actually
the website and docs; most folks will not be perusing the code to decide if
we're for real.  They wanna play files (and at least know they can encode on
the command line) and read pages.

Monty

--- >8 ----
List archives:  http://www.xiph.org/archives/
Ogg project homepage: http://www.xiph.org/ogg/

Is the (erm, terminology kills) perceptually cacaded residue codebook
stuff going to be implimented by then or have you found the LPC floor
sufficent for representing the psychoacoustics?

On Tue, 28 Mar 2000, Monty wrote:
> 
> Hi folks,
> 
> I've been dickering around again, wasting the time away.... and today
Brian
> Zisk (chief Vorbis Evangelist among other things) said, "Hey!  We need
to demo
> to the world on the 4th of April!"
> 
> Hooo boy.  Time to suck it up and bang it out.
> 
> The Vorbis libs are not a problem.  I'm in process of checking in my
new
> psychoacoustics (they're real pretty!) based on Ehmer's and
Fielder's masking
> papers and making last minute updates to the libs and lib APIs.  This will
be
> done in time, no sweat.  Libvorbis/vorbisfile are the least of my worries.
> 
> Most of the work remaining to be done is in the details.  I need help, and
I
> need alot of it in the next week. Here's a partial list:
> 
> 1) The website hasn't been updated since August; casual observers may
think
> nothing has been happening.... This requires mostly my own input but I
wouldn't
> mind a few folks banging out HTML in the Xiph style.  I have a partial
update
> completed (oh, we also need to get www.xiph.org into CVS).  Another nice
touch
> that www.xiph.org needs (and must have eventually): Conversion of the whole
> site from GIF to PNG.  If we're going to be a movement, we gotta do it
right
> (read www.burnallgifs.org for details)
> 
> 2) The XMMS plugin works, but does not yet do seeking, streaming or EQ. 
The EQ
> is waiting on an API addition, but the other two are not.  
> 
> 3) Rob: How's the FreeAMP plugin going?
> 
> 4) The command line player is only about 1/10th complete.  It's
relatively easy
> code that just needs to plug into the libraries and provide playback for
*NIX
> and Windows if we get to it.  I'd be having a blast on this one if I
had time.
> 
> 5) Documentation.  Aside from a single paper on the Ogg stream
encapsulation,
> there is none (on the format, programming APIs, or general trivia).  I
realize,
> of course, that writing docs requires understanding Vorbis.  Anyone with
time
> to Hoover all the details out of me feel up for this? I'll give the
outlines
> and start the documents, but I need someone to actually write the stuff... 
> 
> To be fair, there's nothing in the code so incomplete it can't be
demoed or
> shown, although I'd like a few more of the 'final' bitstream
modifications in
> place before the world slashdots www.xiph.org.  My major concern is
actually
> the website and docs; most folks will not be perusing the code to decide if
> we're for real.  They wanna play files (and at least know they can
encode on
> the command line) and read pages.
> 
> Monty
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --- >8 ----
> List archives:  http://www.xiph.org/archives/
> Ogg project homepage: http://www.xiph.org/ogg/
> 
--- >8 ----
List archives:  http://www.xiph.org/archives/
Ogg project homepage: http://www.xiph.org/ogg/

On 28 Mar, Monty wrote:
> 
> 3) Rob: How's the FreeAMP plugin going?
I just need to find the time to actually get it written integrated -- I
evaluated all the needs to get this done and it shouldn't take more
than a few hours to do. However, I've got one foot out of the country
and I'll be gone until the 6th of April. I'll do my best to get it
working the weekend following my return.

--ruaok         Freezerburn! All else is only icing. -- Soul Coughing

Robert Kaye -- robert@moon.eorbit.net  http://moon.eorbit.net/~robert

--- >8 ----
List archives:  http://www.xiph.org/archives/
Ogg project homepage: http://www.xiph.org/ogg/

On Tue, 28 Mar 2000, Monty wrote:
> 1) The website hasn't been updated since August; casual observers may
think
> nothing has been happening.... This requires mostly my own input but I
wouldn't
> mind a few folks banging out HTML in the Xiph style.  I have a partial
update
> completed (oh, we also need to get www.xiph.org into CVS).  Another nice
touch
> that www.xiph.org needs (and must have eventually): Conversion of the whole
> site from GIF to PNG.  If we're going to be a movement, we gotta do it
right
> (read www.burnallgifs.org for details)
> 
   Going to get the codec description/specs written?
   I finally downloaded the codec.  Sounds pretty damn good to me (but I'm
not an audiophile).
> 4) The command line player is only about 1/10th complete.  It's
relatively easy
> code that just needs to plug into the libraries and provide playback for
*NIX
> and Windows if we get to it.  I'd be having a blast on this one if I
had time.
> 
   The Simple DirectMedia Layer library might be useful for this.  It's
supposed to be portable to Linux, Windows, and MacOS.
   I'm using it to whip up some code for Rlab2
(http://rlab.sourceforge.net/), a Matlab-like high-level language for
dealing with matrices and numerical computation.  I'm planning to use it
for codec prototyping/study, don't know what you guys are using (other
than C).

Lynn

--- >8 ----
List archives:  http://www.xiph.org/archives/
Ogg project homepage: http://www.xiph.org/ogg/