[Libmpeg2-announce] Released libmpeg2 version 0.4.0

[Michel L. <wa...@zo...>]

From the NEWS file:

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mpeg2dec-0.4.0 Tue Dec 23 03:04:35 PST 2003

Jeez, it's been way too long since the last release.

The big functionality that warrants a 0.4.x version number is that we
added support for 4:2:2 for 4:4:4 chroma formats. Thanks to Peter
Gubanov for starting the effort there.

A large part of the development effort has been to fix corner cases
that happen with bad or corrupted streams, concatenated streams,
etc... Regis Duchesne created test cases for this, which was a huge
help. Right now the situation is that we don't know how to make
libmpeg2 crash even when we try hard.

There is a new helper library for color conversion to common format
(currently rgb and uyvy). The ABI between libmpeg2 and libmpeg2convert
might change in the future, but source code compatibility will be
preserved. In the past people were supposed to write their own color
conversion routines which was a pain since the API was messy.

David S. Miller contributed some very nice sparc VIS optimizations for
the motion compensation. There are no VIS optimizations for the IDCT
yet but the plan is to get these in for a future 0.4.1 release.

New functions have been added to set the buffer stride and to reset
the decoder (typically after seeking thru a file).

There is some very basic documentation in doc/* - it's still quite
limited though. My good resolution for 2004 is to write better
documentation :) In the mean time feel free to ask on mpeg2dec-devel
or on irc.freenode.net channel #livid

The speed has not changed much since last release - we tend to be
about 1% faster. That's not too bad considering we have new features.
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Going forward, the plan is to release 0.4.1 in january or february,
with at least some proper documentation and hopefully the sparc VIS
IDCT optimizations. Crossing my fingers, we'll see how it goes.

Happy holidays,

-- 
Michel "Walken" Lespinasse
"In this time of war against Osama bin Laden and the oppressive
Taliban regime, we are thankful that OUR leader isn't the spoiled son
of a powerful politician from a wealthy oil family who is supported by
religious fundamentalists, operates through clandestine organizations,
has no respect for the democratic electoral process, bombs innocents,
and uses war to deny people their civil liberties." --The Boondocks