40-591: Dirac (and Dirac Pro , a subset standardised as SMPTE VC-2 ) is an open and royalty-free video compression format , specification and software video codec developed by BBC Research & Development . Dirac aimed to provide high-quality video compression for Ultra HDTV and competed with existing formats such as H.264 . The specification was finalised in January 2008, and further developments were only bug fixes and constraints. In September of that year, version 1.0.0 of an I-frame only subset known as Dirac Pro
80-712: A different, even proprietary license, thereby forming a "larger work" which can be distributed under any terms, but again the MPL-covered source files must be made freely available. This makes the MPL a compromise between the MIT or BSD licenses , which permit all derived works to be relicensed as proprietary, and the GPL, which requires the derived work as a whole to be licensed under the GPL. By allowing proprietary modules in derived projects while requiring core files to remain open source,
120-477: A preliminary claim of "a two-fold reduction in bit rate over MPEG-2 for high definition video", which makes it comparable to VC-1 and simpler profiles of H.264 . Dirac supports both constant bit rate and variable bit rate operation. When the low delay syntax is used, the bit rate will be constant for each area (Dirac slice) in a picture to ensure constant latency. Dirac supports lossy and lossless compression modes. Dirac employs wavelet compression , like
160-681: A second meeting scheduled, invitations were telegraphed to Jenkin’s industry friends, i.e., key players and engineering executives in the motion picture industry. Three months later, 26 attended the first “official” meeting of the Society, the SMPE, at the Hotel Astor in New York City, on 2 and 3 October 1916. Jenkins was formally elected president, a constitution ratified, an emblem for the Society approved, and six committees established. At
200-518: Is a free and open-source weak copyleft license for most Mozilla Foundation software such as Firefox and Thunderbird . The MPL license is developed and maintained by Mozilla, which seeks to balance the concerns of both open-source and proprietary developers. It is distinguished from others as a middle ground between the permissive software BSD-style licenses and the GNU General Public License . As such, it allows
240-702: Is close to that of MPEG-4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile (ASP, popularised as DivX ). While also approaching low complexity H.264 encodes, a High Profile H.264 encoded video will have better compression for the same perceived quality. Since 2010, royalty-free, open source video codecs such as VP8 , VP9 , and AV1 have been developed with better compression performance and more widespread adoption, including dominant streaming services such as YouTube and Netflix . Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers ( SMPTE ) ( / ˈ s ɪ m p t iː / , rarely / ˈ s ʌ m p t iː / ), founded in 1916 as
280-642: Is provided in a git repository by the BBC and is available on GitHub . An encoder quality testing system has been put in place at BBC to check how well new encoding tools work and to make sure bugs that affect quality are quickly fixed. Dirac video playback is supported by VLC media player since version 0.9.2 (2008), and by applications using the GStreamer framework. Support has also been added to FFmpeg . Applications which can encode to Dirac include FFmpeg , MediaCoder , LiVES and OggConvert . The algorithms in
320-564: Is upgraded to version 2.0 by this mechanism, the 1.x-covered code must be marked with the aforementioned GPL-incompatible notice. The MPL can be modified to form a new license, provided that said license does not refer to Mozilla or Netscape. Version 1.0 of the MPL was written by Mitchell Baker in 1998 while working as a lawyer at Netscape Communications Corporation . Netscape was hoping that an open-source strategy for developing its own Netscape web browser would allow it to compete better with Microsoft 's browser, Internet Explorer . To cover
360-595: The SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal , provides networking opportunities for its members, produces academic conferences and exhibitions, and performs other industry-related functions. SMPTE membership is open to any individual or organization with an interest in the subject matter. In the US, SMPTE is a 501(c)3 non-profit charitable organization. An informal organizational meeting was held in April 1916 at
400-503: The Apache License , is included to protect an auxiliary distributor's further recipients against patent trolling . The contributors disclaim warranty and liability , but allow auxiliary distributors to offer such things on their own behalf. In exchange for the rights granted by license, the licensee must meet certain responsibilities concerning the distribution of licensed source code. Covered source code files must remain under
440-795: The Astor Hotel in New York City. Enthusiasm and interest increased, and meetings were held in New York and Chicago, culminating in the founding of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers in the Oak Room of the Raleigh Hotel, Washington DC on the 24th of July. Ten industry stakeholders attended and signed the Articles of Incorporation. Papers of incorporation, were executed on 24 July 1916, were filed on 10 August in Washington DC. With
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#1732772269602480-471: The ISO base media (MP4) file format and MPEG transport streams . The BBC does not own any patents on Dirac. They previously had some patent applications with plans to irrevocably grant a royalty-free licence for their Dirac-related patents to everyone, but they let the applications lapse. In addition, the developers have said they will try to ensure that Dirac does not infringe on any third party patents, enabling
520-622: The JPEG 2000 and PGF image formats and the Cineform professional video codec, instead of the discrete cosine transforms used in MPEG compression formats. Two of the specific wavelets Dirac can use are nearly identical to JPEG 2000's (known as the 5/3 and 9/7 wavelets ), as well as two more derived from them. Dirac can be used in Ogg and Matroska container formats and is also registered for use in
560-573: The Free Software Foundation to discourage using version 1.1. For these reasons, earlier versions of Firefox were released under multiple licenses: the MPL 1.1, GPL 2.0, and LGPL 2.1. Some old software, such as the Mozilla Application Suite, is still under the three licenses . Therefore, in early 2010, after more than a decade without modification, an open process for creating version 2.0 of the MPL began. Over
600-615: The July 1917 Society Convention in Chicago, a set of specifications including the dimensions of 35 mm film, 16 frames per second, etc. were adopted. SMPE set and issued a formal document reached by consensus, its first as an accredited Standards Development Organization (SDO), registering the specifications with the United States Bureau of Standards . The SMPTE Centennial Gala took place on Friday, 28 October 2016, following
640-460: The MPL is designed to motivate both businesses and the open-source community to help develop core software. The one exception to covered source files remaining under the MPL occurs when code under version 2.0 or later is combined with separate code files under the GNU GPL, GNU Lesser GPL (LGPL), or Affero GPL (AGPL). In this case, the program as a whole will be under the chosen GNU license, but
680-492: The MPL, and distributors "may not attempt to alter or restrict recipients' rights" to it. The MPL treats the source code file as the boundary between MPL-licensed and proprietary parts, meaning that all or none of the code in a given source file falls under the MPL. An executable consisting solely of MPL-covered files may be sublicensed, but the licensee must ensure access to or provide all the source code within it. Recipients can combine licensed source code with other files under
720-441: The MPL-covered files will be dual-licensed, so that recipients can choose to distribute them under that GNU License or the MPL. The initial author of MPL code may choose to opt out of this GPL compatibility by adding a notice to its source files. It is explicitly granted that MPL-covered code may be distributed under the terms of the license version under which it was received or any later version. If code under version 1.0 or 1.1
760-508: The SMPTE 3D Home Master. In 1999, SMPTE established the DC28 technology committee, for the foundations of Digital Cinema. The SMPTE presents awards to individuals for outstanding contributions in fields of the society. Recipients include: The Progress Medal, instituted in 1935, is SMPTE's oldest and most prestigious medal, and is awarded annually for contributions to engineering aspects of
800-436: The SMPTE website, or other distributors of technical standards. Standards documents may be purchased by the general public. Significant standards promulgated by SMPTE include: SMP(T)E'S first standard was to get everyone using 35-mm film width, four sprocket holes per frame, 1.37:1 picture ratio. Until then, there were competing film formats. With the standard, theaters could all run the same films. SMP(T)E's standard in 1927
840-456: The Society of Motion Picture Engineers or SMPE, is a global professional association of engineers, technologists, and executives working in the media and entertainment industry. As an internationally recognized standards organization , SMPTE has published more than 800 technical standards and related documents for broadcast, filmmaking, digital cinema , audio recording , information technology (IT), and medical imaging. SMPTE also publishes
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#1732772269602880-713: The US and Australia and the SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal . The society sponsors many awards, the oldest of which are the SMPTE Progress Medal, the Samuel Warner Memorial Medal, and the David Sarnoff Medal. SMPTE also has a number of Student Chapters and sponsors scholarships for college students in the motion imaging disciplines. SMPTE standards documents are copyrighted and may be purchased from
920-590: The annual Conference and Exhibition; James Cameron and Douglas Trumbull received SMPTE’s top honors. SMPTE officially bestowed Honorary Membership, the Society’s highest honor, upon Avatar and Titanic director Cameron in recognition of his work advancing visual effects (VFX), motion capture , and stereoscopic 3D photography, as well as his experimentation in HFR . Presented by Oscar-winning special effects cinematographer Richard Edlund , SMPTE honored Trumbull, who
960-606: The browser's code, the company drafted a license known as the Netscape Public License (NPL), which included a clause allowing even openly developed code to be theoretically relicensed as proprietary. However, at the same time, Baker developed a second license similar to the NPL. It was called the Mozilla Public License after Netscape's project name for the new open-source codebase, and, although it
1000-437: The film and/or television industries. Recipients include: The Eastman Kodak Gold Medal, instituted in 1967, recognizes outstanding contributions which lead to new or unique educational programs utilizing motion pictures, television, high-speed and instrumentation photography or other photography sciences. Recent recipients are Related organizations include Mozilla Public License The Mozilla Public License ( MPL )
1040-555: The integration of MPL-licensed code into proprietary codebases, as long as the MPL-licensed components remain accessible under the terms of the MPL. MPL has been used by others, such as Adobe to license their Flex product line, and The Document Foundation to license LibreOffice 4.0 (also on LGPL 3+). Version 1.1 was adapted by several projects to form derivative licenses like Sun Microsystems ' Common Development and Distribution License . It has undergone two revisions:
1080-436: The minor update 1.1, and a major update version 2.0 nearing the goals of greater simplicity and better compatibility with other licenses. The MPL defines rights as passing from "contributors", who create or modify source code, through an optional auxiliary distributor (itself a licensee), to the licensee. It grants liberal copyright and patent licenses allowing for free use, modification, distribution, and "exploit[ation]" of
1120-406: The next 21 months, the MPL was not only changed to make the license clearer and easier to apply, but also to achieve compatibility with the GPL and Apache licenses. The revision team was overseen by Baker and led by Luis Villa with key support from Gervase Markham and Harvey Anderson. They would publish three alpha drafts, two beta drafts, and two release candidates for comment before releasing
1160-547: The original Dirac specification were intended to provide compression performance comparable to mainstream video compression standards of the time. A 2009 comparison of the Dirac and H.264 codecs, which used implementations from the second quarter of 2008, showed x264 scoring slightly higher than Dirac. Another 2009 comparison found similar results for standard definition content, but did not compare high definition (HD) video content. These studies show that Dirac compression performance
1200-768: The public to use Dirac for any purpose. Dirac Pro, an I-frame only subset of the Dirac specification, was proposed to the SMPTE for standardisation. Dirac Pro is designed for professional and studio use of high definition video in high bitrate applications. In 2010, the SMPTE standardised Dirac Pro as VC-2. Although work on the original Dirac codec has largely stopped, the VC-2 codec has continued to be adapted and updated for HD and UHD post-production environments. The SMPTE standards (ST) and recommended practices (RP) are as follows: Two software implementations were initially developed. The BBC's reference implementation, initially called Dirac but renamed dirac-research to avoid confusion,
1240-467: The theoretical physicists Paul Dirac and Erwin Schrödinger , who shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in physics . Dirac supports resolutions of HDTV (1920×1080) and greater, and is claimed to provide significant savings in data rate and improvements in quality over video compression formats such as MPEG-2 Part 2 , MPEG-4 Part 2 and its competitors such as Theora and WMV . Dirac's implementers made
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1280-423: The work, but does not grant the licensee any rights to a contributor's trademarks . These rights will terminate if the licensee fails to comply with the license's terms and conditions, but a violating licensee who returns to compliance regains its rights, and even receiving written notice from a contributor will result in losing rights to that contributor's code only. A patent retaliation clause, similar to that of
1320-413: Was for speed at which sound film is shown, 24 frames per second. SMPTE's taskforce on "3D to the home" produced a report on the issues and challenges and suggested minimum standards for the 3D home master that would be distributed after post-production to the ingest points of distribution channels for 3D video content. A group within the standards committees has begun to work on the formal definition of
1360-402: Was meant to encourage cooperation with developers that preferred stricter licenses like the GPL. Not only would many projects derive their own licenses from this version, but its structure, legal precision, and explicit terms for patent rights would strongly influence later revisions of popular licenses like the GPL (version 3). Both versions 1.0 and 1.1 are incompatible with the GPL, which led
1400-727: Was originally only intended for software that supplemented core modules covered by the NPL, it would become much more popular than the NPL and eventually earn approval from the Open Source Initiative. Less than a year later, Baker and the Mozilla Organization would make some changes to the MPL, resulting in version 1.1, a minor update. This revision was done through an open process that considered comments from both institutional and individual contributors. The primary goals were to clarify terms regarding patents and allow for multiple licensing . This last feature
1440-491: Was outperforming dirac-research "in most encoding situations, both in terms of encoding speed and visual quality". With that release, most of the encoding tools in dirac-research were ported over to Schrödinger, giving Schrödinger the same as or better compression efficiency than dirac-research. Development of Schrödinger ceased after the 1.0.11 release in 2012. After the standardisation of Dirac Pro as SMPTE VC-2, development began on an open source reference VC-2 encoder. The code
1480-589: Was released and was standardised by the SMPTE as VC-2 . Version 2.2.3 of the full Dirac specification, including motion compensation and inter-frame coding, was issued a few days later. Dirac Pro was used internally by the BBC to transmit HDTV pictures at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Two open source and royalty-free video codec software implementations, libschrodinger and dirac-research, were developed. The format implementations were named in honour of
1520-616: Was responsible for the VFX in 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner , with the Society’s most prestigious medal award, the Progress Medal. The award recognized Trumbull’s contributions to VFX, stereoscopic 3D, and HFR cinema, including his current work to enable stereoscopic 3D with his 120-frames-per-second Magi system. SMPTE's educational and professional development activities include technical presentations at regular meetings of its local Sections, annual and biennial conferences in
1560-502: Was written in ANSI C and released under the same licenses as dirac-research, as well as the highly-permissive MIT License . GStreamer plugins were included to enable the library to be used with that framework. On 22 February 2008, Schrödinger 1.0.0 was released, and was able to decode HD720/25p in real-time on a Core Duo laptop. By the March 2010 release of Schrödinger version 1.0.9, it
1600-548: Was written in C++ and released under the Mozilla Public License , GNU GPL 2 and GNU LGPL free software licenses . Version 1.0.0 of this implementation was released on 17 September 2008 and defines the Dirac bitstream format. A second implementation called Schrödinger was funded by the BBC and aimed to provide a high-performance, portable version of the codec whilst remaining 100% bitstream compatible. Schrödinger
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