Software Vault: The Gold Collection/Software Vault - The Gold Collection (American Databankers) (1993).ISO/cdr55/mpeg_faq.zip/3

Text File | 1993-05-13 | 40KB | 1,025 lines

Anon-ftp-uploads are not alowed anymore. The 'gast'-account can be
restricted. Things change ;o)


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 VI.4 |
-------

Bryan Woodworth <[e-mail]> invites you to the ftp-server:

    ftp.rahul.net (192.160.13.1) in /pub/bryanw/pc/mpeg

Login as "anonymous," any time of the day or night.

[ Several MPEG-Information is located in the directory /pub/bryanw   ]
ear Bryan was the first one, that downloaded the brand new mpeg-player ]
[ from Xing's BBS and posted it to a.b.p.u, thnx to Bryan !          ]

He wrote:

If the people have problems connecting, they should send a capture of the
session to "[e-mail]," so that the problem can be corrected.

and wrote:

If people want to know where they can find the Microsoft Windows MPEG
player(s), DOS players, Amiga players, X Windows, VMS, and
Macintosh players, they could cd to:

/pub/bryanw/information

and retrieve:

WHERE.TO.GET.MPEG.PLAYERS

This file is posted biweekly to alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.d.

[ Hopefully soon to alt.binaries.pictures.utilities too. ]

The information subdirectory also contains an ABPE faq, this MPEG
faq :-), JPEG information, information on X-windows on PCs, and I

[ by the way, we should call this my file here: THE MPEG-FAQ and ]
[ Bryan's should have the name: THE MPEG-UTIL-FAQ, ok bryan ?    ]

suppose that is all.. If I ever find good stuff, I put it here.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 VI.5 |
-------

Good ftp-hosts to look for MPEG-related software are:

  ftp.cica.indiana.edu (129.79.20.84)
  ftp.germany.eu.net (192.76.144.75)
  ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de (130.149.17.7)
  mucket.vast.unsw.edu.au
  nic.funet.fi (128.214.6.100)
  pinus.slu.se (130.238.98.11)
  wuarchive.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4)


===========================================================================
 VII |  MAIL-ORDER
==================

                   GET THE "TRAIL-PACK" !!!
                  ==========================

You can purchase a complete archive named the "Trail-Pack" including the
FAQ and all named programs, source-code, movies and information-files.

This archive includes (in addition to the ftp-access) all versions of the
programs and source-code, additional movies (including the audio-wav-files)
and lots of additional informations.

It will contain at least

         4,094,228 AUDIO
         6,983,207 BIGMOVIE
           836,301 CODEC
           913,193 DEMO
         1,501,498 DOC
           270,728 FAQ
        17,498,558 MOVIES
         1,430,828 UTIL
      ======================
Total = > 33 MB compressed = > 50 MB uncompressed MPEG !

To obtain the "Trail-Pack" send a envelope, with the big-written
key-word "Trail-Pack" on it to:

      PHADE SOFTWARE
      Inh. Frank Gadegast

      Leibnizstr. 30
      1000 Berlin 12

      G E R M A N Y

and include in it:

 o  30 DM (thirty German Mark), to pay the time I spend on copying disks
    and going to the post (money, that will be over, will be used to
    prepare the next version of this FAQ). Please do NOT included ANY
    coins.

 o  25 HD-floppy-disk (3-1/2" or 5-1/2"), allready formatted (MSDOS).
    If this FAQ is older than about 3 month (please look at the date
    at the top) included a few MORE floppy-disk, because the archive is
    growing day by day.

 o  a hard-cover-envelope (big and strong enough to carry the 25 floppy-
    disks, written with YOUR correct adress.

 o  enough money (at least 15 DM from other countries, 10 DM from inside
    Germany) to pay the postage of the "Trail-Pack" (the postage of your
    package to me, should be nearly the same, compared to, what I have to
    spend, to send the "Trail-Pack"; so, if you are living in Australia,
    send MORE money; the last package back to Taiwan cost about DM 24 !).
    Again, please do NOT include ANY coins.

Try to send me a ENVELOPE, not a packet. It should go through the letter
box.


NOTE: There is no guarantee, how, and when you will get the "Trail-Pack"
      back. I'll do my best to prepare the packages as quick as possible.
      But I can't guarantee for the post ;o)

NOTE: Please do not send any schecks, or try to pay via credit-cards.

NOTE: Requests, that are NOT complete will be send back, using the
      included money. Is no money included, nothing will be send back
      and my archive will thank you for your floppy-disk-gift !!!
      Is there no money neither floppy-disks, your envelope will go
      to the bin.

NOTE: This is NOT a commercial offer, it's a service for those, that
      don't have internet-access !!!


===========================================================================
 VIII |  RETRIEVED MAIL
=======================

From: [e-mail] (KETAN DASHARATH PATEL)
Subject: Re: Xing's SW, Really MPEG Compression?
Date: Thu Nov 19 13:20:35 1992

Unfortunately, it is true. XING data is NOT true MPEG and in
fact does a lot of dubious things with its Inverse DCT.

XING data is simply a sequence of I-Frames (i.e. no interframe
compression is done, no motion vectors, nothing).
This amounts to little more than a sequence of JPEG type images.

Ketan Patel
[e-mail]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Mark Adler <[e-mail]>
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 92 11:36:19 -0800
Subject: Re: MPEG - FAQ

There was a correction in the trade journal where I saw the MPEG II
extension mentioned.  They are now saying that, yes, they did agree to
extend MPEG II's target bit rate to meet the needs of HDTV applications,
but that there is no real upper limit to the MPEG II compressed rate, and
that they expect no delays in the completion of the final spec, scheduled
for March 1993.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Those of you working on MPEG encoding might be interested in the
accelerator board we have built for computing motion vectors and DCTs on
Sun workstations.  Following is a description.  For ordering information,
contact me at:

     Space Computer Corporation
     2800 Olympic Blvd.
     Suite 104
     Santa Monica, CA 90404
     Telephone: [phone]
     FAX: [phone]
     Internet: [e-mail]

Bill Kendall

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

     VCA-1 VIDEO COMPRESSION ACCELERATOR FOR SUN WORKSTATIONS

      Special-Purpose Hardware for Motion Estimation and DCTs

------------------------------------------------------------------
FEATURES:

Performs 8x8 DCTs in 21 microsec after first DCT at 52 microsec.*
Performs 32x32 cross search for 16x16 block in 239 microsec.*
Mounts in a single SBus slot.
Included software allows user-transparent access.
Price: $2,900 (subject to change without notice).

*Stated times are for a 25-MHz SBus.
------------------------------------------------------------------

The VCA-1 Video Compression Accelerator is a one-slot SBus add-in
board for Sun workstations which reduces the run time for MPEG encoding
up to an order of magnitude.  It is intended to aid both researchers
and designers of MPEG-based digital video products.

The VCA-1 accelerator can be utilized in any SBus-based workstation.
The VCA-1 provides high-speed hardware execution of the two most
computationally-intensive MPEG compression operations: motion estimation
and discrete cosine transform (DCT) computation.  These operations
are performed by two special-purpose VLSI devices manufactured by
LSI Logic Corporation.

The first device is the L64720 Motion Estimation Processor, which
contains 64 high-performance, special-purpose processors on a single
chip.  This device implements an exhaustive search algorithm in which
a user-selectable data block in the current video frame is offset
and compared with a window in a reference image.  The device computes
the position of the best match, the minimum error, and the zero-offset
error.  The error computed is the sum of absolute differences.  The
data block is user-selectable for either 16x16 or 8x8 pixels, and the
size of the search window is adjustable by setting software parameters.

The second device is the L64730 Discrete Cosine Transform Processor,
which contains eight special-purpose processors.  This device computes
both the forward and inverse DCT over 8x8 blocks, delivering 12-bit
output data for the forward transform and 8 or 9-bit output data for
the inverse transform.  It also can be used for loop filtering and
inter-frame prediction subtraction.

In addition to the above devices, the VCA-1 contains 3 MBytes of
DRAM and three gate arrays.  The VCA-1 is fully compliant with SBus
standards, and requires only a single workstation slot.  If all of
the SBus slots are already filled, the VCA-1 can be installed in an
inexpensive expansion box sold by Sun Microsystems.

Software provided with the VCA-1 accelerator consists of routines
which completely control the board's various functions.  This software,
which runs under Sun OS, can easily be integrated with existing MPEG
encoding software to perform motion estimation and DCT/IDCT computations.
Full source code is provided.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Bryan Woodworth <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: MPEGFAQ.INFO -- Thanks, Frank.
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 93 12:12:59 PST

In other news, Xing is working hard on a DOS MPEG player with WAV file
support.  It should be out (it had better be..) within a year, most likely
3-4 months.  It will work via VESA autodetect; I suspect it will use VESA's
640x480 mode.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Todd Brunhoff)
Subject: New product for MPEG, JPEG compression under UNIX and X
Date: 16 Feb 93 01:08:43 GMT

North Valley Research announced today immediate availability of a family of
products for working with video and other time-based media in a UNIX
environment.  These products enable the end user to take video and audio all
the
way from video camera or tape to an MPEG sequence that can be played back in
real-time on most Sun SPARCstations, without hardware assistance.

For more info:
  - reply to me personally (don't post a followup)
  - get the announcement via anonymous ftp to nvr.com (192.82.231.50) in
/pub/NVR
  - check comp.windows.x.announce, comp.newprod, comp.sys.sun.announce
---------------
internet: [e-mail]                                             c--Q Q
US:       Todd Brunhoff; North Valley Research;                         `
          15262 NW Greenbriar Pkwy; Beaverton, OR  97006                -
Phone:    [phone]
Fax:      [phone]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Rainer Menes)
Subject: MPEG for Mac Info
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1993 12:15:54 GMT

Dear MPEG for the Mac users,

Today I think more than 200-300 user are out there using the player. I am
not getting any big response to my software. So I think it works ok. Does it
realy ??? I must read in Comp.sys.mac.digest "the slow and buggy player".
Slow is ok but buggy? Are there any bugs which I don't know? If there any
besides it is slow or the file type is incorrect, or the mpeg file are
altered during transfer to the Mac (lf->cr), then please mail me, and
ftp the buggy mpeg file to suniams1.statistik.tu-muenchen.de (131.159.64.1)
and put it in the dir /incoming/buggy_mpeg. Thanks!! I could only fix these
problem when I know them.

Now I have collected some tools which might be usefull for most of the users:

1. bunchtyper 1.01 an util which takes care of the TYPE and CREATOR of a
file or a collections of files. This has shown to be the bigest problem at
all with my mpeg player.

2. filetyper 3.2 the same as bunchtyper (take both and decide what do you like
best).

3. picttomovie 1.0 converts the picts created by the converter to an
quicktime movie. Some users have quicktime but not convert to movie. This
utils should closes this gap.

4. qtbatchcompress1.0 a util to convert the picts to jpegs-pict with
quicktime. This util might be usefull to reduce the storage use by tones of
pict-files from a converted mpeg-movie. ( Trying differnt codecs or what
ever).

You will find the tools in the dir /pub/mac/utils on my ftp-site.
(suniams1.statistik.tu-muenchen.de 131.159.64.1 or all other major archive
sites have these tools too but not in the same dir you have to look for it)

Now to the problem with the slowness of the software. I first got aware of
that problem two days ago when I meet a friend of mine who has a MacII si.
Some files are running only with 0.5 - 0.8 frames a second. Sorry I did't
know. That the differnce between the quadra 700 and the si is up to 10 times
in speed differnce I have become aware of, only two days ago. My Quadra plays
the same movie with 5.3 - 7 frames a second. I don't what to know what
frame rate a Clasic II or a LC may reach.

Now how does the player compare to other computers running the same
software (sourcecode is the  Berkley MPEG-Player for X-Window):

486-33MHz 256KByte  extern-cache with Linux 0.99.7 gcc 2.33 -O2 -m486 7.3
frames/sec.

Quadra 700 0KByte extern-cache with System 7.1 gcc1.37r7 -O2  5.2
frames/sec.

Sparc Station SLC ?? with sunos 4.2 gcc 2.33 -O2 6.7 frames/sec.

SGI Iris Indigo R3000 with Unix 4.5 cc -O 15.0 frames/sec.

all for the same movie flight.mpg but with differnt framebuffer depth. This
may slightly infuence the results.

The most interresting value is the differnce between the 486 and the 68040.
First both processor have a very close architecture (cache, some
RISC-features and so on). Even the efficents how many cycles per instruction
is very close. If I remember correct the 68040 and 486 have 1.3 - 1.2 cycles
per instruction in the mean. Now you see it would be very surprising if the
68040 25MHz is faster than a 33MHz 486 which has an external cache. The
difference in frame rate is nearly simular to the difference in clock speed.
Another point is the gcc compiler has made a drastic improfment between
version 1.37 and 2.33 which was used on the 486 with Linux (a freeware Unix
clone). There are no optimisation done for the 68040 at all but as you see
the Linux version is optimised for the 486. I would expect to get 10- 20%
speed improfment with gcc 2.33 for the 68040. Beside I made a new version
which has been speeded up alittle 15-20% and the gcc 2.33 compiler should be
out in a month or so. This makes me optimistic than my Quadra will play back
a mpeg film as fast as a normal 486-33Mhz in the near future.

The new version should be out next week. It will support any resolution of
a MPEG-film. As said befor it is alittle faster and the converter will use the
filename of the orginal mpeg film as name and not test.xxxx. Only small
improfments but Rom wasn't build in a day.

Hope you have fun with my player, and you report bugs to me

Til next week,

Rainer

email: [e-mail]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Michael van Elst)
Subject: Re: MPG Viewer for Amiga Wanted!!
Date: 17 Feb 93 01:23:05 GMT

I once uploaded a version mpeg_play1.2 to amiga.physik.unizh.ch under the
name mp.lha.

I just got mpeg_play2.0 working but don't want to upload until I've finished
HAM support.

If you can live with EHB-only please contact me.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Michael van Elst)
Subject: Re: MPG Viewer for Amiga Wanted!!
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1993 17:07:44 GMT

If nothing goes wrong I'll upload my player (which supports Amiga EHB
and HAM6 graphics) next week to one of the aminet sites.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 2 Mar 93 17:25:06 -0800
From: [e-mail] (Larry Rowe)
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: REPOST: THE MPEG-FAQ - Version 1.1 [1/2]

The ones [decoder] I can disclose are from Sony and one from
North Valley Research (contact Todd Brunhoff - [e-mail]).

[ How about a free encoder running on Unix ? Where yous not working on it ? ]

We are working on a freely distributed mpeg video encoder.  But, it still has
a ways to go.  We're trying to produce a workable system quickly without too
much focus on speed or ultimate coding efficiency.  It will be available
sometime within the next 3-4 months.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Jerry Pierce)
Subject: Re: MPEG on silicon
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1993 16:57:23 GMT

E: REAL time MPEG encoder

The GCT MPEG encoder announced in EETimes was designed by Nippon
Steel and my company, Eidesign Technologies. (The relationship
between ASCII, GCT, Nippon Steel, Hitachi, JVC is a long and
complicated one--suffice to say the units have been designed and a
few have been sold and DELIVERED.)

We have one operating at Eidesign's headquarters in Mountain View,
CA. The design is a three board set. The algorithm is Nippon Steel
proprietary and is a FULL MPEG solution--I, P, and B frames. The
resultant quality, in real time, is very good. We have compared
favorably to C-Cube's non-real time algorithm. (I don't know how
we will compare to their chip set.) We are adding a MPEG level 2
audio solution to the system (it is currently being implemented
and not yet working--March?).

The encoder box accepts CCIR 601 input (D1) and has a SCSI port to
connect to a workstation for assembling the system layer. The box
creates a complete MPEG video stream in REAL time (a delay of
about 1 second from the time the video is presented to the box and
the time it appears decoded by the decoder--H.261 it's not!) We
are now using a Thomson MPEG video decoder to monitor the results.

We (the design team is split between Eidesign and Nippon Steel)
decided to build a flexible MPEG encoder using off-the-shelf chips
and use it as soon as possible. This includes DSP's, FPGA's,
motion estimation chips, etc. It IS flexible and we COULD
implement other algorithms, however we are not using it as a
research tool, but as a solution to acquisition of MPEG material
for a variety of platforms. I suppose it could be used as a
research tool.

I don't know where/how they came up with the $250K price, but we
are discussing the system with interested parties for specific
configurations to meet their needs. A FULL up system with audio,
video, and other design tools may cost this much.

Jerry Pierce
Eidesign Technologies
1923 Landings Drive
Mountain View, CA 94043
415-903-9211 x15
[e-mail] or [e-mail]


===========================================================================
 IX | ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
============================

From: [e-mail] (rakeshkumar gandhi )
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 13:14:03 -0500
Subject: IEEE

There is MPEG Hardware review in IEEE computer graphics and application
magazine.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Only for Germans:

Ihr koennt den MPEG-draft-I beim Beuth Verlag bekommem.


===========================================================================
 X | WHERE TO FIND MORE INFOS
=============================

Well, first you can check the related news-groups:

  comp.graphics, comp.graphics.animation, comp.compression, comp.multimedia,
  comp.sys.amiga.multimedia, comp.mail.multi-media,
  alt.binaries.pictures.utilities

The first part of this FAQ about MPEG came from Mark Adler, published in
in FAQ for the newsgroup 'comp.compression'.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Then you can ask 'archie' to find all NEW mpeg-releated software
by sending the following mail (with no title):

  prog mpeg mpg
  quit

to one of the following archie-mail-servers:

  [e-mail]
  [e-mail]
  [e-mail]
  [e-mail]
  [e-mail]
  [e-mail]
  [e-mail]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Then you could look for a newer version of the first part of this FAQ via
ftp at:

    garbo.uwasa.fi (128.214.87.1), in /pub/doc-net

    The current version is named FAQC9301.ZIP

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Then read this (oh Bryan, you're gas ...):

From: [e-mail] (Bryan Woodworth)
Subject: MPEG VIEWERS FOR MSWIN/XWIN/VMS/AMIGA/MACINTOSH AVAILABLE!
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1993 21:26:37 GMT

Last Updated:  30.3.93   12:32:34

     MPEG VIEWERS FOR VARIOUS PLATFORMS:  OBTAINMENT INFORMATION


a.  Microsoft Windows MPEG viewer info
     i. Xing's MPEG Player << Obtainable via email
    ii. An exciting port of the Berkeley MPEG player << Also via ftpmail
b.  Unix X-Windows viewer info << Also via ftpmail
c.  Macintosh viewer info << Also via ftpmail
d.  VMS viewer info << Also via ftpmail
e.  Amiga viewer info << Obtainable via many means besides ftp
f.  Reminders when obtaining files
g.  Information on obtaining files via email
h.  Where to obtain MPEG files
i.  Conclusion

a.  Windows MPEG viewer

There are two Windows MPEG viewers.  One is released by Xing
Technology as freeware; the other is a Shareware viewer provided by
a private party which is a port of the Berkeley v2.0 freeware MPEG
player.

First, I will detail Xing's MPEG player for Windows.

i.  Xing's freeware MPEG player for Windows, version 2.0.

I am not certain if it works with Windows 3.0, but who cares,
right?  Everyone uses Windows 3.1!  And I know it works with 3.1.
:-)   Once you have Windows all you need is any SVGA card.  The
Windows MPEG player works with ANY SVGA card, provided it has a driver for
640x480x256 colors in Windows 3.x.

Read HELP.INSTALLING.MPEG.FOR.WINDOWS for more information (see below).

You may obtain the viewer via toe, simtel20 mirrors via ftp
(see below) or email (see SIMTEL20.EMAIL at ftp.rahul.net [192.160.13.1] in
/pub/bryanw/information, or next posting if you are reading this in a
Usenet newsgroup).  Herewith is the ftp info:

You can get the viewer from:

Site:  toe.cs.berkeley.edu [128.32.149.117]
Dir : /pub/multimedia/mpeg/Windows3.x
File: mpegexe.zip + attendant dll (such as mddlati.zip)

The viewer is also available from all simtel20 mirrors.  One
specific site I can remember is as follows:

Site:  oak.oakland.edu
Dir :  /pub/msdos/windows3
File:  mpegexe.zip, + attendant dll (such as mdllati.zip)

Here is a listing of all simtel20 mirror sites, from a recent posting by
[e-mail] (Keith Petersen) to comp.archives.msdos.announce.
Please remember to use the ftp site closest to you geographically:

SIMTEL20 files are also available by anonymous ftp from mirror sites
OAK.Oakland.Edu (141.210.10.117), wuarchive.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4),
ftp.uu.net (137.39.1.9), nic.funet.fi (128.214.6.100), src.doc.ic.ac.uk
(146.169.3.7), nic.switch.ch (130.59.1.40), archie.au (139.130.4.6),
nctuccca.edu.tw (140.111.3.21)....

Please read HELP.INSTALLING.MPEG.FOR.WINDOWS, located on
ftp.rahul.net, in /pub/bryanw/information, whence you obtained this file.
It gives tips on installation and answers many questions.  IP address for
those whose servers don't accept names:  ftp.rahul.net, 192.160.13.1

I spent a great amount of time compiling it, so I will hold a very
low opinion of anyone who asks me for help without having read the
HELP.INSTALLING.MPEG.FOR.WINDOWS file first.

However, if there is a question you have which is not answered by the
HELP.* file then please do send me email so I can add it to the HELP* file.

ii.  Berkeley MPEG player Port:  Supports 15bit-24bit displays!

The following is a verbatim transcription of an email message I
received about this other player.  It is worth a look.

--- begin ---
~Date: Mon, 29 Mar 93 10:00:08 MST
~From: [e-mail] (Russell Webb)
To: [e-mail]
~Subject: Re: FTP SITE AVAILABLE FOR MSDOS GRAPHICS/UNIX UTILITIES
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept.

I'm sorry to have seen your archive turned into a mini-archive, but
your effort is still apreciated.  Regarding the above information
you currently provide: there is another MPEG player that you may
have overlooked so far.  Check toe.cs.berkeley.edu under
/pub/multimedia/mpeg/ mpegnt.zip for a new (~March 15) Windows NT
MPEG viewer, a port of the Berkeley Unix v2.0 player.  It *will*
run under Windows 3.1, but the Win32s subsystem is required.  The
Win32s package is bundled with the Spice32/ Nutmeg32 circuit design
package that can be found on the ftp.cica.indiana.edu site (under
/pub/pc/win3/nt/spice4?.zip, I believe).  [ED. NOTE:
ftp.cica.indiana.edu's IP address is 129.79.20.84]

Why go through all the hassle of grabbing this if you don't have
Windows NT?  Because the player supports 15-bit and 24-bit color.
It looks quite nice in comparison to the Xing player or an 8-bit
X-Windows display. It's a bit slow (on my 486/50, 16M ram) and easy
to crash--but still the only free way I know of to get a
hi-color/truecolor MPEG display on a PC (short of having a 15- or
24-bit X terminal on Intel hardware).

I hope this information is a bit useful.  Thanks again for your
mini-archive and information postings.

-Russell Webb
[e-mail]
--- end ---

b. Unix X-Windows MPEG viewer

There is also an MPEG player for Unix X-windows platforms, which
supposedly works fairly well.  When I had Linux running on my
386/25 with X Windows, it worked fairly slowly, but this WAS an IBM
80386, no math compressor, and "only" 8 megs of ram.  :-)   Perhaps
you will fare better.

The term "X-Windows" encapsulates any computer which can run X-Windows
software.  These include Unix machines such as Suns, and other machines
made by Hewlett Packard, etc.  IBM computers can also emulate X-Windows
using the Linux or 386BSD Operating Systems along with a port of the X
windows environment.

For Linux information read comp.os.linux; 386BSD,
see the following newsgroups for information on 386BSD:

comp.os.386bsd.announce
comp.os.386bsd.apps
comp.os.386bsd.bugs
comp.os.386bsd.questions

Site info:

Site:  toe.cs.berkeley.edu [128.32.149.117]
Dir :  /pub/multimedia/mpeg
File:  mpeg-*

c.  Macintosh MPEG viewer

The Berkeley MPEG player seems to have provided the impetus for MPEG
viewers on every system!  The Berkeley MPEG viewer has now been ported to
the Macintosh platform as well.

Site info:

Site:  toe.cs.berkeley.edu [128.32.149.117]
Dir :  /pub/multimedia/mpeg/mac
File:  mpeg_mac_*

d.  VMS MPEG viewer

Yet another port of the Berkeley MPEG player.  Contains specific
source for VMS machines which will aid in compilation.

Site:  toe.cs.berkeley.edu [128.32.149.117]
Dir :  /pub/multimedia/mpeg/vms
File:  Browse entire subdir, snag what you need

e.  Amiga MPEG viewers

There are many MPEG viewers for the Amiga.  They are all available via
ftp from amiga.physik.unizh.ch [130.60.80.80] or one of its many mirrors.
It is highly recommended you use the mirror geographically closest to you
to reduce network bandwidth and increase transfer time.  Here is a listing
of all mirrors (including amiga.physik itself):

Switzerland  amiga.physik.unizh.ch  130.60.80.80    pub/aminet/
Switzerland  litamiga.epfl.ch       128.178.151.32  pub/aminet/
Scandinavia  ftp.luth.se            130.240.16.3    pub/aminet/
Germany      ftp.uni-kl.de          131.246.9.95    pub/aminet/
Germany      ftp.uni-erlangen.de    131.188.1.43    pub/aminet/
Germany      ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de    130.149.17.7    pub/aminet/
Germany      ftp.th-darmstadt.de    130.83.55.75    pub/aminet/
Germany      ftp.uni-paderborn.de   131.234.2.32    pub/aminet/
USA          ftp.wustl.edu          128.252.135.4   pub/aminet/
USA          merlin.etsu.edu        192.43.199.20   pub/aminet/
USA          oes.orst.edu           128.193.124.2   pub/aminet/
Australia    splat.aarnet.edu.au    192.107.107.6   pub/aminet/ (*)
   (*) closed 6:30am to 4pm weekdays

Here is a listing of filenames from the LONG.Z file.  Merely cd to the
proper subdirectory (in this case, /pub/aminet/gfx/show) and get what you
need.

                                      Days
Filename             Directory   Size/Old  Description
--------------------------------------------------------------------
mp.lha               gfx/show    45K  83 MPEG player for EHB display.
                                         Needs OS2.0
mpeg2_0amiga.lha     gfx/show    50K  40 Berkeley MPEG player 2.0
mpegplay201_bin.lha  gfx/show   147K  43+MPEG player V2.01 executable
mpegplay201_src.lha  gfx/show   170K  43+MPEG player V2.01 sources
mpeg_player122.lha   gfx/show   206K 104+MPEG Player 1.22 (for all Amigas)

You can also obtain the software via aminet using other means.  From the
README:

                         OTHER AMINET ACCESSES
                         ---------------------

There are many other ways than FTP to access AmiNet:

- ADT. This is a front end for FTP that allows easy access to AmiNet.
  Get it from comm/misc/ and compile it on your UNIX box.

- FSP. AmiNet Files can be downloaded from the FSP site disun3.epfl.ch
  port 9999. Uploads are accepted and forwarded.

- NFS. The only AmiNet site that allows NFS mounting of the archives is
  wuarchive.wust.edu. FTP there and read the details in the /README.NFS

- IRC. On Internet Relay Chat, you can talk to various server robots
  like AmiBot, MerBot or Mama, to do queries and retrievals.

- Gopher. There is a gopher server for AmiNet at merlin.etsu.edu. To
  connect, use the command 'gopher merlin.etsu.edu'.

- Modem. In Germany, you can download the AmiNet files from the Incubus
  BBS, telephone number 0931 781464. The login is 'ftp', password 'ftp'.

- Usenet. A list of recent uploads is posted every week to the newsgroups
  comp.sys.amiga.misc and de.comp.sys.amiga.misc. Useful for mail servers.

- Mailserver. Sorry, no specialized e-mail server for AmiNet yet. But you
  can use [e-mail]. Send a mail with HELP in the body.

- CD-ROM. AmiNet is available on CD-ROM. Talk to [e-mail], or write
  to Walnut Creek CDROM, 1547 Palos Verdes Mall, Walnut Creek CA 94596, USA
 or phone [phone] or [phone] (FAX)


f.  Reminders..

o Login anonymously.  I.E.

FTP server Omygosh-v2.21 "It's in there!", <c> P in a Square Ltd READY.
login:  anonymous
password:  (enter your email address here, like "[e-mail]")

...then you're in.

o Use binary mode when transferring files from ftp sites.
  I.E. "type binary" or "binary" before transferring a file.

E.g.

ftp> binary
Binary mode set.
ftp> get mpegexe.zip
...

g.  Obtaining files via email

Some of the sections above cover specific information for retrieving files
via specific means, such as for the MSWIN Xing player (via simtel20's
listservers) or the amiga (via other various means outlined in that
section).  For the remaining sections, it is possible to use the ftpmail
server.

FTPMAIL, obtaining files from a server via email which does the ftping for
you, is not the best way to obtain files via ftp, but for some it is the
only way.  To get more information, send email to [e-mail]
with the word HELP in the message body.

h.  Where to obtain MPEG files

Now that you have your glorious MPEG viewer, where to obtain MPEG files to
test your program?  Luckily there are a few sites whence many MPEGs may be
obtained.

The best site for MPEGs is toe.cs.berkeley.edu [128.32.149.117], which has
a veritable slew of MPEGs available in /pub/multimedia/mpeg/movies, and a
glorious MPEG MEGA demo, crafted by Stefan Hartmann
([e-mail]) in /pub/multimedia/mpeg/genoa.

Another good site for MPEGs is phoenix.oulu.fi [130.231.240.17], but please
use this site sparingly unless you are right next door to Finland --
bandwidth is getting expensive these days!   Most files available on
phoenix are already at toe anyhow.

Have fun!

i.  Conclusion

MPEG is a fascinating animation format which is compact yet offers lots of
animation for the space!  With ports of the MPEG player available now for
most major platforms, MPEG can now be shared by almost everyone.  I hope
you will enjoy MPEG as much as I have.  Sometimes it's annoying searching
for a viewer for your platform, but it's all worthwhile in the end.

-Bryan

--
Bryan Woodworth <[e-mail]>


===========================================================================
 XI | NEWS
==========

Well, here the news from the CEBIT'93 in Hannover GERMANY:

Nothing special happened (except the new NeXT-Station with Intel-
Board, Expansion-Slot for the Pentium and Localbus running Mach486,
X11 and Windows 3.1 under the same GUI: NeXTStep) and except the
MPEG-News:

Brainstorm was showing a Beta-Version of a player for the Atari.
Its doing I-, P- and B-Frames and could perfectly play all the Xing-Movies.
(Not sure about the big ones).

More infos from: [ and read Section III.7 ]

  Raphael Lemoine          at

  Brainstorm
  19 bis
  Rue de Cotte
  75012 Paris
  FRANCE

  Vocal:   1 - 44 67 08 09
  Fax:     1 - 44 67 08 11
  Modem:   1 - 44 67 08 44
  Fidonet: 2:320/100.4

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leadtek was showing there DOS-full-screen-MPEG-player. They double
the pixel in a tricky way, so they get 640x400 and the quality is
really good. They told me, the player (with lots of additional
software) is to buy for about $900. The contact address is:

  Mr. Terry Yeu          at

  Leadtek Research Inc.
  Computer Graphics, Multimedia Design & Manufacture

  5F, NO. 4, Alley 11, Lane 327, Sec. 2, Chung-Shan Rd.,
  Chung-Ho, Taipei Shien,
  TAIWAN R.O.C.

  Tel: [phone] Ext 113
  Fax: [phone]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sun has a new version of there 'Multimedia Solutions for Workgroup'
out. And (but this is not official), they will support MPEG, but this
was not to be seen.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ A new coding sheme for video arrived. It has NOTHING to do with MPEG,  ]
[ but it produces a fabulous frame-rate, the compression is much better, ]
[ but therefore the quality is less than MPEG. Here the news:            ]

Date: Mon, 15 Mar 93 13:58:29 EST
From: [e-mail] (Ruben Gonzalez)
Subject: Re: riscdemo- more infos please ...


> > We aim to solve these problems with our new technique. We get up to 40:1
> > compression (and rising) and frame rates of up to 100+ frames per second
> > on a standard 486 IBM PC with a standard VGA card. No fancy anything
> > is required.

We've actually improved the compression quite a nit lately.

> How does it work ?

Well basically it does a bit of vector quantisation and we try to decompose
the images into graphic primitives.

> 100 frames of which size (how many colors) ?

120 fps at 176x144, we get about 35 fps at 352x288. All in 256 colours
but there is no contouring artifacts as with *all* the other schemes that
exist.

> How do you compare it to MPEG ?

Well they get a bit more compression, but their quality is quite a bit lower.
Also the software MPEG version is not full MPEG just a portion of it. MPEG
needs to do a DCT transform in reall time which is really time consuming,
MPEG also need to do real time colour quantisation and we don't need to do
any of this in fact our decoder is only about 50 lines long :^)

Our version is fully extensible into hypermedia and full object level
interaction, whereas the MPEG stuff is restricted to only multimedia with
no intra frame- object level interaction.

> but how does it really work, whats the algorithm to reach such a compression
> without a DCT (f.e.) ?
>

Hey, a DCT does not give any compression either, it's the quantisation of and
succeeding variable length (Huffman) coding of the transform coefficents
that give rise to the compression. Of course the motion compensation also
helps.

Well as I said its a combination of adaptive vector quantisation and graphic
primitive decomposition. We also make heavy use of human visual system's
characteristics. To explain the entire algorithm would take up many pages
since it is completely original and there is nothing I could sort of
compare it too. Plus I'm not allowed to reveal certain parts of the algorithm.

For further information please refer to :

R.Gonzalez and A.Ginige, "Towards Integrating Digtial Video for Multimedia",
Australian Broadband Switching and Services Symposium'92, Melbourne Australia.

A.Ginige, A.Serevanute, R.Gonzalez et.al. "An Experimental Multimedia System"
Computer Communication Review, Vol.22, No.3, July 1992.

There are also other published papers on the algorithm floating around.

> Could you maybe send me some of your compressed video's ? Or tell me, where
> to ftp from ? Are there any documents, describing the technic ?

You should be able to ftp some videos from  : ftp.uts.edu.au under the
directory /pub/RISCvideo

I would compress some more videos but I'm busy working on the new improved
version as well as porting the algorithm to MSWindows and other platforms
and there is only one of me :(.


Ruben Gonzalez.
School of Electrical Engineering,
University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

[ The player itself is named : RISCDEMO.ZIP. ]


===========================================================================
 XII | QUESTIONS
================

These are some questions, ideas or whatever problems, where still no
solutions is found or nobody knows an answer. Please contact me via e-mail
if YOU find a solution for:

1) Is there somebody out there (maybe from the MPEG-group), that could
   rewrite the first section of this FAQ, to bring it up to MPEG-II ?

[ It looks like if somebody will do it ... but that should not stop ]
[ you to send any related information.                              ]

2) Is Xing connected to the internet or compuserve or something ?

3) Are there multimedia-specialized mailboxes out there ? Please send
   a filelisting of your mpeg-archive, a description of how to obtain
   the files, costs, connection times, telefon-numbers etc.

4) Is there a COMPLETE mpeg-stream somewhere out there ? Meaning including
   a system-, video- and audio-stream ...

5) Who can post something about the MPEG-card from Optibase ?
   Test ? Compatibility ? Prices ? PostScript- or ASCII-Documents ?

Please mail to:

  [e-mail]

if you have for inormation, than I have.

===========================================================================

The end of ...

        THE MPEG-FAQ
        ======================================================
        PHADE SOFTWARE Leibnizstr. 30, 1000 Berlin 12, GERMANY
        Inh. Frank Gadegast            Fon/Fax: [phone]

        [e-mail]

===========================================================================