CodecSupport

Please check the status of this specification in Launchpad before editing it. If it is Approved, contact the Assignee or another knowledgeable person before making changes.

  • Launchpad entry: none yet

  • Packages affected:

Summary

Ubuntu Media Center should provide a huge codec support in order to be able to play most (all!) of the existing media formats.

Implementation

Ubuntu Feisty will come with a package called ubuntu-restricted-extras which installs main non-free codecs (multiverse repository). This package should be included by default in Ubuntu Media Center.

Codecs

The following table shows the audio and video codecs that are expected to be supported by the UMC.

It is based upon the assumption that the UMC will rely upon the Elisa software, so will be using the gstreamer framework.

1 : Gstreamer MonkeyAudio plugin has never been ported to 0.10 . MAC isn't even packaged in Ubuntu/MediBuntu due to licencing problems : see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/119412

2 : RealAudio codecs are a mess with at least 9 variants : (dnet, atrc, raac and racp are the only 'standard' ones)

  • Code

    Name

    Minimum Version

    Codec

    lpcJ

    IS-54 VSELP

    1

    28_8

    G.728 LD-CELP

    2

    ffdec_real_288

    dnet

    Dolby AC3

    3

    a52dec/ac3parse

    sipr

    Sipro Lab Telecom ACELP-NET

    4/5

    cook

    G2/Cook Codec

    6

    ffdec_cook

    atrc

    Sony ATRAC3

    8

    raac

    MPEG-4 LC-AAC

    9

    faad

    racp

    MPEG-4 HE-AAC

    10

    faad

    ralf

    RealAudio Lossless Format

    10

    Video Codecs

    Codec name

    Free

    Proprietary

    Commercial

    Xiph/Ogg Theora

    X (theoradec/ffdec_theora)

    Xiph/Ogg Dirac (3)

    X (schrodec)

    Microsoft WMV

    X (ffdec_wmv1,2,3)

    X (gst-fluendo-wmvdec)

    MPEG2

    X (mpeg2dec)

    X (gst-fluendo-mpeg2video)

    MPEG4-ASP (DivX/Xvid)

    X (ffdec_mpeg4)

    X

    MPEG4-AVC/H264 (MP4)

    X (ffdec_h264)

    X

3 : Dirac plugin is still in the works but is available in Ubuntu repositories.

  • Container formats (Demuxers)

    Container

    Free

    Proprietary

    Commercial

    Microsoft RIFF (WAV/AVI)

    X (avidemux/wavparse)

    Microsoft ASF (WMA/WMV)

    X (asfdemux/ffdemux_asf)

    X (gst-fluendo-asf)

    MPEG ES/Elementary Stream

    X

    MPEG SS/System Stream

    X (mpegparse)

    MPEG2 PS/Program Stream

    X (ffdemux_mpeg)

    X (flupsdemux)

    MPEG2 TS/Transport Stream

    X (ffdemux_mpegts)

    X (flutsdemux)

    MPEG4-ISO/QT/MOV/3GP/MP4

    X (qtdemux)

    X (gst-fluendo-isofile)

    Xiph/Ogg

    X (oggdemux)

    Ogm

    X (ogm_audio/video/text_parse)

    Matroska (MKV/MKA)

    X (matroskademux/ffdemux_matroska)

    Real Media (RM/RMA/RMVB)

    X (rmdemux)

    MXF

    X (ffdemux_mxf)

    DivX Media Format (DMF)

    ?

    Network protocols

    Protocol

    Free

    Proprietary

    Commercial

    Microsoft MMS

    X (mmssrc)

    X (?)

    RTCP+RTP

    RTSP+RTP

    X (rtspsrc/rtpdec)

    RTSP+RDT (Real Data Transport)

    X (rtspsrc/rdtdepay)

Packages

Here is the list of packages providing codecs:

  • free: gst-plugins-base-0.10, gstreamer0.10-plugins-good, gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad(-multiverse), gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly(-multiverse), gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg, gstreamer0.10-schroedinger (Dirac)
  • proprietary:

  • commercial :

    (De)muxers

    gst-fluendo-mpegdemux (4), gst-fluendo-mpegmux (4), gst-fluendo-isofile, gst-fluendo-asf, gst-fluendo-asfmux

    Audio Codecs

    gst-fluendo-mp3 (4), gst-fluendo-ac3dec, gst-fluendo-wmadec/enc, gst-fluendo-realdec, gst-fluendo-alsaspdif

    Video Codecs

    gst-fluendo-wmvdec, gst-fluendo-mpeg2video

4 : available in Ubuntu repositories. Others could be bought from Fluendo site or builded from their source repository.

CategorySpec UbuntuMediaCenterTeam

MediaCenter/CodecSupport (last edited 2008-08-06 16:22:07 by localhost)