Community Goals

The FOMS participants discussed key issues that open media systems are facing in the current environment:

  1. Patent FUD around open codecs
  2. RTP streaming for open codecs
  3. Video and audio metadata specifications
  4. Open web video technology
  5. Comprehensive open media software tools
  6. Cross-platform audio API for PCM audio capture and playback
  7. Next-generation container formats

The following short-term goals were agreed on:

  • Patents: how to deal with patent FUD
    • document, document, document - put everything on record
    • essentially build up your own virtual "patent pool" through documents
    • also publish why you think you're unencumbered
    • build up a body of allies & supporters
  • RTP/RTSP streaming:
    • develop a specification of Dirac over RTP
  • Metadata:
    • many metadata formats exist, but we need to design metadata so it can be multiplexed into the binary media files
    • Ogg recommendation for metadata and subtitles is CMML
    • improve the design of CMML
    • create a skeleton description format separate to CMML to describe dependencies between tracks
  • Tool support:
    • talk to people to find out what applications are required and prioritise them
    • one low-hanging fruit is the development of ffmpeg2dirac based on ffmpeg2theora
    • development of gui wrappers to ffmpeg2theora for major OSs
    • development of a browser extension for ffmpeg2theora for hosting sites, such that the transcoding is done client-side
  • Web video:
    • encourage W3C to undertake a patent search and put out a call to patent holders to speak up now
    • research javascript API inconsistencies and provide feedback to WHAT WG as input to the HTML5 standard
    • encourage mv_embed adoption in CMSs
  • PCM audio API:
    • complete the design of libsydney
    • finish first full implementation of libsydney
  • Next-generation container formats:
    • proposed improvements to Ogg need documentation
    • extract bit packer out of libogg to avoid perception that Xiph codecs can only be used within Ogg

The following long-term goals were agreed on:

  • Create implementations for Vorbis and Theora over RTP
  • Extend open media tool support for transcoding, editing, hosting
  • Work towards best practices to do platform-independent audio
Melbourne by mugley
Melbourne at night - Photo by mugley

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