ABOUT LIBMPEG2libmpeg2 is a free library for decoding mpeg-2 and mpeg-1 videostreams. It is released under the terms of the GPL license.The main goals in libmpeg2 development are:      *	Conformance - libmpeg2 is able to decode all mpeg streams that	conform to certain restrictions: "constrained parameters" for	mpeg-1, and "main profile" for mpeg-2. In practice, this is	what most people are using. For streams that follow these	restrictions, we believe libmpeg2 is 100% conformant to the	mpeg standards - and we have a pretty extensive test suite to	check this.      *	Speed - there has been huge efforts there, and we believe	libmpeg2 is the fastest library around for what it	does. Please tell us if you find a faster one ! With typical	video streams as found on DVD's, and doing only decoding with	no display, you should be able to get about 110 fps on a	PIII/666, or 150 fps on an Athlon/950. This is less than 20	cycles per output pixel. In a real player program, the display	routines will probably take as much time as the actual	decoding !      *	Portability - most of the code is written in C, and when we	use platform-specific optimizations (typically assembly	routines, currently used for the motion compensation and the	inverse cosine transform stages) we always have a generic C	routine to fall back on.  This should be portable to all	architectures - at least we have heard reports from people	running this code on x86, ppc, sparc, arm and	sh4. Assembly-optimized implementations are available on x86	(MMX) and ppc (altivec) architectures. Ultrasparc (VIS) is	probably the next on the list - we'll see.      *	Reuseability - we do not want libmpeg2 to include any	project-specific code, but it should still include enough	features to be used by very diverse projects. We are only	starting to get there - the best way to help here is to give	us some feedback !The project homepage is at http://libmpeg2.sourceforge.net/MPEG2DECmpeg2dec is a test program for libmpeg2. It decodes mpeg-1 and mpeg-2video streams, and also includes a demultiplexer for mpeg-1 and mpeg-2program streams. It is purposely kept simple : it does not includefeatures like reading files from a DVD, CSS, fullscreen output,navigation, etc... The main purpose of mpeg2dec is to have a simpletest bed for libmpeg2.The libmpeg2 source code is always distributed in the mpeg2decpackage, to make it easier for people to test it.The basic usage is to just type "mpeg2dec file" where file is ademultiplexed mpeg video file.The "-s" option must be used for multiplexed (audio and video) mpegfiles using the "program stream" format. These files are usualy foundon the internet or on unencrypted DVDs.The "-t" option must be used for multiplexed (audio and video) mpegfiles using the "transport stream" format. These files are usualyfound in digital TV applications.The "-o" option is used to select a given output module - for exampleto redirect the output to a file. This is also used for performancetesting and conformance testing.The "-c" option is used to disable all optimizations.OTHER PROJECTS USING LIBMPEG2libmpeg2 is being used by various other projects, including:      *	xine (http://xine.sourceforge.net/) - started as a simple	mpeg-2 audio and video decoder, but it since became a	full-featured DVD and video media player.      *	VideoLAN (http://www.videolan.org/) - video streaming over an	ethernet network, can also be used as a standalone player.      *	MPlayer (http://www.MPlayerHQ.hu) - another good player, it is	also very robust against damaged streams.      *	movietime (http://movietime.sourceforge.net/) - still quite	young, but it looks very promising !      *	mpeg2decX (http://homepage1.nifty.com/~toku/software_en.html) -	a graphical interface for mpeg2dec for macintosh osX.      *	TCVP (http://tcvp.sf.net) - video and music player for unix.      *	drip (http://drip.sourceforge.net/) - a DVD to DIVX transcoder.      *	PoMP	(http://www.dmclab.hanyang.ac.kr/research/project/PoDS/PoDS_sw.htm) -	a research player optimized to minimize disk power consumption.      *	OMS (http://www.linuxvideo.org/oms/)      *	XMPS (http://xmps.sourceforge.net/)      *	GStreamer (http://www.gstreamer.net/) - a framework for	streaming media; it has an mpeg2 decoding plugin based on	libmpeg2.      *	mpeglib (http://mpeglib.sourceforge.net/) - a video decoding	library that usess libmpeg2 when decoding mpeg streams.      *	daphne (http://daphne.rulecity.com/) - a laserdisc arcade game	simulator.      *	GOPchop (http://outflux.net/unix/software/GOPchop/) - a	GOP-accurate editor for MPEG2 streams.If you use libmpeg2 in another project, let us know !TASKSThere are several places where we could easily use some help:      *	Documentation: libmpeg2 still has no documentation. Every	project using it has had to figure things out by looking at	the header files, at the mpeg2dec sample application, and by	asking questions. Writing down a nice documentation would make	the code more easily reuseable.      *	Testing: If you find any stream that does not decode right	with libmpeg2, let us know ! The best thing would be to mail	to the libmpeg2-devel mailing list. Also, it would be nice to	build a stress test so we can make sure libmpeg2 never crashes	on bad streams.      *	Coding: There is a small TODO list in the mpeg2dec package,	you can have a look there ! Most items are pretty terse	though.      *	Porting: If you're porting to a new architecture, you might	want to experiment with the compile flags defined in	configure.in . When you figure out whats fastest on your	platform, send us a patch !      *	Assembly optimizations: We only have x86 and altivec	optimizations yet, it would be worthwhile writing routines for	other architectures, especially those that have SIMD	instruction set extensions ! Also the yuv2rgb x86 routines	could probably be optimized a lot.CVS SNAPSHOTSA daily snapshot is created using "make distcheck" every night anduploaded to http://libmpeg2.sourceforge.net/files/mpeg2dec-snapshot.tar.gz .It is easier to use than the CVS repository, because you do not needto have the right versions of automake, autoconf and libtoolinstalled. It might be convenient when working on a libmpeg2 port forexample.CVS REPOSITORYThe latest libmpeg2 and mpeg2dec source code can always be found byanonymous CVS:# export CVSROOT=:pserver:anonymous@cvs.libmpeg2.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/libmpeg2# cvs login (Just press Return when prompted for a password)# cvs checkout mpeg2decYou can also browse the latest changes online athttp://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/libmpeg2/mpeg2dec/The other CVS modules are mpeg2dec-streams for the test suite, andmpeg2dec-livid for the CVS history of the project while it was stillhosted on the linuxvideo.org servers.MAILING LISTSSee the subscription information at http://libmpeg2.sourceforge.net/lists.htmllibmpeg2-develThis is the main mailing list for technical discussion aboutlibmpeg2. Anyone wanting to work on libmpeg2, or maybe just stayinformed about the development process, should probably subscribe tothis list.libmpeg2-checkinsAll libmpeg2 checkins are announced there. This is a good way to keeptrack of what goes into CVS.libmpeg2-announceThis is a very low traffic mailing list, only for announcements of newversions of libmpeg2. Only project administrators can post there.