theora

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The Xiph.org Foundation's libtheora 1.0alpha5 release
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*** What is Theora?

Theora is Xiph.Org's first publicly released video codec, intended
for use within the Foundation's Ogg multimedia streaming system.
Theora is derived directly from On2's VP3 codec; Currently the two are
nearly identical, varying only in encapsulating decoder tables in the
bitstream headers, but Theora will make use of this extra freedom
in the future to improve over what is possible with VP3.

*** Where is Theora?

Theora's main site is www.theora.org. Theora and related libraries
can be gotten from www.theora.org or the main Xiph.Org site at
www.xiph.org. Development source is kept in an open subversion
repository, see http://theora.org/svn.html for instructions.

*** What is the goal of this alpha release?

The Theora bitstream format was frozen after the alpha3 release. This
means that files produced by the alpha3 encoder will always be playable
according to the Theora I specification.

Traditionally alpha mean proof of concept, not a production-ready
release. However the code is very robust, ready for and indeed
in general use.

The purpose of this release is to provide an updated testing base for
those interested in theora and to dissiminate more widely the changes
we've made since the last alpha release. These include some helper
utility functions, a draft format specification and api documentation
located in the doc directory.

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Getting started with the code
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*** What do I need to build the source?

Requirements summary:

For libtheora:

libogg 1.1 or newer.
(there is optional support for libogg2, unreleased at this time)

For example encoder:

as above

libvorbis and libvorbisenc 1.0.1 or newer.

For the player only:

as above,

SDL (Simple Direct media Layer) libraries and headers

OSS audio driver and development headers

The provided build system is the GNU automake/autoconf system, and
the main library, libtheora, should already build smoothly on any
system. Failure of libtheora to build on a GNU-enabled system is
considered a bug; please report problems to theora-dev@xiph.org.

Some windows build support is included in the win32 directory.

*** How do I use the sample encoder?

The sample encoder takes raw video in YUV4MPEG2 format, as used by
lavtools, mjpeg-tools and other packages. Snatch and MPlayer version
0.90 and later can also export in YUV4MPEG format (more on this
later). The encoder take audio as WAV files. encoder_example -h
lists options accepted by the encoder.

An easy way to get raw video and audio files is to use MPlayer as an
export utility. The options " -ao pcm -vo yuv4mpeg " will export a
wav file named audiodump.wav and a YUV video file in the correct
format for encoder_example as stream.yuv. Be careful when exporting
video alone; MPlayer may drop frames to 'keep up' with the audio
timer. The example encoder can't properly synchronize input audio and
video file that aren't in sync to begin with.

The encoder will also take video or audio on stdin if '-' is specified
as the input file name.

*** How do I use the sample player?

The sample player takes an Ogg file on standard in; the file may be
audio alone, video alone or video with audio.

*** What other tools are available?

If you're wanting to just use theora, consider the programs linked
from http://www.theora.org/. There is playback support in a number
of common free players, and Jan Gerber's ffmpeg2theora is an excellent
encoding front end.

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Troubleshooting the build process
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*** Compile error, such as:

encoder_internal.h:664: parse error before `ogg_uint16_t'

This means you have version of libogg prior to 1.1. A *complete* new Ogg
install, libs and headers, from a new release or CVS is needed. Don't
forget to re-reun autogen.sh so that autoconf sucks in the new type
declarations.

Also be sure that there aren't multiple copies of Ogg installed in
/usr and /usr/local; an older one might be first on the search path
for libs and headers.

*** Link error, such as:

undefined reference to `oggpackB_stream'

See above; you need libogg 1.1 or later.

*** Link error, such as:

undefined reference to `vorbis_granule_time'

You need libvorbis and libvorbisenc from the 1.0.1 release or later.

*** Link error, such as:

/usr/lib/libSDL.a(SDL_esdaudio.lo): In function `ESD_OpenAudio':
SDL_esdaudio.lo(.text+0x25d): undefined reference to `esd_play_stream'

Be sure to use an SDL that's built to work with OSS. If you use an
SDL that is also built with ESD and/or ALSA support, it will try to
suck in all those extra libraries at link time too. That will only
work if the extra libraries are also installed.

*** Link warning, such as:

libtool: link: warning: library `/usr/lib/libogg.la' was moved.
libtool: link: warning: library `/usr/lib/libogg.la' was moved.

Re-run theora/autogen.sh after an Ogg or Vorbis rebuild/reinstall