coolux QT codec

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coolux QT codec

Postby florian » Tue Apr 21, 2015 3:25 pm

Hi,

several of us beta testers have been doing a lot of tests with the coolux QT codec. the promise of one day being able to hand content producers an installer and have them arrive with properly encoded media for immediate spreading and playback is very alluring. oh yes :)

I was wondering when we might see this go live?

As it is, the DL link we have is totally unversioned, and the general vibe is that if you start having issues going and downloading that same file will get you a (likely) newer build.

When can we start looking for a version that is on the Support->Downloads page, and is tested for working with the current release?

I know 2 people have contacted me at this point about files they encode with it showing up in the inspector as being only 1 second long.

Thanks!
-flo

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Re: coolux QT codec

Postby mkohler » Wed Apr 22, 2015 5:03 pm

+1 This should be pretty high on the list. No one really wants to use MPEG anymore and the QT codec is the prime reason for upgrading to the SSD machines. Also can Pandora's box just natively support HAP like other systems? It seems like the Coolux codec is embarrassingly similar to HAP which most of our content creators already understand and feel comfortable with. Are there any technical benefits to using image sequences or the Coolux codec versus HAP which I think at this point we can say is a standard?
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Re: coolux QT codec

Postby Daniel Kaminski » Wed Apr 22, 2015 6:11 pm

Hi,

we are working hard on the codec and it will be officially released in the near future.

At this point coolux is not going to implement HAP or HAPQ.
The developers looked at it, and the way we handle this technology gives us a better performance and more control.

Also the coolux codec supports more than just DDS or DDS with Alpha.
There is also YCoCG Support which is similar to HAPQ.
Also we have support for PNG and BMP ImageSequences as well as ImageSeq inside a MOV Container.
And all this inside 1 codec.

You can choose if you want to use a ImageSeq or a MOV Container. Booth ways have benefits and downsides.

Single MOV Container:
+ single file, faster copy
+ can be played back on any system MAC or PC with codec installed
- bad for download over a bad connection
- no partial content replacement

Image Seq:
+ easy to replace frames
+ can be played back forward, backwards or bounced
+ can be rendered by multiple computers and put together
- many files get get confusing very fast
- longer Filetranfers because of the many files

So, as you see depending on your workflow and your production needs booth setups have benefits and downsides.

And since we are at it here is also a short list of benefits and downsides of the different Options inside the Coolux Codec:

DDS
+ very high performance (best choice if you need to playback maximum amount of files)
+ good quality
+ supports Alpha Channel (DDSA)
+ very good ratio filesize vs quality
+ can be used with snappy compression
- needs a long time to encode
- not uncompressed, has some artifacts in computer generated color gradients

YCoCg
+ similar to DDS but better quality
+ good for camera shot videos (Natur, Interviews, and so on)
+ great performance
+ can be used with snappy compression
- no Alpha support
- needs long to encode
- not uncompressed, has some artifacts in computer generated color gradients
- depending on the content quality can be worse than DDS


PNG
+ great quality
+ looseless compression
+ very small files
+ can be used with snappy compression
+ supports Alpha (PNG32)
- needs a lot of CPU Power during playback
+/- encoding time is medium

BMP
+ great quality
+ uncompressed
+ no decoding or decompression (very fast)
+ fast encoding
+ Alpha Support (BMP32)
+ can be used with snappy compression
+ very good for high quality computer generated content (Animated Content with Text or for LED Walls with short viewing distances, like on Car Shows)
- huge files
- needs a lot of HD Space


Daniel
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Re: coolux QT codec

Postby mkohler » Wed Apr 22, 2015 7:52 pm

Thanks, This is super helpful, and should be included in the documentation somewhere. Can you speak to the rev 2015 Server hardware's ability to playback ProRes or Uncompressed animation in a similar way to this guide to your codecs?

Thanks!
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Re: coolux QT codec

Postby Daniel Kaminski » Tue Apr 28, 2015 6:38 am

I can only tell you a few thing.
It does play them, but we strongly recommend not use any of these formats (ProRes, Animation or H264) for shows.

a) they depend on Quicktime and are not naively implemented
b) performance is very weak compared to other codecs
c) Apples Quicktime Implementation for PC is also very poor
d) QT Animation comes in multiple undocumented flavors, which are not all supported, problem is, thery are only labeled "Animation" without any way of distinguishing between them
e) Sync can not be guarantied across multiple Servers

So if you only have to playback 1 or 2 Videos on 1 server, you will probably be fine, but if you want and need more performance and reliability stay away form these Codecs for playback.
Booth are very good for transport and than re-encoding into other codecs.

Daniel
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Re: coolux QT codec

Postby mkohler » Tue Apr 28, 2015 4:26 pm

Thanks. I ended up using image sequences because the Coolux Quicktime Converter appears to have a defect with packaging the coolux formats into MOV containers. Files at 30 FPS that were longer than a minute or two tended to import into Pandoras Box Media Manager at 25FPS with no way to correct it resulting in loss of audio sync. I can provide sample files if anyone is interested in this.
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Re: coolux QT codec

Postby florian » Tue Apr 28, 2015 4:53 pm

For what it's worth:

I've been hearing from some other users that apparently Quicktime Player still reports the correct FPS and duration for files that show up in PB Manager with the wrong timing data. It seems like this is likely an issue with the way Manager reads these files, not the encoder.
-flo

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Re: coolux QT codec

Postby Daniel Kaminski » Tue Apr 28, 2015 5:34 pm

we are always interested.
Did you use the latest PB Rev? 11116?

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Re: coolux QT codec

Postby mkohler » Wed Apr 29, 2015 4:02 pm

Yes, what florian is reporting is exactly my issue. QT and After Effects both report the correct frame rate (and thus length of the file). Only Media Manager sees the file incorrectly. I am indeed using 11116.

Thanks,
MK
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Re: coolux QT codec

Postby Daniel Kaminski » Wed Apr 29, 2015 4:31 pm

Can you please upload the file somewhere for us to downlaod, so that we can check it.
Can you also let me know which settings you used?

DDS, PNG, BMP or YCoCg?
with or without Snappy?

We will try to replicate this and fix it pretty fast.

I just did 2 Productions in a row with a lot of content at 25 and 50 fps and had no issues at all.
I had everything from 30 sec to 9 min long Videos.
I used BMP Snappy and DDS Snappy always inside MOV Containers.

Daniel
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Re: coolux QT codec

Postby Daniel Kaminski » Tue May 05, 2015 3:18 pm

Please read this post for the latest information on the Coolux Quicktime Codec

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3730
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