Student interested in XBMC for GSoC 2008

[Rudd]

Hey! I thought I'd take the time to introduce myself since I'm interested in applying to XBMC for the Google Summer of Code and you guys mentioned it might be a good idea :)

I'm currently a Junior in Computer Science and Engineering. My interests are primarily related to systems programming and signal processing(this is where XBMC comes in). I thought that a GSoC project for a media player or codec would be right down my alley as it would help me expand my skills a a programmer as well as expand my knowledge in 2D signal processing. XBMC caught my eye as I remembered using it quite frequently back in the day(sadly, I have not made much use of it since I put my Xbox out to pasture.) The project that most interests me at the moment is the implementation of hardware h.264 encoding(in fact, I think I will also be submitting a proposal for x.264 as well).

Well, that's enough about me I guess. Feels extremely weird making a public post about myself. Anyways, I look forward to speaking with some of you in the future, and will give one of those qualification tasks a try.

[jmarshall]

Hi and welcome :)

We require a small qualification task to be undertaken, of your choice. Since you want to play with codecs, perhaps one of the ffmpeg qualifying tasks (see their GSoC stuff) is appropriate? Otherwise, anything you want to work on initially is more than welcome. I presume you are referring to decoding rather than encoding by the way ;)

We look forward to see what you come up with.

Cheers,
Jonathan

[agathorn]

Dude hardware h264 decoding would rock!

[Gamester17]

Hello Rudd, and welcome to our community! :grin:

I also assume that you mean H.264 decoding (and not H.264 encoding, as XBMC do not do any video encoding)?
Se the article about GPU assisted video decoding in our wiki: http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=Hardware_Accelerated_Video_Decoding

PS! x264 (http://www.videolan.org/developers/x264.html) is only a H.264 encoder as far as I know, ...and XBMC uses the FFmpeg (http://www.ffmpeg.org) software decoder for H.264, see:
http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=DVDPlayer

[Rudd]

Haha, yes, sorry I definitely meant DEcoder. It slipped out because I've been looking at lot of x.264 stuff while looking for interesting projects. I'll definitely take a look at that posted article, thanks!

Also, who do I need to bug for edit access on the wiki? I think I'd like to attempt the addition of libass support to DVDPlayer(assuming it hasn't been done already.)

Thanks for the replies.

[spiff]

because our wiki was vandalized by idiots

[Gamester17]

Also, who do I need to bug for edit access on the wiki?Create an account then PM pike (http://xbmc.org/forum/member.php?u=7070) and ask for "ninja" status for that account should be fastest.


I think I'd like to attempt the addition of libass support to DVDPlayer(assuming it hasn't been done already.No it is still available for you to pick. Checkout these two topic-threads for some hits and tips:
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6982
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=32116

Start a new topic-thread in the one of the development subforums about libass if you have any questions

:cool: