[x264-devel] x264 Development Newsletter: Vol 25

[Jason Garrett-Glaser]

This is the twenty-fifth x264 development newsletter. This is a
regular email containing updates on fixes and improvements in the most
recent x264 push, along with  updates on what's coming next.  Previous
versions can be found in the mailing list archives.

Fixes:

Improve the yasm version check to stop allowing certain versions that
weren't fully compatible.

Force PIC on PARISC and MIPS.

Fix a possible crash in the case of failing to open a timecode file.

Fix checkasm build on ARM, eliminate some gcc warnings, and fix some
function naming.

Improvements:

Improve the makefile rules to eliminate the need for "make clean"
after most reconfigures.

AVX symmetry optimization in x86inc macro system: backported from libav.

Pass through user data: make the opaque pointer in x264_picture_t
passed through the encoder.

Detect and properly hand YUV range (full vs limited) in x264cli.  This
adds an --input-range and --range option to the CLI: the first forces
a given input range if the user wants (in case of misdetection), and
the latter forces a given output range.  The CLI will convert as
necessary.  --fullrange no longer exists.

Faster CABAC trellis; use SIMD quant.

Upcoming:

Google Code-In is ongoing, with lots of new assembly code incoming.

--device and automatic --level restriction support is in the works, as
part of Google Code-In.  The patch is done, but needs review and adoption.

A per-option help system is in the works, as part of Google Code-In.
The patch is done, but needs editing of the help entries.

x262 is under development: a best-in-class MPEG-2 encoder built using
the x264 framework.  Both P and B-frames are done and working.

Google Summer of Code is over, and the two projects, Trellis ME and
H.264/MVC support, are being finished up.  Pegasys Inc. has also
submitted their own MVC patch, which can be seen here:
http://pastebin.com/qZ1xSmuc

Jason Garrett-Glaser

The x264 Team