diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog index fbd737c557..578ca69406 100644 --- a/ChangeLog +++ b/ChangeLog @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ +2005-01-02 Ronald S. Bultje + + * docs/random/bbb/streamselection: + Add some notes on how to handle multi-subtitle/-audio streams. + 2004-12-30 Stefan Kost * docs/gst/gstreamer-docs.sgml: @@ -8,12 +13,14 @@ * docs/gst/tmpl/gstpad.sgml: * docs/gst/tmpl/gstpadtemplate.sgml: * docs/gst/tmpl/gstthread.sgml: - removed gstenumtypes section from docs and put all the enums into their sections + removed gstenumtypes section from docs and put all the enums into + their sections 2004-12-27 Stephane Loeuillet * gst/gstplugin.c: - document gst_library_load a bit more (riff special case + return value if already loaded) + document gst_library_load a bit more (riff special case + return + value if already loaded) * testsuite/bytestream/filepadsink.c: plugin name is 'gstbytestream', not 'bytestream' diff --git a/docs/random/bbb/streamselection b/docs/random/bbb/streamselection new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..9c265499fd --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/random/bbb/streamselection @@ -0,0 +1,85 @@ +Stream selection += + +1. Problem +URIs (that being either a media stream or a media stream plus subtitle) can +contain multiple streams of a type (audio, subtitle). A user has to be given +the option of selecting one of those streams (or none alltogether). + +2. Implementation ideas +Stream selection, in GStreamer, has to be integrated at the player plugging +level, which is (in the case of Totem) playbin. Playbin offers a feature to +'mute' a stream (which means that no processing is done on that stream +alltogether, saving the decoding step). Currently, playbin will select the +first occurrence of a stream type and mute all others. A queue is connected +(for pre-roll) to the active stream. What is missing here is a way to change +the active stream. +Playbin interface - one possible interface could simply consist of a bunch of +GObject properties: 'textstream' and 'audiostream', both integer. The number +of available streams can be retrieved using the 'stream-info' GObject property. +Similar to the 'nstreams' property, we could add utility GObject properties +for getting the number of available audio/text streams ('naudiostreams' and +'ntextstreams'). Names of these streams (like language name or so) can be +added as an additional GObject property to streaminfo. Some container +formats contain such names internally. Alternatively, we could allow those +to be user-settable as well (for .sub files). +On a set of either of these properties, playbasebin would mute the old +selected stream (if any), unmute the newly selected stream (if any) and +replug the preroll queue. The queue itself is disabled as well if no new +stream was linked. Alternatively, a switch-like element is used, which +requires no replugging. Pad disabling/enabling is then enough. This also +makes relinking less painful. The switch-like element needs to proxy the +active pads' caps. However, since those caps are (in practice) always the +same accross streams, caps setting will (inside the core) immediately +return success. +The switch-like element simply works like this: += +static void +loop_func (GstElement * element) +{ + GList *inpads; + GstPad *pad; + GstData *data; + + for (inpads = ..; inpads != NULL; inpads = inpads->next) { + pad = inpads->data; + if (!GST_PAD_IS_USABLE (pad)) + continue; + + /* you'd also want some way to synchronize the inputs... */ + data = gst_pad_pull (pad); + if (is_active_pad (pad)) + gst_pad_push (srcpad, data); + else + gst_data_unref (data); + } +} += +It'd require an active-stream property itself, which (when set) takes +care of doing renegotiation and so on. Using internal pad linkage is +extremely useful here, and requires little code in the switch-like +element itself. Note that there is a slight bit of duplication in the +playbin interface and the switch-like element interface, but that's "just +the way it is". +The implemention of the switch-like element could initially be local to +playbin, until it has been cleaned up and confirmed to be useful to a +wider audience. This allows a lot of experimenting with interfaces because +we won't be forced to maintain a stable interface. +The current 'switch' element (gst-plugins/gst/switch/) already does a few +of those operations, but stream synchronization, re-negotiation on stream +changes, internal pad linkage and some other things are completely missing. +If we're gonna use this element, it'll need a large overhaul. The choice of +writing a new element or using an existing element as basis, and also the +choice of whether or not to make this element local to playbin, should be +based on technical merits and cost/effect analysis and not on personal +pride. + +Notes: +* seamless has the same switch-like element, but it's chain-based. Apart +from scheduler considerations, this is a good idea, but limits its use +(making either good docs and abuse-prevention [see multifilesrc] or +private-to-playbin a prerequisite). +* maybe text-* properties need to be renamed to subtitle-*. + +3. Written by +Ronald S. Bultje - Jan. 2nd, 2005.