Some hints for getting started WAS: Let's go for it then...

Yves et al,

> My 'assignment' is mostly directed towards the encoding part so I'm
planning
> to spent most of my time on that part.  However, I don't think you can
see
> them both seperatly.

Yes, this is my opinion too. If you start the work on Encoder and
Decoder together, you are more flexible to get a first milestone.

As Aitor already suggested, a first milestone can be an compliant
intra coder. I think a first mile stone can be an Encoder (and the
suitable Decoder) which is able to encode luminance information of MBs
in Intra16x16 with DC-prediction only. For this simple task you will
need already many of the core components of h.264: prediction, dct,
quant, dequant, idct, reconstruction and entropy-coding (either
UVLC/CAVLC or CABAC). For the actual codec you will need additional
tools like bitstream management, memory management, reference frame
management, parameter-IO (okay, perhaps not for this first version ;),
and so on.

If you got this C-written very simple (and not neccessarily H.264
compliant) Codec working, you can add more and more functionality to
it. Note that those following task can be done independently.

- add chroma coding
- add the remaining three Intra16x16 prediction modes
- add Intra4x4
- add the other entropy-coding method
- optimize core components with assembler (but try to keep your
  C-sources working - for compatibility)
- ...

If you have this, then you can test this real intra coder with the
reference software. ;)

An additional suggestion: While the development of the first codec
version is in progress, you should start to create an test
application for it. Searching bugs like wrong coeffs after entropy
encoding/decoding can take a very long time if you only have a
standard debugger... ;)

Ciao
Steffen.



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