Porting Theora to 353 cameras
From ElphelWiki
Elphel model 333 cameras were able to encode and stream Ogg Theora with 6.3.9 firmware. However, this model is no longer produced by Elphel. The goal of this project is to use the full potential of 353 cameras (larger FPGA, faster CPU) in order to port the Ogg Theora feature on the new hardware.
Different solutions are possible as previously mentioned in the Theora page :
- Instantiate both the Theora compressor and the MJPEG compressor in the FPGA since the new Spartan 3E seems to be large enough to handle the two features.
- Replace the existing MJPEG compressor with the Theora compressor and implement software Theora to JPEG conversion if JPEG is needed.
- Replace the existing MJPEG compressor in the 353 camera with the Theora compressor and keep two configuration files on the camera filesystem (one for Theora the other for MJPEG). FPGA code could be changed at run-time according to the needs.
Dealing with the last solution seems to be a good start for this project as the other features mentioned can be added later. In all cases, both FPGA code and software code will need to be adapted.
Hardware updates
- Replace the MJPEG compressor in the 353 with the 333 Theora compressor (333 Theora FPGA code). Maybe some adaptations need to be done within the Theora compressor itself.
- Replace the 4-channel memory controller with an 8-channel memory interface as in the 333 model in order to handle Theora specific data.
- Adapt the system interface to assure communication between FPGA and its environment.
- Adapt the interrupts vector since some irq are specific to the Theora encoder.
- ...?
Software updates
- Adapt FPGA definitions (x353.h) and most likely some other FPGA drivers.
- Implement an Ogg Theora streamer.
- ...?
These lists of update are obviously incomplete. They need to be more detailed in order to make an exhaustive list of the changes that have to be done.
