SoC: DirectShow/Gstreamer

[Trevor Davenport]

Hi,

I'm interested in applying for a GSoC project related to wine.  I am
looking at doing the DirectShow/Gstreamer idea that is listed in the
wiki (http://wiki.winehq.org/SummerOfCode).  From the idea description
there are a number of factors that would make this an ideal solution.
The description mentions the availability of legal codecs (from
fluendo) plus the ability to use the codecs already exposed to
gstreamer (ie. install a codec and native/wine applications instantly
get support).

Recently GStreamer has added some pipeline elements targeted at
integrating with other frameworks (appsrc/appsink) which allow sending
data down a gstreamer pipeline and/or recieving it.  Prior to these
you had to write your own element (this wasn't too much work either
depending on your needs and may still be preferred for more
compatibility).

I am quite familiar with both C and GStreamer.  I have never looked at
DirectShow though from what i know they are similar in concept.
GStreamer does have some DirectShow filters that allow it to use
directshow elements inside GStreamer (on windows anyway).

My experience with wine has been limited to my own experiments.  I've
played around with audio drivers for wine.  I wrote one that used
GStreamer and later adjusted this to use pulseaudio instead.  I never
got time to clean them up to the point of submitting them.

I have a few questions in regard to this idea.  Do you think this
project would provide adequate work to occupy the SoC timeframe?  I
would have to learn DirectShow which I don't believe would be too
difficult.  I've worked with DirectSound/DirectX and would expect it
to require a similiar amount of work.  I've also spent a fair amount
of time inside wine's source code looking into various bugs.

I welcome any comments, suggestions or idea related to this.  I'd love
any feedback so I know this is an idea that is wanted (i would like
it...i use wine quite often) and so my application is as good as it
can be.

Cheers,
Trevor Davenport