[LAU] Linux Video Users ?

[tim hall]

Marc-Olivier Barre wrote:

> Another question I'd like to raise: is there a list where audio devs
> meet video devs to work together or is it some new concept to launch ?

Doing this on a pan-distro level could be novel, however my experience 
of being involved with the debian-multimedia list for some time suggests 
to me that the state of play with graphical media is more disparate than 
audio. Some things, like X are so much part of the core of any system 
that developers are unlikely to have time or interest for outreach or 
specific-interest groups. 3D Graphics present a different and sometimes 
incompatible (with audio) set of problems, which leaves video out on its 
own, albeit that it shares a need for real-time efficiency with audio.

One of the other problems here is that developer issues are not always 
congruent with user issues. This is one of the biggest failings of 
open-source development IMO and, at present, it only seems possible to 
deal with this on a distribution level. Even then, there is an 
assumption that any useful application will naturally attract developers 
and maintainers. While this is pragmatic for developers themselves, it 
means that certain areas remain under-developed. I'm thinking of things 
like MIDI support; sampler format compatibility; the lack of 
standardised graphical configuration tools and indeed video/audio 
synchronisation. And let's not even start on the either/or nature of 3D 
graphics and real-time audio! :|

This isn't an argument against the idea at all, but I barely have time 
to keep up with LAU as it is, so I won't be joining any new lists 
despite my interest in the issues.

Sorry to be expressing so many reservations.

cheers,

tim
/|\