Technical Q&A QA1438

Using the QuickTime DVCompressor properties

Q: Can the kQTPropertyClass_DVCompressor properties only be used with a DV codec or do they also work with the DV export component?Additionally, what do the kDVCompressorPropertyID_ProgressiveScan and kDVCompressorPropertyID_AspectRatio16x9 properties actually set?

A: The kQTPropertyClass_DVCompressor properties ( kDVCompressorPropertyID_ProgressiveScan and kDVCompressorPropertyID_AspectRatio16x9 ) are supported by both the DV25 and DV50 compressor components as well as the DV export component.

These properties are supported via QTGetComponentPropertyInfo, QTGetComponentProperty and QTSetComponentProperty APIs. They are also part of the serialized DV compressor settings stored and restored with ImageCodecGetSettings and ImageCodecSetSettings.

These DVCompressor class properties cause the corresponding flags to be set for the encoded DV frames; Frames marked as progressive-scan when kDVCompressorPropertyID_ProgressiveScan is set, and frames marked as having a 16:9 picture aspect ratio when kDVCompressorPropertyID_AspectRatio16x9 is set.

When used with the compressor components, these DVCompressor properties will also add the appropriate Field/Frame Information ('fiel'), Clean Aperture ('clap') and Pixel Aspect Ratio ('pasp') Image Description Extensions to describe the content.

To retrieve these properties from Image Descriptions without calling GetImageDescriptionExtension directly, use the ICMImageDescriptionGetProperty API introduced in QuickTime 7.

Dumpster version 7.0.1 will display several of these Image Description Extensions, including:

Field/Frame Information - 'fiel'

Clean Aperture - 'clap'

Pixel Aspect Ratio - 'pasp'

Color parameters - 'colr'

Listing 1: Setting DVCompressor properties on the DV Export Component.

// Set the ProgressiveScan and AspectRatio16x9 properties for the DV Export Component
//
// inProgressiveScan - if set to true, the compressed frames will be marked as
//                     progressive-scan. If set to false the frames will be marked as
//                     interlaced.
// inAspectRatio16x9 - if set to true, the compressor will use a 16:9 picture
//                     aspect ratio. If set to false, the compressor will use the
//                     default 4:3 picture aspect ratio.
OSStatus SetDVExportProperties(MovieExportComponent inDVExporter,
                               Boolean inProgressiveScan,
                               Boolean inAspectRatio16x9)
{
    OSStatus status;

    if (NULL == inDVExporter) return paramErr;

    // set the properties we want
    status = QTSetComponentProperty(inDVExporter, // DV export component instance
                                    kQTPropertyClass_DVCompressor,           // property class
                                    kDVCompressorPropertyID_ProgressiveScan, // property
                                    sizeof(inProgressiveScan),  // size
                                    &inProgressiveScan);        // value
    if (status) goto bail;

    status = QTSetComponentProperty(inDVExporter, // DV export component instance
                                    kQTPropertyClass_DVCompressor,           // property class
                                    kDVCompressorPropertyID_AspectRatio16x9, // property
                                    sizeof(inAspectRatio16x9), // size
                                    &inAspectRatio16x9);       // value

bail:
    return status;
}

The Image Compression Manager Session APIs allow attaching a serialized settings handle to the ICMCompressionSessionOptions object. This allows applications to use custom codec settings without the need to specifically open a compressor instance, configure it, use it throughout the compression operation and close it when done as was required by the older Compression Sequence API.

Listing 2: Setting DVCompressor properties for a ICM Compression Session.

// Configure the ProgressiveScan and AspectRatio16x9 properties for a DV compression session.
//
// inCompressionSessionOptions - a reference to a compression session options object
//                               created by calling ICMCompressionSessionOptionsCreate
// inCodecType - a DV25 or DV50 codec OSType, one of: kDVCNTSCCodecType
//                                                    kDVCPALCodecType
//                                                    kDVCProPALCodecType
//                                                    kDVCPro50NTSCCodecType
//                                                    kDVCPro50PALCodecType
// inProgressiveScan - if set to true, the compressed frames will be marked as
//                     progressive-scan. If set to false the frames will be marked as
//                     interlaced
// inAspectRatio16x9 - if set to true, the compressor will use a 16:9 picture
//                     aspect ratio. If set to false, the compressor will use the
//                     default 4:3 picture aspect ratio.
OSStatus ConfigureDVCodecCompressionSessionOptions(
                            ICMCompressionSessionOptionsRef inCompressionSessionOptions,
                            OSType inCodecType,
                            Boolean inProgressiveScan,
                            Boolean inAspectRatio16x9)
{

    OSStatus status;

    if (NULL == inCompressionSessionOptions || 0 == inCodecType ) return paramErr;

    ComponentInstance dvCodecInstance = 0;
    Handle hCodecSettings = NewHandle(0);

    status = OpenADefaultComponent(compressorComponentType, inCodecType, &dvCodecInstance);
    if (status) goto bail;

    // set the properties we want
    status = QTSetComponentProperty(dvCodecInstance, // DV codec component instance
                                    kQTPropertyClass_DVCompressor, // property class
                                    kDVCompressorPropertyID_ProgressiveScan, // property
                                    sizeof(inProgressiveScan),  // size
                                    &inProgressiveScan);        // value
    if (status) goto bail;

    status = QTSetComponentProperty(dvCodecInstance, // DV codec component instance
                                    kQTPropertyClass_DVCompressor, // property class
                                    kDVCompressorPropertyID_AspectRatio16x9, // property
                                    sizeof(inAspectRatio16x9), // size
                                    &inAspectRatio16x9);       // value

    // once we've set the codec properties, ask for the codec's specific settings
    status = ImageCodecGetSettings(dvCodecInstance, hCodecSettings);
    if (status) goto bail;

    // now set these codec specific settings on our compression session
    status = ICMCompressionSessionOptionsSetProperty(
        inCompressionSessionOptions, // compression session options object reference
        kQTPropertyClass_ICMCompressionSessionOptions,              // property class
        kICMCompressionSessionOptionsPropertyID_CompressorSettings, // property
        sizeof(hCodecSettings), // size
        &hCodecSettings);       // codec settings

    if (status) goto bail;

bail:
    if (dvCodecInstance) CloseComponent(dvCodecInstance);
    DisposeHandle(hCodecSettings);

    return status;
}

Listing 3: Retrieving the Pixel Aspect Ratio Image Description Extension.

PixelAspectRatioImageDescriptionExtension pixelAspectRatio;
OSStatus status;
.
.
.
status = ICMImageDescriptionGetProperty(hSourceImageDescription, // image description
                                        kQTPropertyClass_ImageDescription, // class
                                        // 'pasp' image description extention property
                                        kICMImageDescriptionPropertyID_PixelAspectRatio,
                                        sizeof(pixelAspectRatio), // size
                                        &pixelAspectRatio,        // returned value
                                        NULL);                    // byte count
.
.
.

// Other Image Description Extentions are retrieved in a similar fashion, see
// ImageCompression.h for more details.
//
// Use kICMImageDescriptionPropertyID_FieldInfo to retrieve information about the number
// and order of fields, if available.
//
//     kICMImageDescriptionPropertyID_FieldInfo = 'fiel'
//         FieldInfoImageDescriptionExtension2
//
// Use kICMImageDescriptionPropertyID_CleanAperture to retrieve information describing
// the clean aperture. If not specified explicitly in the image description, a default
// clean aperture (full encoded width and height) will be returned.
//
//     kICMImageDescriptionPropertyID_CleanAperture = 'clap'
//         Native-endian CleanApertureImageDescriptionExtension
//
// Use kICMImageDescriptionPropertyID_PixelAspectRatio to retrieve information
// describing the pixel aspect ratio. If not specified explicitly in the image
// description, a square (1:1) pixel aspect ratio will be returned.
//
//    kICMImageDescriptionPropertyID_PixelAspectRatio = 'pasp'
//        Native-endian PixelAspectRatioImageDescriptionExtension
//
// Use kICMImageDescriptionPropertyID_NCLCColorInfo to retrieve color information if available, in the
// NCLCColorInfoImageDescriptionExtension format.
//
//    kICMImageDescriptionPropertyID_NCLCColorInfo = 'nclc'
//        Native-endian NCLCColorInfoImageDescriptionExtension

References:

QuickTime 7 Update Guide

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Posted: 2005-10-04