Still there

Hi,
currently I'm very busy with my diploma thesis - I just finished a big part concerning mode decision inside the encoder, now I have to implement some algortihms in VHDL and after that I will start with the actual Rate Controller. Things are getting more complicated and I also have to read some papers and books to build a mathematical theoretical background for my model. Well, nearly half of the time is already gone, so only 3 months left = stress.
That's why there is also no real update on my website. Ok I improved my layout as you can see which took already some time - did I ever mentioned that I'm no friend of html/css/all other web scripting languages - they just look ugly compared to a real programming language!
But I have already two cool tools coded concerning planar 4:2:0 yuv-files which just need some commenting and bugfixing before going to be available on my site - so stay tuned.

(Caution: Advertisment) I came across two cool free downloads - maybe you are also interested:
First of all, google published their own browser chrome for free download. My first impression is pretty positive - it's fast, small and easy to use - most of the screen is used for the displayed website, there is no over-blown gui with thousands of menus and statusbars. I like it but I stick to my lovely firefox - I am used to it and the bookmark bar is better and more comfortable to use in my opinion. But you should give chrome a try!
Second, after releasing Command & Conquer 1 as freeware, C&C - Red Alert is now also freely available as download. It's even better than part 1, in fact it is my all-time favourite realtime strategy game ever. I loved it. So go and download the iso images and start playing. For playing it under Windows XP/Vista, choose compatibility mode 'Windows 95' for both, the setup exe file and game exe file, and install also the provided patch - then you have no trouble.

Diploma Thesis

That's just a quick post to tell what I'm doing now. I found finally an interesting diploma thesis at which I have been working for the last two weeks already. It's official title is "Development of a Power-Aware Rate Controller for H.264 Video Encoder" and it's located at the Chair for Embedded Systems at University Karlsruhe. My mentor seems to be really nice and to be motivated to help me completing my work successfully. I have 6 months to finish it and hopefully this length of time is enough. I was surprised how complex this H.264 Encoding Standard is and how many complicated steps needs to be accomplished to encode a video with good quality and less need for memory. I have read two complete books and several papers during the last weeks and also dived in the C Code of the standard implementation of this encoder but understanding the rate controller process/steps seems to be really hard. I think this will last but let's see...
The good thing is that when I come home I can watch football the whole evening :-) Or I go to a place with public viewing when the German football team plays. The European Soccer Championship is really exciting and I'm curious what will happen... :-)

Last oral exam done!

Hi everybody,
after 8 weeks of learning and diving into the secrets of nets, pointclouds, bezier and bspline curves, triangulations, many graphical algorithms and much more, I had yesterday my last oral exam - in computer graphics. It went perfectly :-) Fortunately I was very well prepared. My study thesis is also finished so I'm looking currently for an interesting diploma thesis. But now I make holidays for two weeks - very nice cause the summer slowly begins now here in Germany and the weather is great!
So perhaps I'll find some time for coding - have already two things in mind that I'm wanna code, but let's see.
Well, over the last years my interest in computer games constantly decreased. But when I played something (very seldom) then it was of course Trackmania Nations. I did already mentioned it on my site when this game was released two years ago - completely for free! It an really nice, good looking, challanging racing game which you can also play over the net against others. And now, finally, the next part was released - Trackmania Nations Forever - again for free! So if you like racing games, be sure to check it out! Best thing is to check out following very good site - there you find everything you need:
http://tmnforever.tm-exchange.com/

So have fun!
Sunshine

Exams are over!

Wow, now I'm feeling relaxed :-)
Had three oral exams during the last seven weeks: in Automotive Mechatronics, Automotive Engineering and the most important one, in Embedded System, which was today.
I'm really fed up of learning... it's too strenous and takes too much time. I had no time for coding or anything else that's why there was no update in this blog and on my website. Hopefully that will change now and I'll get more constructive...