[vtkusers] MPEG2writer patented?

[David C Thompson]

> I just saw that the description for class "vtkMPEG2writer" changed
> from official version 5.02 to actual cvs. Now (in cvs) it says that
> some parts are patented and therefor this class cannot be used in
> commercial versions (anymore?).
It shouldn't be used in any version unless you have a license to use the
patent (in countries where the patent applies).

> I guess this applies to the official 5.02 release of VTK as well.
Yes

> ... Is there a way to get mpeg writer to work with free codecs (e.g.
> FFMPEG)
I've written an Ogg Theora writer that should be appearing in VTK and
ParaView sometime soon. FFMPEG is freely available, but it infringes on
the MPEG patents and so isn't free in the sense you intend. VTK does
have an MPEG encoder that uses FFMPEG (vtkFFMPEGWriter as opposed to
vtkMPEG2Writer), but again you must have a patent license to use it.

	David