{Minutes} TTWG Meeting 2020-07-02

Thanks all for attending today's TTWG meeting. Minutes can be found in HTML format at https://www.w3.org/2020/07/02-tt-minutes.html


In text format:

   [1]W3C

      [1] https://www.w3.org/


                Timed Text Working Group Teleconference

02 July 2020

   [2]Previous meeting. [3]Agenda. [4]IRC log.

      [2] https://www.w3.org/2020/06/25-tt-minutes.html

      [3] https://github.com/w3c/ttwg/issues/124

      [4] https://www.w3.org/2020/07/02-tt-irc


Attendees

   Present
          Andreas, Atsushi, Cyril, Gary, Nigel, Pierre

   Regrets
         -

   Chair
          Gary, Nigel

   Scribe
          nigel

Contents

    1. [5]This meeting
    2. [6]IMSC 1.2 ARIB liaison response
    3. [7]TTML2 Implementation Report
    4. [8]CSS font-matching algorithm may introduce fingerprinting
       issues w3c/ttml2#1202 (PING review)
    5. [9]TTML Profile Registry
    6. [10]AOB - MPEG
    7. [11]Meeting close

Meeting minutes

  This meeting

   Nigel: Today we have 3 main topics.
   … 1. IMSC 1.2, not sure if there's a lot we can cover
   … 2. TTML2 2nd Ed
   … 3. TTML Profile Registry
   … Is there any other business, or points to make sure we cover
   during those?

   Cyril: Yes, as an AOB we could discuss what happened at MPEG
   and the issue raised about
   … the notion of empty documents, as an FYI maybe.

  IMSC 1.2 ARIB liaison response

   Nigel: I haven't had time to collate our thoughts into a draft
   liaison response yet.
   … Not aware of any other points to discuss on this issue?

  TTML2 Implementation Report

   Cyril: I have an action to check the details of the IR are
   correct, but the other thing to note
   … is that we will need implementations.

   Nigel: We have one, but only for one presentation feature, at
   the moment!
   … I had the impression that the TTT tool will be updated to
   pass all the validation tests?

   Cyril: Yes, but the timeline might be a bit far.

   Nigel: Right, others are welcome of course.

  CSS font-matching algorithm may introduce fingerprinting issues
  w3c/ttml2#1202 (PING review)

   Nigel: Just an FYI that Sam Weiler did contact me, and the
   action is with me to look for a time
   … when interested parties can have a discussion to try to
   resolve the issue.
   … I plan to issue a doodle or similar to try to find such a
   time.
   … Anyone who wants to join that, please do let me know - I
   imagine at least Pierre and me.

   Pierre: Yes, of course.

   Nigel: I don't think there's much more to say on this topic at
   the moment - Andreas made
   … some really helpful suggestions on the github issue, but I
   don't think they added any
   … normative language, and that seems to be the sticking point
   with Sam at the moment.

  TTML Profile Registry

   Nigel: Glenn has stepped down as Editor, and I've stepped up
   just to fill the gap,
   … but would be very happy if anyone else wants to volunteer.
   … I take the hint from Cyril that we can consider all of our
   documents to be joint ventures.
   … Mike Dolan remains an Editor also.
   … I want to flag up that we would like to discuss the infamous
   long-standing issue 71, and
   … Mike can join us on the call next week for that.
   … [summarises issue as being about the + and | operators in the
   codecs parameter not being defined]
   … Two main decisions:
   … 1. How to define - do we need to reference something in TTML2
   or not?
   … (and if in TTML2 what if that means a change to TTML2)
   … 2. Where to define - in the current registry text or
   elsewhere in the document.
   … This has implications about needing to update our
   registration with IANA or not.

   [12]w3c/tt-profile-registry#71

     [12] https://github.com/w3c/tt-profile-registry/issues/71


   Cyril: It would be easy to discuss if we had a concrete text
   but I don't know if I will have
  … time to produce the text.

   Nigel: Yes, though we may need to understand where the likely
   area of consensus will be first.

   Cyril: Regrets from me for next week and the week after - but
   please do proceed without me.

  AOB - MPEG

   Cyril: MPEG has been virtually meeting this week.
   … I'll paste a link to the discussion that started this AOB.

   [13]CMAF issue: Explicit Padding of Subtitles and Timed Text
   tracks to comply with CMAF track/CMAF presentation model

     [13] https://github.com/MPEGGroup/CMAF/issues/9


   Cyril: This may affect TTML and WebVTT.
   … In CMAF there is a duration, and it is common for there to be
   no subtitles at some times,
   … especially at the end, e.g. during the credits.
   … You have to do some padding, but you can also ask the same
   question between subtitles
   … especially in live cases. When you have no subtitle content
   for some period, what should be delivered?
  … In ISO there are 3 specs involved: CMAF, ISOBMFF and MPEG-3
   Part 30.
   … There is a tool in ISOBMFF called duration-is-empty, which
   allows you to say there is no
   … sample in an MPEG-4 segment. It's not explicitly allowed or
   disallowed in either Part 20 or CMAF.
   … There's a practice where most people use empty documents when
   there is no content to
   … be streamed. This has been documented as a possibility in
   MPEG-4 Part 30.
   … The issue raised is if it should be a recommendation in CMAF.
   … The discussion is ongoing and MPEG welcomes feedback on how
   people should do it.
   … My opinion is that if the industry uses empty documents
   probably we should go for that.
   … But in terms of design it would be better to use the
   duration-is-empty flag. If you have a
   … subtitle generator followed by a packager followed by a
   DASHer, then the DASHer part
   … should not need to know the flavour of subtitle format used,
   ideally. It may not be how
   … it is implemented in many workflows.

   Pierre: As a data point, in IMF, an upstream master format,
   there is a requirement to use
   … filler timed text documents, presumably empty.

   Cyril: I thought there was one single document in IMF

   Pierre: No, there can be any number but there can't be a part
   of the timeline with no document
   … associated with it.
   … I have seen people put in dub cards and associated an empty
   document, but I've also
   … seen people point to an empty part of an existing document.
   Both are permitted.

   Cyril: That would be an interesting data point for the MPEG
   issue.

   Pierre: It's a slightly different issue for masters, but the
   lesson is that defining at the package
   … level the absence of essence is ambiguous because, what is
   video black? There is not one
   … definition of that. The decision, heavily influenced by it
   being a master format, is that
   … you cannot have empty essence tracks at any point in the
   timeline, to remove any ambiguity.

   Cyril: I understand and agree. It makes sense. The context may
   be different in the streaming
   … context, where there may be absence of things.

   Pierre: Yes, and consumers may not mind so much about black
   picture or audio artefacts at boundaries.
   … What is the objection to having empty documents, technically?

   Cyril: It highly depends on the workflow, right. In MP4Box, the
   way it is architectured, the
   … DASHing part is completely media unaware. Having to know that
   you are DASHing
   … TTML and having to create an empty document for that.

   Pierre: How would that work with video?

   Cyril: Same thing. When you DASH and are missing something you
   could use duration-is-empty.

   Pierre: Is that what MP4Box uses today, for video?

   Cyril: The question was never raised because you don't have
   gaps in your timeline. The
   … streams are not sparse.

   Pierre: Again when you get to dub cards, audio can be sparsed.
   Historically people have
   … chosen not to do that.

   Andreas: Question: I thought in part 30 the usage of an empty
   doc as a filler is mandatory.

   Cyril: No, there's a "may".

   Andreas: OK, I think we (IRT) always recommended to use it when
   we worked with streaming
   … encoder and packager manufacturers. We would say they should
   use an empty document.

   Cyril: Just to respond to that, it makes sense if the authoring
   system provides empty documents.
   … I wrote in the issue, and Nigel commented on it, that it
   would be weird for the authoring
   … system to provide heartbeat empty documents when there is no
   content, but it seems
   … I was wrong.

   Andreas: I know that TTML does a lot of things in MP4 that are
   really different, and how
   … WebVTT is used is more common to how MP4 tracks are built.
   … In the EBU Tech3381 spec there is some clarification on part
   30 that may be helpful for EBU-TT-D.
   … An empty document is defined. But it doesn't say it must be
   used.
   … One last question: is it possible to use 2 options,
   duration-is-empty and an empty document

   Cyril: I don't think it is possible.

   Nigel: Tech3381's empty document is defined as "a processor
   must be able to accept" or
   … similar wording - I think in a formal sense that empty
   document is not conformant to EBU-TT-D.
   … Just a side note.
   … On the point of defining content that the DASHer can use
   while being type-unaware,
   … how does it handle init segments now?

   Cyril: Just describing MP4Box, there is an import phase that is
   media aware, and it creates
   … an init segment once. Then the DASHer is copying things over
   without looking at the media
   … any more.
   … To the question about an empty segment, yes, while being
   media unaware, the DASHer
   … could architecturally have a way to deliver empty documents.
   That is an option.
   … I'd like to come back to the point about empty EBU-TT-D
   documents. Did I understand
   … that there are different views of what an empty TTML document
   is?

   Nigel: Clearly yes in the sense that there are any number of
   documents you can construct
   … that have no presentational effect, for example those just
   containing metadata.
   … Specifically in EBU-TT-D there is a cardinality constraint so
   that body must contain
   … at least one div and div must contain at least one p.
   … That means that the conformant way to generate an empty
   document is to have no body.
   … But I know one encoder that doesn't do this, it puts out an
   empty div.

   Cyril: It could crash a player?

   Nigel: I don't know, that's part of the issue, but it's
   conformant EBU-TT-D so a player should
   … be able to deal with a document with no body. I agree this is
   a player question primarily.

   Pierre: We should call the "empty" document a "minimal" one!

   Andreas: The reason we defined the empty document in Tech3381
   is because part 30 is unclear about it.
   … It is clear that anybody else not using EBU-TT-D may make
   their own interpretation of an empty document.
   … In 3381 we clearly said what an empty doc is, I'm not sure
   exactly about conformance with EBU-TT-D.
   … The other point is that Tech3381 is referenced by HbbTV for
   DASH, so there may be
   … other standards that refer to that definition of an empty
   document.

   Cyril: Yes, the question is not to remove it, but maybe to
   document it clearly in CMAF, if it is the practice in use.

   Andreas: I know streaming encoders use it, maybe not all of
   them, but definitely some of them do it.

   Pierre: I like the idea of being unambiguous. The other thing I
   wanted to suggest is,
   … what about MPEG actually formally asking TTWG for an opinion?
   … They could propose a spec to TTWG and ask for an answer.

   Cyril: I suggested liaising with different entities, and they
   could include W3C, for sure.

   Pierre: In the past I've seen MPEG just do something, making a
   quick decision, but in this case,
   … maybe we should try something different.

   Cyril: That's why I brought it here and brought Nigel into the
   tickets.

   Pierre: If you need help in MPEG taking time to do this well
   then I'm happy to help.
   … It is not a simple topic.

   Cyril: Feel free to raise any point you think is difficult to
   handle in the ticket; that will give
   … me arguments to say we should take our time.
   … I have one other small point about TTML in MP4, related to
   the MPEG meeting.
   … Mike Dolan came with a contribution about the use of TTML in
   DASH, possibly in the
   … context of ATSC, indicating that it is ambiguous how to
   create MP4 segments containing
   … TTML, with respect to timing.
   … We had discussions about the DASH media presentation
   timeline, the period timeline,
   … and the MP4 presentation timeline. Overall I think we agreed,
   and Stephen Perrott from BBC
   … gave an example, of how it should be working. We noticed
   something suboptimal in
   … the MP4 spec, Part 30:

   <cyril> The top-level internal timing values in the timed text
   samples based on TTML express times on the track presentation
   timeline – that is, the track media time as optionally modified
   by the edit list. For example, the begin and end attributes of
   the <body> element, if used are relative to the start of the
   track, not relative to the start of the sample. This is shown
   in the figure below, using W3C TTML syntax

   Cyril: The reason this was written this way is two-fold.
   … I think, timing values when they're nested in time container
   are relative to the parent
   … container?

   Nigel: Depends on the value of timeContainer.

   Cyril: par and seq?

   Nigel: Yes

   Cyril: We thought only the top level is significant. But times
   can be on the body, div, p, span etc.
   … The second sentence with the example about body refers to a
   figure that does not have
   … timing on body, so we have raised a defect report. Do you
   think we have a better way
   … to say the first part?

   Nigel: I would say that the computed times on TTML elements are
   on the track presentation timeline.
   … In other words, don't delve into the time computation
   algorithms defined in TTML, but just
   … reference the resulting values.
   … You could also say that the media timebase coordinates are
   coincident with the track presentation timeline.
  … Also top level timings are not only on body but also region.

   Cyril: Individuals can propose wording but a proposal from TTWG
   would be good.

   Nigel: I'm sure we could try to do that, but MPEG should come
   and ask us.

   Cyril: Yes, but we could liaise to say "we've been made aware,
   here's an answer". I know it's not good practice.

   Pierre: Bad things have happened from this in the past!

   Cyril: We have a big overlap here with MPEG membership.

   Andreas: I would support what Cyril says, to try to help solve
   the problem regardless of
   … the best formal practice.

   Pierre: The reason I am resistant is not because I don't want
   to offer a good solution.
   … Rather, if we offer a solution as TTWG, then we will need to
   be there in person at some
   … impossible time at some point in the future to defend that
   input. If we are not willing to
   … do that, then it's not going to happen!

   Cyril: Honestly, this will be people known to this group.
   … For example Mike has a view on this, and we could invite him
   here.

   Pierre: That would already be a lot better.

   Nigel: This is really important for us, thank you for raising
   it.

   Cyril: If I'm not here next week, it would be good to ask Mike
   about this too.

   Pierre: Can you summarise this all?

   Cyril: We will write it as a defect report. I will ask if it
   can be public.

   Pierre: I encourage you to ask it to be forwarded to TTWG so
   people are aware this is happening.

   Cyril: I will ask. Thank you.

   Pierre: Thanks for bringing this up.

   Nigel: Thanks from me too.

  Meeting close

   Nigel: We're out of time today, thanks everyone. See you next
   week if you can make it! [adjourns meeting]


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Received on Thursday, 2 July 2020 16:35:05 UTC