- [x] Filter-intra mode decision now runs after ordinary luma modes in current-libaom order, evaluates all five recursive predictors, and refines each predictor across every legal 8x8 transform in transform-enum order. Strictly-better replacement preserves ordinary-mode and filter-mode tie order. Each filter prediction and its source residual are prepared once and reused across transform candidates, avoiding repeated recursive prediction while retaining SIMD-first predictor and subtraction operators. The stack cost is 192 bytes for eight-bit samples or 256 bytes for high-bit-depth samples; no allocator owner or managed buffer was added. Fifteen production cases force every filter mode at 8, 10, and 12 bits and prove retained filter syntax, zero-residual reconstruction, and the DCT-DCT equal-cost transform tie. The decoded-frame MD5 values selected by this checkpoint are `d7d68803763b95827483f14515281d3a` for the 8x8 10-bit gradient, `3f7e34d44c65d7797ad26b5cd4c35bf4` for the 8x8 12-bit gradient, and `9985f05790d2c9f5f28723ef86d5b89b`, `2ba2f1d0fcfef60394a5175553c7cb8b`, and `6aa7a2ed0dbf76ad2ec0c222585272d0` for the odd 4:2:0, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 gradients. The exact net11 Release rebuild remains at 1,005 warnings and zero errors, 18 focused filter-intra, predictor-reference, syntax-cost, and allocation cases pass, all 8,974 HEIF/AV1 tests pass, and current-main `aomdec` at `a40ed1ea9e4ecc3df58a5bccb76623f2c94ae727` accepts all 29 regenerated payloads.
- [x] Empty-transform block skip now compares the complete live rate of the two decoder-identical syntax choices after luma and every coded chroma plane have been selected. Current libaom forces all-intra blocks to non-skip; this encoder retains that behavior for every non-empty block and for equal-cost empty blocks, but emits block skip when its adapted context cost is strictly lower than non-skip plus all empty-transform coefficient costs. Costing and writing share the same above-and-left skip-context calculation, and the coefficient estimator returns after the transform-block-skip symbol without reading coefficient storage. This adds no allocation, copy, or persistent state. A focused adapted-CDF regression proves both outcomes through the production decision helper, the two production all-zero fixtures still prove the default real block path, the exact net11 Release rebuild remains at 1,005 warnings and zero errors, all 8,975 HEIF/AV1 tests pass, and current-main `aomdec` at `a40ed1ea9e4ecc3df58a5bccb76623f2c94ae727` accepts all 29 regenerated payloads.
- [~] Palette entropy coding now mirrors current libaom's adaptive luma-mode, chroma-mode, palette-size, and spatial color-index distributions, together with its truncated-binary uniform code used by palette colors. The complete mutable palette probability graph is created once on first palette search or write, so the current palette-disabled frame path retains zero palette allocations. Three focused regressions cover every legal 2-through-8 color alphabet and every defined mode, size, and color-index context; all 1,928 entropy cases and all 8,978 HEIF/AV1 cases pass direct net11 Release VSTest. The exact Release rebuild remains at 1,005 warnings and zero errors. This checkpoint adds the exact entropy foundation only: palette candidate generation, retained color and index storage, mode decision, map tokenization, and production syntax remain incomplete, and no generated payload changed.
- [~] Luma and chroma palette-color coding now matches current libaom's neighbor-cache flags, sorted delta representation, wrapped V-plane deltas, strict delta-versus-raw V selection, and fixed-point color-rate model at 8, 10, and 12 bits. Encoder costing and emission use only fixed stack spans, including explicitly initialized cache-membership state, and steady-state color costing allocates zero managed bytes. The decoder consumes the same bounded color-syntax primitive after the tile reader derives its neighbor cache, removing duplicated color parsing without changing retained palette ownership. Nine focused syntax, exact palette decode, constrained-allocation, truncation, presentation, and allocation cases pass; all 1,933 entropy cases and all 8,983 HEIF/AV1 cases pass direct net11 Release VSTest. The exact Release rebuild remains at 1,005 warnings and zero errors. Retained encoder palette colors, neighbor caches, color-index maps, candidate generation, and production palette selection remain incomplete, and the compact 8-byte frame mode entries were not enlarged.
- [x] The expanded checkpoint exposed a pre-existing transform-block test that asserted uninitialized pooled padding was zero. The test now initializes the complete physical luma plane with a sentinel and proves the block operation leaves both adjacent padding samples unchanged. The exact net11 Release rebuild remains at 1,005 baseline warnings and zero errors, the focused allocator-order set passes 30 of 30 cases, and the complete HEIF/AV1 namespace passes 8,859 of 8,859 direct VSTest cases with zero failures or skips.
- [x] Combined-frame OBU output now counts the byte-aligned frame and tile-group headers, non-final tile-size fields, and owned tile payloads before emitting the OBU size. It retains only the small allocator-owned header scratch and writes each entropy-coded tile span directly from its detached owner, removing the second file-sized allocator rent and complete-payload copy. A 64 KiB regression proves exactly one sub-payload-sized byte rent with a balanced return and verifies the exact streamed tile tail; the existing two-tile round trip proves size-prefix and ordering parity. The focused writer and production-frame set passes 32 of 32 direct net11 VSTest cases, current-main `aomdec` accepts all 29 generated native-format payloads, and the complete HEIF/AV1 namespace passes 8,860 of 8,860 cases with zero failures or skips.
- [x] Finalized fixed-block decisions now set the block-level transform-skip flag only when every retained luma and coded chroma transform has zero EOB, matching current libaom's conjunction of per-plane skip state. The previous always-false flag produced legal but redundant non-skip and zero-coefficient syntax. Monochrome and 4:2:0 regressions prove both branches from actual coefficient state; the focused decision and production-frame set passes 32 of 32 direct net11 VSTest cases. Current-main `aomdec` accepts all 29 regenerated payloads, the recorded decoded-frame MD5s are unchanged, and affected 16x16 constant 8-bit and 10-bit payloads are one byte smaller. The complete HEIF/AV1 namespace passes 8,862 of 8,862 cases with zero failures or skips.
James Jackson-South
1 month ago