It seems a join venture of Moving Picture Experts Group and ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group currently develops a new video codes that among other things compresses twice as efficient as h264: HEVC. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Video_Coding
As h264 had real patent pressures, and thus is hard to implement with all software freedom retained: What is the status of HEVC, that is supposed to become h265 regarding patents and openness?
If the video codes of WebM: VP8 or libvpx is a real competitor to h264, what could be the next version that can compete with the claimed higher efficiency of HEVC?
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On 17/08/2012 14:38, Bernhard Reiter wrote:
As h264 had real patent pressures, and thus is hard to implement with all software freedom retained: What is the status of HEVC, that is supposed to become h265 regarding patents and openness?
Judging by what they say on the website itself: (http://www.mpegla.com/main/pid/hevc/default.aspx)
"In order to participate in the initial facilitation effort for the creation of a joint HEVC License, MPEG LA invites any party that believes it has patents that are essential to the HEVC Draft 7 standard (or subsequent revisions that may issue) to submit an initial patent by September 7, 2012..."
It seems to me that there is a risk that HEVC could be patent-encumbered. It's still early days yet, as far as I can see.
- -- Jamie Quinlan [] Fellow #2286 | Key 0xF6265617 [][][] http://fsfe.org/freesoftware/ ||
* Bernhard Reiter:
If the video codes of WebM: VP8 or libvpx is a real competitor to h264, what could be the next version that can compete with the claimed higher efficiency of HEVC?
I guess the answer is to use a less efficient codec and throw bandwidth at the problem. For free content, streaming in bandwidth-constrained environments is not as important as for proprietary content because you can download it over night and watch the copy.
Am Sonntag, 19. August 2012 16:18:06 schrieb Florian Weimer:
- Bernhard Reiter:
If the video codes of WebM: VP8 or libvpx is a real competitor to h264, what could be the next version that can compete with the claimed higher efficiency of HEVC?
I guess the answer is to use a less efficient codec and throw bandwidth at the problem. For free content, streaming in bandwidth-constrained environments is not as important as for proprietary content because you can download it over night and watch the copy.
It also means that we will run into a massive problem in a few years. We see with VP8 adoption, that even if we have a codec that is technically on par, it is hard to gain enough critical mass to ensure people's freedom. VP8 might just have been coming too late.
It is true, people caring a lot for freedom like you and me, we may just throw bandwidth on the problem, but if we do not reach the critical mass, we will still be in trouble.