I was raised in a beachfront commuter town about 60 miles south of Manhattan and five miles north of Springsteen’s Asbury Park. I went to Seashore Day Camp years 8-13, swimming laps in the pool each morning and clowning around in the ocean each afternoon. I spent middle school and high school in the Atlantic as often as possible, swimming, …
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One of the most power-hungry processes performed in data centers is software-based live transcoding, which can be performed much more efficiently with ASIC-based transcoders. With power costs soaring and carbon emissions an ever-increasing concern, data centers that perform high-volume live transcoding should strongly consider switching to ASIC-based transcoders like the NETINT T408. To assist in this transition, NETINT recently published …
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This article is about a video lesson that computes the bandwidths savings afforded by the FFmpeg-based implementations of VP9 (libvpx-VP9), H.264 (x264), HEVC (x265), and AV1 (libaom-AV1). The lesson uses the Netflix convex hull analysis to build unique encoding ladders for each test clip and codec and shows why BD-Rate figures don’t accurately predict real-world savings. Towards the end, it …
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BD-Rate computations are a valuable metric when comparing theoretical codec performance. But just because they prove that HEVC is 40% more efficient than H.264 doesn’t mean that you’ll save 40% of your bandwidth if you switch to HEVC. This 6-minute video lesson explains why and suggests a better alternative for estimating real-world benefits. I include a link to the presentation …
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This article and the associated Google Sheet present an analytical model for computing breakeven on new codec deployments. On a LinkedIn post here, Johan Skaneby asked: Technical comparisons and documentation on different codec performance are very interesting and important, but all development of technologies are always closely related to market requirements and business models. My experience is that the challenge …
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As I recently reported in Streaming Media magazine, the 49 VVC IP owners assembled by the Media Coding Industry Forum (MC-IF) have chosen two patent pool administrators to form VVC-related pools; Access Advance and MPEG LA. While this is undoubtedly a positive step, it’s merely the first step towards clarifying how much it will cost to license VVC. As previously …
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Adoption of MPEG-2, H.264, and HEVC was almost automatic in some markets because implementors assumed that royalties would be reasonable and that the codecs would succeed. Two factors have changed those assumptions; the HEVC royalty mess and the formation of the Alliance for Open Media. This short video details how these two factors have changed how codecs are deployed. If …
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Many 2021 model Smart TVs support AV1 decoding, making it a good time to start thinking about how to encode AV1 videos. A great way to start is our course Encoding with the AV1 Codec, which details how to encode AV1 encoded video with FFmpeg (libaom-av1), the Alliance for Open Media’s standalone aomenc encoder, Intel’s SVT-AV1, and Visionular’s Aurora1. Would …
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Most streaming producers adopted HLS and DASH without any concern about intellectual property issues. Though MPEG LA formed a DASH Pool in 2015 it seemed to have died a quiet death in August 2019. Now one of the pool members, Helios Digital, is suing Crackle, Vudu, and Showtime Digital for infringing their DASH patents. As I state in my article …
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We’ve been following the story of DASH royalties since MPEG LA first announced the pool back in 2015. Recently, the pool stopped offering licenses, which seemed to cease any assertions of royalties. But as I just wrote about in Streaming Media magazine, one of the pool members, Helios Streaming along with Ideahub, sued Showtime, Vudu, and Crackle. Here’s the rough …
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