VP9 video codec for 4K HD streaming!

[jbd5010]

This looks like it might be promising for non-archival applications involving HD video:

Quote:

YouTube goes 4K, Google signs up long list of hardware partners for VP9 support

YouTube will be demonstrating 4K video at CES in Las Vegas next week, with a twist: The Google-owned video service will be showing off ultra high-definition streaming based on VP9, a new royalty-free codec that Google has been developing as an alternative to the H.265 video codec that’s at the core of many other 4K implementations.

This isn’t the first time Google has tried to establish an open and royalty-free alternative to a commercial video format. Google’s VP8 video codec, which the company released in 2010, was supposed to become the default format for plugin-free video streaming and real-time communications, but those plans were thwarted by a lack of hardware support and fierce opposition from some companies with vested interest in established commercial video formats.

This time around, Google has lined up a whole list of hardware partners to kickstart VP9 deployment. YouTube will show off 4K streaming at the booths of LG, Panasonic and Sony. And on Thursday, YouTube released a list of 19 hardware partners that have pledged to support VP9, including chipset vendors like ARM, Intel, Broadcom and Marvell as well as consumer electronics heavyweights like Samsung, Sharp and Toshiba.

However, Francisco Varela, global director of platform partnerships at YouTube, didn’t want to frame YouTube’s use of VP9 as an either-or decision in a recent interview. “This certainly isn’t a war of the video codecs,” he said. Varela added that this was just a first announcement around 4K for YouTube, leaving open the possibility that YouTube could add H.265 support as well.

Instead, he emphasized how the use of the codec won’t just help YouTube to deliver higher resolutions at reasonable bitrates, but also reduce the amount of data necessary to stream regular HD videos by about half. This will help YouTube to improve video delivery and do away with buffering, said Varela: “By 2015, you’ll be surprised every time you see that spinning wheel.”

Varela said that he expects VP9 hardware decoding to come to PCs and mobile devices first, and that first TVs supporting the format should ship by 2015. This would not just benefit YouTube, but also other video services that are looking to deliver their streams more efficiently. “This is important for the entire ecosystem,” he said.

http://gigaom.com/2014/01/02/youtube-4k-streaming-vp9/

[lordsmurf]

I always amused -- and rolling my eyes -- by phrases like this:

Quote:

but those plans were thwarted by a lack of hardware support and fierce opposition from some companies with vested interest in established commercial video formats

That's bunk. Complete propaganda. By that late date, video was already encoded to H.264 and FLV. I had already encoded THOUSANDS of H.264 and FLV videos for studios and major companies by the time that Google BS came out.

We already had the WMV vs Quicktime vs Real fiasco in the early 2000s, and we'd all had enough. H.264 was the format, with a short interlude by On2 VP6 FLV. The ship had sailed, and Youtube was a latecomer. They got to the party at 5 a.m., after everybody had gone home.

Since 4K hasn't happened yet, VP9 has a chance. A slim one, seeing as how HTML5 development has been going on for years, and other 4K codecs are more mature. But like HD-DVD vs Blu-ray, it does stand a chance. This time, Google has Chrome, and can foist it on the world much like Sony did with the Blu-ray disc.

We shall see.

[NJRoadfan]

H.264 never seemed to be "patent encumbered" given that the open source x264 exists and is the #1 codec used for it.

Oh and congrats to the OP for breaking the forum with this thread with its original title.

[lordsmurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NJRoadfan

Oh and congrats to the OP for breaking the forum with this thread with its original title.

Yep.