Comments

PerroneFord wrote on 3/31/2010, 9:26 PM
Thhey've been saying that for years now. Hasn't happened and I give it a snowball's chance it will ever happen.
rmack350 wrote on 3/31/2010, 11:23 PM
I think the list of responses to that blog post pretty much sum it up. OGG is largely a matter of licensing and intellectual property. OGG is there to service a GPL'ed ecosystem. It doesn't really need to be superior as long as it's free like beer.

Rob
Coursedesign wrote on 4/1/2010, 12:41 AM
It doesn't need to be superior, but if it is significantly worse, what's the point?

I think something is going to happen with the future H.264 licensing situation.

I don't know if it will be patent blackmail or a visit from Kneecap Guido, but there is too much common interest for H.264 licensing to be strangling "modern quality" online video just out of its cradle in 2016.
PerroneFord wrote on 4/1/2010, 2:25 AM
I keep saying it, and I hope people shift toward Jpeg2000 which completely walks past this crap. I only use MP4 if I have to. But until more people come up to speed on JP2K, I have to. WMV has gone open, DNxHD is open, JP2K is open) and yet we still walk into these traps like MP4.

I blame Apple. They embrace none of the open video standards. :) Well, it's actually true.
Coursedesign wrote on 4/1/2010, 2:37 AM
The only open alternative to H.264 discussed right now is Ogg Vorbis.

Would you accept sluggish serving and massive code increases for streaming in order to avoid paying royalties in 2016?

At that time, we may be discussing JPEG2010 instead... :O)

(Although that's actually a different issue, codec vs. wrapper.)
PerroneFord wrote on 4/1/2010, 3:24 AM
I use and support WMV right now, which is ISO standard, free, and a codec as well as a container. And it streams GREAT. It also supports DRM, subtitling, intelligent bandwidth negotiation, and a host of other features. I can standardize on it for everything from BluRay creation (if Sony would ever wake up and offer VC-1) to dial-up streaming.

The ONLY reason I do MP4 now is because Macs have a hell of a time with WMV so I am forced to use MP4 instead for cross-platform compatibility.
Coursedesign wrote on 4/1/2010, 3:50 AM
Compare WMV with H.264 out of Sorenson Squeeze 6, you may be shocked by the difference in picture quality at the same bit rates.

The only reason WMV is not a good choice for Mac viewers is that their players don't usually have the WMV plug-in installed, and that's a problem especially where machines are locked down by administrators.

I'm a fan of Silverlight however, now that is the best streaming by a wide margin.

So many good things about it, it is just shocking that it came out of the empire formerly known as the evil one.

Windows is a mess, Internet Explorer is a mess (both the Microsoft's Address Space Load Randomization (ASLR) and the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) security controls have been circumvented), Cloud Office is a mess, Zune is a mess, Windows Mobile is a mess (oh, there will be Windows Mob 7 next year, alas without Copy & Paste and you can only install apps from Microsoft's app store, really!), but Silverlight is astonishing.

To see it, just stream movies on Netflix. Check out the FF and REW where you actually see what you're doing, going "frame-by-frame."

Love it!
PerroneFord wrote on 4/1/2010, 3:58 AM
We looked at SilverLight briefly at my office. We may do it now that we've upgraded server hardware to 64bit everywhere. But currently we are running the normal free encoders and streamers from Microsoft.

I am not sure about using Sorensen Squeeze to create WMV, but I use MS Professional Encoder all the time and the stuff I get out is gorgeous. I am working on a video for a Florida Cobra club (Shelby Cobra's) and that is going to be my delivery format.

I haven't tried streaming on Netflix, though I have a BluRay player capable of it, and a Netflix account. Maybe I'll give it a shot one day.
apit34356 wrote on 4/1/2010, 6:39 AM
hahahahaha , nice summary Coursedesign. ;-) maybe Silverlight will dominate H5 standards......
Coursedesign wrote on 4/1/2010, 8:17 AM
I am not sure about using Sorensen Squeeze to create WMV, but I use MS Professional Encoder all the time and the stuff I get out is gorgeous.

Yes, the MS PE output is gorgeous. I'm just saying that the best H.264 encoder (which is what's in Sorenson, think it is MainConcept?) can give you that quality or better (depending on the scene) in a smaller file (which reduces your bandwidth bill).

And I'd love to see Silverlight in HTML 5, if there can be a reasonable deal.

I'd even pay for it.
drmathprog wrote on 4/1/2010, 1:05 PM
With respect to MS, it one has enough money and spends it creating enough products, sooner or later a product is bound to turn out OK. It's sort of the business analogy to the literary tale of enough monkeys pounding on enough typewriters for long enough will eventually recreate Hamlet. Just think of MS as enough monkeys! :-)