>> De facto standards are typically undocumented, controlled >> by only one or two organisations, and patent encumbered. >> >> Sometimes, like with PDF, they can become real standards.
Quite right, Microsoft / Apple / Real are only too happy to introduce running spec changes to their formats which break mplayer / VLC / ffmpeg / Miro / &c. The MPEG standards remain the "sure values". Today, MPEG-1 (1992) is the only video standard reliably playable in all standalone players and its audio component MP3 is still king. Television over xDSL is usually MPEG-2 when it's not MPEG-4 AVC / H.264. DVDs are MPEG-2. Even some HD-DVDs and Blu-Ray discs are MPEG-2. But even MPEG standards are willfully subverted: Apple FairPlay DRM which is available for licensing to: nobody, is based on MPEG-4 AVC and AAC. The libre players handle MPEG formats although there is the patent licensing cloud. In my opinion, Microsoft opened the door of opportunity to Adobe Flash by refusing to ship MPEG-4 AVC / AAC codecs in Windows Media Player (they do so in the XBox) trying to protect WM9 / VC-1. So QuickTime, the official MPEG-4 reference platform, handles that on Windows (and Mac and iPods). Apple laughs all the way to the bank with the iTunes Music Store using these modern formats which offer filesize, metadata and transport stream advantages over the older formats. Adobe's adoption of MPEG-4 AVC / H.264 encapsulation in Flash is significant because content creators are widely adopting H.264 and their workflow to Flash will be simplified. It's in this context that I think BBC Dirac in Flash would make sense for the BBC. The Macromedia Flash container started off with Sorenson Spark (rumored to be an early version of H.264) and the addition of On2 VP6 and H.264 since the Adobe takeover showed they know how to build in a scalable codec. The classic problem is distributing the client players with the latest codecs, features, and security, but the BBC wants to do that anyway by branding the player. And the removal of the patent licensing issues is not a minor advantage in my opinion. Sean - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/
