Hi,
Richard Spindler schrieb:
Some time ago, before the dawn of youtube, there were three options
available for internet video: Quicktime, Real Player and Windows Media.
And the problem then was that all of those were incompatible with each
other. So eventually you needed to install all of them to be able to
view most videos on the web.
And before that, there were even more (e.g. vivo).
So, fast forward to today. Youtube uses flash for video playback, as
does everyone else. Flash is available for almost all computers, problem
solved, everyone is happy.
Everyone? No, flash is controlled by one company (Adobe) and 3rd party
implementations are sparse and incomplete. If you want to implement or
improve flash for some kind of mobile device like a smart phone, you
have to beg adobe for help and permission, you cannot just do it on your
own.
Are you sure? AFAIK Adobe published the specs for the SWF and FLV formats,
don't know how complete they are though. The past has shown, that specs "owned"
by Adobe (like Postscript and PDF) are less evil in the long term, than
formats owned by RealNetworks (worst), Microsoft or Apple (approx. equally bad).
[...]
I can deliver as much HTML, CSS, JPEGs, PNGs over HTTP, TCP and IP as I
want to, and for video in h264, I suddenly have to pay? I have to pay if
I deliver a product that does h264?
How is this fair? They did not even write the code of the available open
source implementations like x264, but they want the money.
Well, the argument is, that developing a beast like h264 (probably more
complicated than HTML, CSS, JPEGs, PNG, HTTP, TCP and IP combined)
costs money as well :)
And another sad fact is, that todays royality free video codecs either don't
compress enough or are too CPU intensive.
I agree that the current situation sucks badly: What we are talking about
are "codes for information exchange". This includes video formats as well as
document formats and communication protocols, which have to be 100 % open and
free, without exception.
The oldest such codes is probably the alphabet, invented about 5000 years ago:
Just imagine, if the inventors of the alphabet had the same policies as the
"owners" of todays multimedia codecs. My guess is, that a large part of
humanity would still live in caves by now :)
In the video area, I personally hope, that Dirac becomes more usable. Right
now, you need a fast PC for realtime decoding of SD material. It seems to be
royality free and is supported by the BBC.
Burkhard
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