• solrize@lemmy.ml
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    24 hours ago

    Why do we need more codecs? Technical progress is nice but unless the new thing is literally 5x better than the old thing, media codecs are for practical purposes a solved problem by now. Slight improvements aren’t worth the churn and patent hazards.

      • solrize@lemmy.ml
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        22 hours ago

        Thanks, that sounds mostly like container features. Maybe that helps.

      • ABetterTomorrow@sh.itjust.works
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        19 hours ago

        Yes and no. Hardware = pay google - Proprietary software = pay google or 3rd party - Open source (d@v1d) = free (this is what most people use = VLC Player)

      • solrize@lemmy.ml
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        23 hours ago

        I don’t know, but if it is, why take chances with yet another codec? The hazard is less about the developers asserting patents than trolls coming out of the woodwork after the codec is deployed.

        • Waryle@jlai.lu
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          22 hours ago

          AV1 and AV2 are both patent free and nobody will be able to grab them to be a patent troll, that’s the point. Maybe you should start educating yourself a bit on the subject before ranting?

          • solrize@lemmy.ml
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            22 hours ago

            Patent troll = someone pops up claiming av1 or av2 infringes on some obscure patent that they control. That happens all the time. There’s no way to guarantee that it won’t happen with any codec or really with anything. It is very expensive to defend against even when the claim is bogus.

            • Waryle@jlai.lu
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              19 hours ago

              That happens all the time. There’s no way to guarantee that it won’t happen with any codec or really with anything.

              Yes, so there’s no reason to hold back on releasing updates, since it could very well happen on AV1.

              It is very expensive to defend against even when the claim is bogus.

              The principle behind AV1, once again, is to have a modern codec that is out of reach from patent trolls. Those who are part of the AOM consortium, which developed this codec, have all contractually agreed to unconditionally license all patents they hold that are necessary for the implementation of the codec.

              And those who are not part of the consortium and who would like to claim patents relating to the AV1 or AV2 codecs would have to face the legal teams of the companies part of said consortium, including Amazon, Alibaba, Adobe, AMD, Cisco, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla Foundation, ARM, Huawei, Samsung, Tencent, Meta, Nvidia, Apple, Netflix, and other large companies.

              The AV1 and AV2 codecs, after perhaps H264, are the most secure codecs available today in terms of patent trolls. Nobody has both the will and the means to attack it.