2016年6月8日
By 1月时特约编辑
专题文章

The Decline of the Standards-Based Codec—and Good Riddance

在这个问题的其他地方，你会发现我在VP9上写了一篇4000字的文章没有提到HEVC. 为什么? Because for the vast majority of streaming producers that don’t distribute 4K video to smart TVs, 编解码器的决定不是VP9和HEVC. 这是H.264 versus VP9, and HEVC isn’t really in the picture.

This dynamic highlights the reality that standards-based codecs are declining in importance, 尤其是在流媒体领域. H的成功.264, first with Flash and later with HTML5, merely masked this trend. 也就是H.264 was wildly successful in streaming (and later HTML5) because Adobe selected it for Flash, 不是因为它是一种技术标准. This is a subtle but critical distinction. 这也是一个非常重大的变化.

My first job in the codec world involved marketing a proprietary fractal-based codec for use on CD-ROMs. Our biggest competition came from codecs such as Indeo and Cinepak, and from an emerging standard called MPEG-1. 我的公司从来没有得到过关注, and (according to ancient memory) the three companies that sold MPEG-1 codecs were all purchased for more than $40 million. The lesson burned into my brain was that standard-based codecs always win.

在这方面, there was never any question that MPEG-2 would be the codec for DVD and early cable and satellite systems. 下一个标准，H.264, was deployed in satellite and cable and all the associated STBs, and later in mobile devices and retail OTT devices such as Roku and Apple TV. H.264 was the best performing codec around, and by the time VP8 arrived, H.264是难以置信的. Plus, with a reasonable cap of about $5 million per year (back in 2010, now $8.2016年为1.25亿美元).264 royalties were affordable, ensuring ubiquitous playback.

快进到2016年. H.264 is still everywhere, but it’s showing its age. VP9 provides the same quality at 50 percent to 60 percent of the bandwidth, and playback is free in the current versions of all browsers except for Internet Explorer and Safari. 开放媒体联盟 2015年9月推出, consolidating the development of three open source codecs into one engineering group. 谷歌, Mozilla, 和微软是创始成员, ensuring fast browser support for the first codec (called AV1), 哪些应该在2017年3月发货. Netflix会员, 亚马逊, and 谷歌 (YouTube) will ensure fast deployment by large web publishers, 而成员ARM, AMD, 英特尔, and NVIDIA presage prompt support in hardware.

AV1是免费的，而HEVC的价格高达1美元.20 (or more) per unit with a cap of up to $65 million, and that’s just for the two (of potentially four or more) IP owners with announced terms. VP9和AV1免费提供, there is no need for HEVC to deliver to computers and notebooks, and there is no business case (or realistic business model) for licensing HEVC in a browser.

The mobile device landscape is less clear. Apple included HEVC in FaceTime but removed any mention of the technology from its spec sheets after the second HEVC patent group formed. This ensures that Apple will pay far more in HEVC royalties than it will ever receive, making a strong business case for deploying AV1. Android 5.0 includes HEVC software decoder, with hooks to HEVC hardware decoder. 然而, both royalties are paid by Android licensees, 不是谷歌, which is clearly banking on AV1 for the future of YouTube.

Broadcast infrastructures, set-top boxes (STBs), and smart TVs will remain HEVC for a while. But with YouTube choosing VP9/AV1 for its UHD videos and Netflix, 亚马逊, 微软, 以及AV1背后的硬件供应商, support for the alliance codec in future smart TVs and STBs is assured. HEVC certainly won’t be the only technology these devices support.

最重要的是广播, with its hundreds of disparate publishers and suppliers, 需要一个正式的标准. The streaming world just needs a reliable, 支持技术, so a de facto standard set by a group of technology leaders and users is just as good. In fact, it’s better, if you consider the price tag.

This article originally ran in the June 2016 issue of 流媒体杂志 as “The Decline of the Standards-Based Codec.”