Wednesday, August 19, 2009

The ideal video codec ?

What would the idea video codec look like ? Here's a list of suggestions:

1. Just one video codec (instead of the ever-increasing number of competing video coding formats).

2. Delivers the best performance, i.e. a combination of:
a. maximum image quality and frame rate
b. minimum bit rate
c. minimum computational complexity or power consumption,
- the best combination of these factors for the platform (e.g. mobile, hardware, software...)

3. Easy upgrades (preferably completely transparent to the user) to take advantage of new ideas and techniques.

4. No license fees (or at least a license-free option).

5. No inter-operability problems.

6. Easy scalability (the same content on multiple platforms at multiple resolutions).

Impossible ? Maybe...

Comments very welcome !

- Iain.

2 comments:

Tsahi Levent-Levi said...

I'd say it's wishful thinking.
You'll need to first define the target use case of your codec and then select it.
Our past issue of the newsletter has an article about this exactly.

Tsahi

Unknown said...

Thanks for the comment.. Yes, it's deliberately wishful thinking. I think it's important to define the wish list for future codec developments and to ask which features are more important than others.

I note that the Radvision article suggests different parameterizations for different applications, not necessarily different codecs...

I trust I can have a reciprocal link from your site ?

- Iain.