What’s my video coding patent worth?

With tens of thousands of patents related to video compression coding, how can you determine whether a particular patent might be valuable? Asking the following questions may help you to start.

HEVC video encoders widen the gap for 4K content

New report finds that HEVC out-performs H.264 for higher resolution content.

High Efficiency Video Coding: the numbers

Three years in the making, over six thousand technical proposals from hundreds of companies... the numbers behind the popular High Efficiency Video Coding standard.

4K or Binge : a large scale viewing experiment?

Would you pay more for high resolution video? T-Mobile aims to find out.

Are we compressed yet? How to cut through codec hype.

Are you confused by contradictory claims about video codec technologies? An online resource might help you find the answer.

USPTO invited talk, "structures in video coding"

Vcodex founder Iain Richardson presents an invited talk at the US Patent and Trademark Office (June 2015).

7 important video compression concepts that are more than 20 years old

When were the key concepts of video compression developed? You may be surprised to learn that some date back to the 1950s.

Talk: The Ultra HD Codecs - HEVC and VP9

Ultra HD or 4K is making a big impact on the broadcast industry. In this talk, Vcodex founder Iain Richardson explains how HEVC and VP9 video codecs may help handle the challenges of 4K.

The challenges facing a new codec

I was asked recently to comment on how easy or difficult it might be to introduce a new video compression codec. Here's a summary of my opinion - you can read the full article by John Moulding here.

Video compression - early history

Present day video codecs such as HEVC are based on fundamental concepts that go back a surprisingly long way. Key components such as motion compensated prediction, transform coding and entropy coding were developed in the decades before 1990.

A nice example of 4K video encoded using VP9

Do you want to see 4K video in action? Phil Holland has put together a rather good demo clip, captured using a 6K RED camera and encoded using VP9 at 4K resolution (3840 x 2160 pixels).

How to stream better quality video: Part 3 - Ultra High Definition, 4K and next generation video codecs

4K or Ultra High Definition (UHD) video has four times the detail of 1080p full HD. How do you deliver such high resolution video to a TV or mobile device over a limited bandwidth connection? Next-generation video codecs may provide the answer. This article, part 3 of “How to stream better quality video”, gives an overview of two new video codecs: High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC or H.265) and VP9.

How to stream better quality video: Part 2 - Adaptive streaming

You want to stream a video clip to several customers. One customer has a high bandwidth leased line connection, while another is trying to view your clip on a mobile device using a poor-quality 3G signal. How do you make sure they each get the best possible video quality? Adaptive streaming may be the answer.

How to stream better quality video: Part 1 - Basics and good practices

You're trying to stream a video to a work colleague who is complaining that it's very, very slow to load. Or perhaps you are trying to embed a video clip in your web page and are not satisfied with the quality of the result. Is there anything that can be done to improve the situation?

HEVC Analysers

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) [1,2] is a next generation video coding standard which has the potential to improve delivery of High Definition and Ultra High Definition video.  A HEVC analyser is software with a user-friendly interface for visualising and testing of HEVC bitstreams. It can be a useful tool for broadcasters and content delivery professionals, quality assurance teams, educators, codec architects and for anyone new to the standard. This white paper gives an overview of some popular HEVC analysers as well as their installation guides, usage and available features. HEVC bitstream analyzers featured include Elecard HEVC analyser, Parabola Explorer and Zond265.

HEVC and VP9 video codecs - try them yourself

High efficiency video coding (HEVC) and Google / WebM VP9 are new codec formats designed to support HD and ultra HD streaming and broadcasting. This article explains how to start experimenting with HEVC and VP9 encoding. This is a short summary of the full article available at h265

Comparing HEVC and H.264 : Update

This post explains how you can compare the quality of the new High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard with its predecessor, H.264/AVC. I've uploaded three versions of the same sequence:

MPEG Internet Video Coding

MPEG is working on a standard for Internet Video Coding. The aim is to develop a standard that includes a royalty free Baseline Profile, with performance that is comparable to the Baseline Profile of H.264/AVC.

Visiting DC this week

Delighted to be heading to Washington DC this week to give an invited talk to technical staff at the Smithsonian Institution. I'll be talking about recent developments in video coding formats, including the new HEVC standard, and what implications these developments might have for the Smithsonian.

Video: introduction to coding video

A short, easy introduction to video compression or video coding, by Iain Richardson, author of "The H.264 Advanced Video Compression Standard". Find out:

HEVC resources: update

Recent HEVC / H.265 resources:

The next book : Coding Video

My next book on video compression, with a working title "Coding Video", is due to be published in late 2016. I'll be posting news and updates here, plus you can give my author page on Facebook a "Like" to keep up with the latest developments:

Tech talks on video compression

I enjoyed giving two invited talks on video compression in Washington DC last week. The first was for patent examiners at the US Patent and Trade Mark Office (USPTO) and the second was for patent attorneys and associates at Sterne Kessler Goldstein Fox.

HEVC Tutorial and Video Walkthrough

I've posted the first in a series of tutorials and resources for the new HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) standard.

Visiting Washington DC in May...

I'll be visiting Washington DC from 20-24 May 2013. If you're based in the area and are interested in meeting up to talk about video compression, HEVC, intellectual property or anything else, please drop me a note.

Busy day in Washington DC yesterday...

Giving evidence at the US International Trade Commission in the morning and visiting the US Patent and Trademark Office in the afternoon. Very impressed by the USPTO - over 10000 patent examiners and support staff, in a campus that's bigger than many Universities, dealing with thousands of applications per month.

HEVC: is it really twice as good as H.264?

The new standard for video compression, High Efficiency Video Coding or HEVC, is claimed to require "half the bandwidth for high quality video transmission", compared with the older H.264/AVC standard. What does this mean? If the same video clip is encoded with H.264 at a particular bitrate, and with HEVC at half the bitrate, then the quality of the decoded HEVC video should be at least as good as the decoded H.264 video.

HEVC : how long before it hits the mainstream?

Analysts are beginning to argue about when HEVC will reach the mainstream market. Frost and Sullivan thinks that a critical mass of adopters could take 3 years and that it may be at least 5 years (2018) before consumers see widespread HEVC support in their electronic devices. On the other hand, Ryan Lawler of Techcrunch expects devices with HEVC support to become widely available in around 18 months, with rapid adoption thereafter.

Many chip manufacturers have been closely involved in the standardisation process for HEVC and are already gearing up for production of HEVC-compatible devices. Will the performance gains offered by HEVC be enough to prompt device manufacturers, service providers and users to switch over to the new standard? If so, how quickly will the shift happen? What do you think?