What’s clear at this point is that multiple companies have patents relating to HEVC technology, and they plan to ask for royalties from those who use their technology. This was the case with H.264 as well, and though many in the streaming industry grumbled about the royalties, this disgruntlement certainly didn’t limit H.264’s success.
Two things are different with HEVC. First, where H.264 involved a single group of patent holders administered by MPEG LA, it appears that some HEVC patent holders want to pursue royalties outside of a patent group, which will make it more challenging for HEVC users to license the technologies. According to “Patent Snafus Could Delay New Video Codec,” Mediatek and Qualcomm do not want to join the HEVC group formulated by MPEG LA, and Samsung hasn’t decided either way.
Our contact at MPEG LA reported that while the HEVC group had met three times as of February 2013, there was still no guarantee that a group would be formed or that all patent holders would join the group. So it appears that HEVC early adopters will have to decide to implement the technology without knowing the cost.
For large companies such as Adobe, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, that might be tenable; the H.264 license was capped, and it’s reasonable to assume that the HEVC license will also be capped. All four companies can amortize that cost over millions of product units shipped, and I think it’s highly likely that one or more of these companies will announce HEVC integration by NAB.
Nicolas Weil's insight:
Royalties scheme will indeed be a determining adoption factor.
At this year’s NAB show in Las Vegas, Motorola moves beyond basic technology demonstrations and will exhibit a practical implementation of HEVC with its first HEVC encoding and decoding in real-time. One demo will feature a real-time HEVC encoder delivering streaming content to a Google Nexus 10 tablet for real-time decoding and playback. A second demo will showcase real-time HEVC HTTP livestreaming to an Apple iPad (4th generation). A third demo will show an IP set-top box decoding HEVC. Motorola’s demonstrations will highlight how the compression efficiency of HEVC enables high-quality video delivery over bandwidth constrained networks to multiple platforms.
ATEME has announced what it says is the industry’s first open source implementation of a software media player supporting High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC). The implementation is available immediately. Service providers and broadcasters are able to accelerate experimentation of the new HEVC Codec standard in the field thanks to this development, the company says.
GPAC is an open source media player that can be used to playback live or file-based audio and video content and also to encapsulate and transmit such content as a stream. Those functionalities are now extended to files or streams encoded with HEVC, the latest video compression format standardized by ITU as H.265. GPAC has been validated with a 1080p High Definition content delivery chain. Work is now ongoing to extend the use cases to Ultra High Definition.
With over-the-top content delivery, HEVC and 4K becoming hot topics for this year's NAB Show, Harmonic is unveiling significant enhancements to its ProMedia suite of adaptive bit rate (ABR) solutions for multiscreen processing and delivery that include support for HEVC and Ultra HD.
The product is also now more closely integrated with the Harmonic MediaGrid shared storage system and is offering improved support for closed captioning, regional blackouts, and Nielsen ID3 tagging.
StreamingMedia.com readers first heard about Adobe Primetime in February 2012, when Adobe announced the project and made the first parts of it available at that year's Mobile World Congress. Fourteen months later, Adobe is announcing the general availability of Primetime at the NAB conference. Primetime is a comprehensive modular tool for broadcasters streaming content online, and it includes components for distribution, ad insertion, DRM (digital rights management), and analytics. Because the platform is modular, broadcasters are free to choose the elements they need. They can also connect Primetime to other ad servers or analytics tools, if they prefer.
Adobe's goal in creating Primetime was to help broadcasters further their reach, keep viewers engaged for longer, and help them monetize that reach and engagement. Adobe aims to keep distribution simple by letting one player and one workflow deliver video to all platforms. Primetime streams HLS video, which plays in a Flash player on the desktop. For now, Primetime supports live, linear, and on-demand video on Windows and Mac desktops, as well as iOS and Android mobile devices. Adobe announced that later this year it will expand support to include HTML5 on mobile devices, Roku, Xbox, and connected TVs. With this release, Adobe has also announced that Adobe Analytics (the new name for SiteCatalyst) is integrated with Primetime and offers granular data on individual viewer experiences right down to the 10-second level. Adobe Analytics is integrated into Primetime's media player.
To simplify delivery workflows, we are enhancing our protocol support with Adobe Primetime:
Adobe Primetime Player will support HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), in addition to the existing HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS) on the desktopHLS will be available on all Adobe Primetime Player mobile platformsSupport of MPEG-Dash in the future
Nicolas Weil's insight:
HLS everywhere, DASH nowhere : is it a good sign for DASH support which is taking ages to come to life inside Adobe's product range ? Their first announcement for this upcoming support was more than one year ago now (http://goo.gl/EvqHK). Please, Adobe, help us get rid of HLS instead of pushing it as a standard of the future - it's a dead-end technology...
Rovi Corporation has unveiled DivX Video Service, an end-to-end video solution for multi-screen video delivery that is designed to integrate with and enhance TV Everywhere and OTT entertainment services. Building upon core DivX video technologies and DRM, as well as MainConcept professional encoders, DivX Video Service offers components for managing the video distribution chain from creation and secure delivery to multi-screen playback.
DivX Video Service is available now and supports a range of entertainment distribution models including digital downloads and connected-device streaming. Rovi plans to update DivX Video Service to support HEVC/H.265 later this year.
Saffron Digital, which recently joined Akamai’s NetAlliance Partner Program, has leveraged its relationship with the leading cloud platform provider to launch a comprehensive end-to-end UltraViolet (UV) solution. The new solution will enable retailers, content owners, operators and device manufacturers to take advantage of the business opportunities presented by UV. Using a common file format (CFF), UV aims to engage consumers with the ultimate value proposition for premium video content: buy it anywhere and play it on any device you own.
Saffron Digital, which has been offering UV-like digital locker services since 2009, has integrated its secure online video platform with Akamai’s Sola Media Solutions and global CDN to create an “out-of-the-box” UV solution that simplifies and shortens time to market. As part of the relationship, Saffron Digital will develop UV storefronts that have its proprietary CFF player at their core.
In one of the first significant pre-NAB announcements, cloud encoding companyZencoder is releasing the Zencoder Live Cloud Transcoding service, an open API that offers simple and scalable encoding for live video.
Using the API, publishers upload an RTMP stream from a lightweight encoder on a laptop. Once uploaded, Zencoder creates adaptive bitrate HLS and RTMP streams for viewers.
Nicolas Weil's insight:
Might be interesting to test - maybe more similar offers to come during NAB...
AmberFin will also announce its strategy for iCR's support of IMF (Interoperable Master Format) a new SMPTE file format designed to create a single - standardized - master file for distribution of content between businesses into multiple territories.
"With IMF, you won't need to create a thousand copies of the same content to suit different audiences, formats and geographies. What the standard does is separate the content into various ingredients or components (namely, AS02 MXF media files), a number of ‘recipes’ (Composition Play Lists) and a selection of instructions (or Output Program Lists) appropriate for each of those audiences. IMF is designed to take the right mix of ingredients, the right recipe and a tailored set of instructions to create a dedicated version for each market, without having to duplicate files. From the end-user perspective, IMF will not be something they ever see, but which will bring significant efficiencies to their workflow; iCR will make it so boring, that it will all just work," adds Bruce Devlin.
EyeIO said its next generation of H.264 software encodes video 45 percent faster and reduces bit rates by an additional 26 percent using studio-level profiles that improve video data on several fronts by more than 50 percent.
A company called EyeIO, based in Palo Alto, CA, has announced new technology that enables delivery of ultra-low-bandwidth Internet video in full HD, 3-D, StudioHD and UltraHD (4K Video) formats.
Ultra-HD 4K broadcasting may be all the rage at NAB, but the implementation of the HEVC codec that makes it all possible is happening first for streaming video over-the-top. At NAB, virtually every video processing developer is highlighting adoption of HEVC/H.265 into their products; here we'll take a look at a few of the most notable who were willing to talk about their NAB plans in advance.
Just in time for NAB, VisualOn and Discretix are announcing the release of SecurePlayer 2.0, which provides publishers with iOS and Android playback protected with Microsoft PlayReady DRM (digital rights management).
The player works with MPEG-DASH, HLS, and Smooth Streaming content.
SecurePlayer 2.0 combines VisualOn's OnStream MediaPlayer+ with Discretix's DRM security.
The ViBE VS7000 multi-screen video encoding/transcoding system from Thomson Video Networks now provides support for the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) compression standard for live and offline applications. The company says the ViBE VS7000 will lower operator OPEX for delivery of a wide range of convergent TV services including OTT as well as traditional IPTV and cable applications, thanks to the use of HEVC.
During NAB Thomson Video Networks will demonstrate its new live and file-based HEVC encoding solution up to Ultra HD format, working with various HEVC players. One such device is a player from Japanese mobile operator NTT DOCOMO, which has just announced that it will license video decoding software for HEVC to enable full HD video streaming on smartphones and other devices.
The ViBE VS7000 will also be demonstrated with VisualOn’s OnStream MediaPlayer+ running HEVC decoding on Nexus tablets. OnStream MediaPlayer+ enables high-quality playback across multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, Mac OS and Windows Desktop.
Akamai Technologies showed a second screen proof of concept that syncs up complimentary smartphone and tablet content with what's happening on the main television screen.
Encoding specialist Telestream couldn't contain itself to just one piece of news for this week's NAB conference. On Friday, it announced that Vantage, it's video transcoding and workflow solution, is going to the cloud. A new product, Vantage Cloud, runs on a cloud-based infrastructure, and connects with local workflows. That gives customers the flexibility to turn to Telestream's cloud encoder when they have a temporary spike in processing needs, or when they need outside help working with new regulations or formats. Combining local and cloud solutions, Telestream says, creates a unified hybrid workflow where users can get jobs done quickly without large investments in hardware. Telestream is partnering with Amazon Web Services (AWS) on the cloud solution.
The IAB’s Video Ad Serving Template, or VAST, was developed to provide publishers and advertisers with a common language for video player technology. In parallel, the Digital Video Multiple Ad Playlist, or VMAP, was created to detail ad insertion possibilities in instances where a programmer doesn’t control the video player or end-point distribution channel for content it owns.
The purpose of these two standards is to make video advertising more scalable and straightforward for industry participants, and Adobe is happy to announce that our Adobe Primetime Ad Serving is fully VAST 3.0 and VMAP 1.0 compliant. It is capable of both generating and reading VAST 3.0 ad calls, and allowing for inventory rights sharing among programmers and distributors with VMAP 1.0.
There is also the performance element in that state-of-the-art cloud transcoding platforms can be best for live streaming where latency must be kept to a minimum. Elemental Technologies, exhibiting at NAB, has scored heavily with leading broadcasters by touting high transcoding performance based on massively parallel processing within the cloud. By using clusters of off the shelf graphical processing units, Elemental keeps costs down while being able to boast that it can transcode both SD and HD content “faster than real time”, which is not quite as magic as it sounds. It merely means that transcoding is not on the critical time path and is executed more quickly than some of the other functions involved in end to end content delivery. Transcoding then does not add to the latency budget.
Nicolas Weil's insight:
NAB news from Elemental, Zencoder, Haivision & Media Excel.
At NAB, taking place in Las Vegas April 8-11, Envivio will introduce new products and showcase new developments in next-generation software-based video processing that optimize the convergence of traditional TV and multi-screen services :
- An Ultra HD 4K technology demonstration - HEVC HDTV video compression, enabling up to 50 percent bit-rate savings while preserving video quality - HEVC video streamed to a tablet in MPEG-DASH format - TV Anytime capabilities including applications such as Catch-up and Start-over TV, highlights creation, ad insertion and nPVR - Introduction of a new product that further personalizes the multi-screen user experience - High efficiency MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) statistical multiplexing - Envivio True Motion Experience, a new technology for high-quality streaming in MPEG-4 AVC format to connected TVs - Video packaged by Envivio Halo(TM) network media processor in the Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS) format, protected by Adobe Access
We exhibit some types of our HEVC Encoder. These achieve UHD Video Streaming, HD mobile video streaming, and live streaming also, because of high compression efficiency and stable CBR of our HEVC encoders.
- High Quality and Stable CBR Software HEVC Encoder SDK responded up to 4K
- HD Real-time Software HEVC Encoder
- Real-time FPGA HEVC Encoder, this is the first step to the ASIC Encoder
Japanese public broadcaster NHK will present the latest iteration of its 8K Super Hi-Vision system at the 2013 NAB Show. The demo will be a highlight of the NAB’s 2013 Futures Park area of the show. It will feature a presentation theater for viewing the system’s 8k video and 22.2-multichannel sound, including content recorded at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The system’s 7680x4320 video format provides 16 times more pixels than HDTV. Its multichannel audio system produces a 3D sound space for viewers located anywhere within a large viewing area. Besides the presentation in the theater, NHK will also show for the first time outside Japan the real-time, over-the-air transmission and reception of Super Hi-Vision broadcasts, using two UHF television channels.
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Royalties scheme will indeed be a determining adoption factor.