From rob.koenen m4if.org Tue Dec 3 12:03:50 2002 From: rob.koenen m4if.org (Rob Koenen) Date: Wed Jul 23 13:51:41 2003 Subject: [M4IF Discuss] MPEG-4 Audio License nearing? Message-ID: <3C124172E7FDD511B510000347426D59016BEA9B@exchange.epr.com> Discuss readers, There was some interesting news yesterday, which suggests that an MPEG-4 Audio joint licensing scheme is getting closer to market: MPEG-4 Audio Licensing Committee Selects Via Licensing Corp. as Administrator. The release quotes the first quarter of the next year (which is over 4 years after MPEG-4 version 1 was approved by MPEG) as the target date. So we have, in terms of joint licensing schemes: * MPEG-4 Visual - available as of last week; * MPEG-4 Systems - announced but waiting to be made available; can't be long anymore (I *hope*); * MPEG-4 Audio - probably available early next year. While I am at it, I'd like to include a link following article about the ongoing discussions about the role of patents in standards: Patent holders on the ropes from CNET, also featured on other websites. And there is more news on MPEG-4 today, related to the Broadband Plus show. The E-box consortium and Envivio both have announcements on (secure) MPEG-4 solutions, working with Nagravision. E-box will start trials early next year with Comcast. Also, PACE is showing an MPEG-4 capable STB, and yesterday, Sorenson released the new, MPEG-4 enabled, Squeeze 3. See www.m4if.org for links. Best, Rob -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/discuss/attachments/20021203/387911a2/attachment.html From ben interframemedia.com Wed Dec 4 15:25:13 2002 From: ben interframemedia.com (Ben Waggoner) Date: Wed Jul 23 13:51:41 2003 Subject: [M4IF Discuss] NerdTV encoder chosen Message-ID: Everybody, Thanks for everyone's help with the codec evaluation for the Robert X. Cringely Nerd TV project. Since this likely will be the biggest audience for an all MPEG-4 project yet, by a good order of magnitude, we spent the time to make sure we could get the best results possible. Because I consult for a number of different MPEG-4 companies, I decided it was best that I take myself out of the final decision about codec quality. First, I spent several weeks with the encoders making sure I could get the best results out of each. I assigned a randomized number to each vendor, and supplied Bob and his crew with these files, with no indication of which vendors did which. I didn't indicate any workflow issues with these files, but didn't provide samples from tools that simply didn't provide adequate workflow for our needs. The target specs were 320x240 25 fps Simple Visual @ 100 Kbps, with 22.050 KHz 24 Kbps mono AAC-LC audio, all encoded for progressive download. We didn't look at other combinations in any formal way, so don't extrapolate from our results too broadly. The unanimous pick (all viewers agreed it was better for all samples) was the beta of Sorenson Squeeze 3.0. Which is priced at US$119! The close runner up was Envivio Encoding Station, with the other encoders in a pack somewhat behind that, and with QuickTime's encoder dead last (which concerns me, since many are using it to demo MPEG-4 quality). I note that both Squeeze and EES support 2-pass VBR encoding, which is a big help with this kind of long-form progressive download content. And while we didn't judge it in this regard, Squeeze also provided the best workflow of any of the tools, again with EES as the closest runner up. Since I'm under NDA with a number of the encoders, I won't be providing a full list and results here. If I did test your encoder, expect in the next few days a more detailed report from me describing how your particular product fared. I'm writing a feature for the April issue of DV Magazine (out in late February) describing the initial phase of Nerd TV, including more details on the codec shootout. And remember, I can consult for you too! If you're building MPEG-4 tools, or implementing MPEG-4 in your organization, drop me a line privately if you'd like to discuss how I can help you out. Ben Waggoner Compressed Video Consulting, Training, and Encoding My Book: http://www.benwaggoner.com/books.htm Cleaner Tutorial: http://www.saferseas.com/navseries/adclean.html Compression Books: http://www.benwaggoner.com/bookshelf.htm From lzm02 mails.tsinghua.edu.cn Mon Dec 16 15:20:27 2002 From: lzm02 mails.tsinghua.edu.cn (Li Zhengming) Date: Wed Jul 23 13:51:41 2003 Subject: [M4IF Discuss] How to find the pure video stream? Message-ID: <003b01c2a4d3$9bfc4090$38496fa6@automatihc6u4i> Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/octet-stream Size: 15492 bytes Desc: not available Url : /pipermail/discuss/attachments/20021216/bebea840/attachment.exe -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/octet-stream Size: 3781 bytes Desc: not available Url : /pipermail/discuss/attachments/20021216/bebea840/attachment-0001.exe From kalpana india.hp.com Fri Dec 20 14:10:33 2002 From: kalpana india.hp.com (Kalpana R K) Date: Wed Jul 23 13:51:41 2003 Subject: [M4IF Discuss] Streaming MPEG4 files Message-ID: <02fe01c2a803$76062e40$32e62a0f@nt23050> Hi All, I would like to know if there are any license/patents required to read MPEG4 file format and stream it. Any links ?? Any pointers ?? will be helpful. Thanks -Kalpana From Colin_Witt baylor.edu Fri Dec 20 16:03:49 2002 From: Colin_Witt baylor.edu (Colin Witt) Date: Wed Jul 23 13:51:41 2003 Subject: [M4IF Discuss] Anystream Agility and MPEG-4 Message-ID: We've been working with an Agility Workgroup system from Anystream to compress video. This is basically an automation platform that makes it easy to do large volume compression of video. It's ideal for many environments because it lets compression people setup job profiles that non-technical video people can use to compress the video. I've had several discussions with them about support for MPEG-4, and they seem lukewarm about it. Has anyone on this list worked with their systems, specifically with an eye toward producing MPEG-4 video? I know at least one person who reads this list has worked with Agility, because he's released a set of profiles for their system that work very well (you know who you are). Any comments? Any ideas about how to convince them to be more open to standards-based formats? Colin Witt Baylor University From rob.koenen m4if.org Fri Dec 20 14:08:23 2002 From: rob.koenen m4if.org (Rob Koenen) Date: Wed Jul 23 13:51:42 2003 Subject: [M4IF Discuss] Streaming MPEG4 files In-Reply-To: <02fe01c2a803$76062e40$32e62a0f@nt23050> Message-ID: <3C124172E7FDD511B510000347426D59016BEC70@exchange.epr.com> Pointers on licensing are here: http://www.m4if.org/patents/ Which licenses you need and how much the fee is very much depends on what is in the MPEG-4 file (MPEG-4 Video? MPEG-4 Audio?) and, in the case of MPEG-4 Video, whether you are asking any money for the streaming. Rob > I would like to know if there are any license/patents required to > read MPEG4 file format and stream it. Any links ?? Any pointers ?? > will be helpful. > > Thanks > -Kalpana > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > Discuss@lists.m4if.org http://lists.m4if.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > From webmaster alphavideo.com Fri Dec 20 16:29:56 2002 From: webmaster alphavideo.com (Benjamin Higginbotham) Date: Wed Jul 23 13:51:42 2003 Subject: [M4IF Discuss] Anystream Agility and MPEG-4 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <90F6ADEC-146A-11D7-A2B1-00306548A74A@alphavideo.com> May not be the answer you want, but Telestream FlipFactory may be what you're looking for. It's basically the same thing as AnyStream except that the licensing is much more realistic, it supports almost any format in any format out including broadcast servers, and they even have hardware that allows for video input and transcoding. The solution is very cool, we have several clients who have moved from AnyStream to FlipFactory. You can find info on Telestream products at http://www.telestream.net MPEG 4 is already in FlipFactory Anyhow, just my $0.02 Benjamin Higginbotham webmaster@alphavideo.com www.alphavideo.com On Friday, December 20, 2002, at 04:03 PM, Colin Witt wrote: > We've been working with an Agility Workgroup system from Anystream to > compress video. This is basically an automation platform that makes it > easy > to do large volume compression of video. It's ideal for many > environments > because it lets compression people setup job profiles that > non-technical > video people can use to compress the video. > > I've had several discussions with them about support for MPEG-4, and > they > seem lukewarm about it. Has anyone on this list worked with their > systems, > specifically with an eye toward producing MPEG-4 video? I know at > least one > person who reads this list has worked with Agility, because he's > released a > set of profiles for their system that work very well (you know who you > are). > > Any comments? Any ideas about how to convince them to be more open to > standards-based formats? > > Colin Witt > Baylor University > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > Discuss@lists.m4if.org > http://lists.m4if.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss