2015年12月1日
By Jan Ozer 特约编辑
专题文章

HEVC的2015之旅:走下坡路，加速前进

2015年初，HEVC的未来似乎是清洁和绿色的. There was a single patent pool, and royalties were capped at a reasonable rate. Meanwhile, 当时的开源世界一片混乱, 使用来自多个来源的多个编解码器, 而且只有一点合作的可能. 10个月后，情况完全逆转了. HEVC一片混乱, with two patent pools (the second with near-usurious rates and no caps) and the threat of a third, 虽然所有的开源努力已经整合成一个, 集中全. 套用Talking Heads的话说:“好吧，我们是怎么走到这一步的?让我们回顾一下.

今年年初，HEVC成立两周年了单一版税池从MPEG LA收取0美元.前100后的编码器和解码器每单位20,000 units, 第一年就有2500万美元的工资帽, 而且对hevc编码的内容不收取版税. Several services had already deployed HEVC content, most famously Netflix with 《百家乐app下载》.

在开源方面, Google was delivering about 30 percent of all content via VP9 to save big on bandwidth and 提高低比特率文件的质量. 2014年10月，互联网工程任务组(IETF)赞助了互联网视频编解码器 (netvc) working group with a goal of delivering the specification for a competitive open-source codec by May 2017. 其中一个被提议的编解码器是Daala，这是Mozilla和Xiph之间的合作.org. Daala正在取得进展，但还没有接近商业化. The other candidate was VP10, the next-generation codec after Google’s VP9.

Pre-NAB公告

3月26日, HEVC提前, 独立的许可管理员, announced a new HEVC patent pool with an initial list of licensors that was expected to include GE, 鲜艳的色彩, Dolby, Philips, 和三菱电机. The new company promised to announce royalty rates and licensing terms in the second quarter of 2015.

On April 1, V-Nova, 该公司成立于2011年，总部位于伦敦, 宣布了新的英仙座编解码器, which, 根据新闻稿, 以高清比特率提供“超高清质量”, SD比特率的高清, 和音频比特率的SD视频.”

流媒体 一再要求测试珀尔修斯, V-Nova已经衰落, 在IBC之前, 该公司声称这是“与许多操作员一起工作试用和评估使用其珀尔修斯编解码器的超高清. 此时此刻, 珀尔修斯仍然是一个异类，而不是基于标准的, 而且不是开源的，没有第三方测试, 很难阻碍它的潜力.

打破骆驼的背

7月21日，HEVC提前宣布了其授权条款. Briefly, encoder/decoder pricing, whether in hardware or software, ranged from $0.每单位80元减为1元.50 per unit, 无一例外, and no caps, 追溯到这项技术的第一次使用, 你们这些讨厌的早期采用者! HEVC也获得了0分.5 percent royalty on attributable revenue, essentially a royalty on HEVC-encoded content.

Industry reaction to the proposed royalty was almost uniformly negative on multiple fronts.

为…写作 流媒体 博客，丹·雷伯恩指出HEVC提前是有很多说法，但缺乏细节. 当我在2015年9月底写这篇专栏时, HEVC提前网站仍然没有列出它所代表的专利, 甚至是谁加入了这个团体, which obviously makes it difficult to determine the essentiality of those patents and whether the royalties claimed are legitimate.

潜在的授权方也强烈反对内容版税. For example, Joe Inzerillo, the highly respected CTO of MLB Advanced Media, 告诉猛电缆“总收入的概念是不可能实现的部分. 如果这只是另一种需要支付的过路费，而过路费是合理的 ... 这没什么大不了的. 但是总收入 ... 没有一家主流公司会这么做.因泽里罗接着说，“H。.265项专利让4K和8K的销量大受打击.”

在编码器/解码器方面, 目前也不清楚HEVC提前提出的版税税率, 比MPEG - LA提出的标准高出10倍以上, would 承受FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, and Nondiscriminatory) challenge as required for technologies used in an industry standard. 苹果等公司希望第一年获得1.2亿美元的奖金, 似乎FRAND的挑战几乎是确定无疑的.

Finally, 正如雷伯恩在上面提到的博文中所写的那样, 第三家HEVC授权集团也正在形成. 突然间，HEVC从既成事实变成了一团难以管理的混乱. Meanwhile, 幕后故事, 开源社区正在制定计划来巩固他们的努力. 但首先是托尔.

在开源前沿

On Aug. 11, 思科宣布推出雷神, an open-source codec the company submitted to the aforementioned IETF NetVC workgroup. Given that Thor was “years away,” the announcement had the feeling of being more sizzle than steak. 然而，这并没有阻止广播桥的宣传， “思科要和雷神取消HEVC?” 好吧，至少他们在标题上打了个问号.

然而，大新闻出现在8月8日. 31、当一个新的财团叫了开放媒体联盟宣布 that it’s working on a codec that could be delivered as soon as January 2017. 该组织包括一些互联网大佬, 包括谷歌, Amazon, Cisco, Microsoft, Mozilla, Netflix, Amazon, and Intel, 他们都同意放弃知识产权的版税.

显著, the group consolidated the development of the three major IETF next-gen codecs (VP10, Daala, and Thor) perhaps forever cementing Thor’s place as the world’s shortest-lived video codec. 更重要的是, 这将加速联盟编解码器的发展, 并确保其被选为IETF的NetVC编解码器.

联盟编解码器的机会有多大? As 在本评论中讨论, 而痴迷于标准的广播市场可能会坚持HEVC, it looks like the Alliance codec will eliminate any chance for HEVC to succeed in browser-based playback. 谷歌和亚马逊是特许会员, 联盟编解码器也可能在移动和OTT设备领域掀起波澜.

All this, of course, assumes that the Alliance codec doesn’t infringe upon any HEVC or other patents, 这可能不太可能, Black Stone IP的Elvir Causevic和Ed Fish表示, an investment bank that advises operating companies on trading intellectual property and technology assets. 至于联盟的真正目的, Causevic and Fish posit that it might be to create “a dialogue among HEVC提前 and leading IP holders and implementers to arrive at terms that meet the needs of all key parties in each industry segment.” In other words, come to your senses and don’t kill the golden goose before it starts laying eggs. 根据 流媒体 编辑Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen, 这是ibc上的讨论，联盟纯粹是一个政治行动, 目的是让HEVC提前让步.

如果是这样，有迹象表明此举可能正在奏效. On Sept. 24, HEVC提前 said it was adding MediaTek as a member of the patent group and that it will “adjust fees to support widespread use of HEVC.没有提供其他细节.

The only thing we absolutely know at this point is that uncertainty and risk always slows technology adoption. 不是说教, but if HEVC IP owners had sat down and planned a strategy to derail their codec’s success, 他们不能比2015年做得更好了. Given that the open source community seems to have caught the cooperation bug, HEVC ends the year looking a whole lot worse off than it did when it started.

本文发表于2015年11月/ 12月号 流媒体杂志 作为“兴衰”?) of HEVC.”

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