How HEVC could remake Internet video—or not

How HEVC could remake Internet video—or not

Amazon, Apple, Google or Netflix could reshape the market for high def movies and TV shows over the Internet by adopting the newly minted HEVC codec.

The high efficiency video coding standard, also known as H.265, promises to cut in half the size of an HD movie file or reduce the bandwidth needed to stream it. Imagine what that might mean to a future Apple iTV.

Andrew G. Setos (below) is already thinking about it. The veteran audio-visual engineer and Apple fan said Apple is one of the companies who could make a market with the help of HEVC.

“HEVC needs a patron, a big benefactor,” Setos told me in his Pacific Palisades office. “I would hazard a guess it could be something like iTunes, Amazon or other Internet distributors."

Historically, major advancements in video coding have had a company or product that turned the technology into dollars, Setos noted. DVD makers and satellite TV providers turned MPEG-2 into two huge video industries. The two forces also propelled today’s MPEG 4, Part 10 (aka H.264) with their Blu-ray disks and high def sports via satellite TV.

TAG:High Efficiency Video Coding Andy Setos HEVC H 265 H 264 MPEG Video Amazon Apple Google Netflix