New Video Codec Adopted for Next Generation DVDs
June 24, 2004
Cupertino, CA - Apple will add support for the H.264 Advanced Video Codec to QuickTime next year, the company announced following ratification of the codec by the DVD Forum.
The H.264 AVC will be included in the next generation High Definition (HD) DVD format; it was jointly developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and has been ratified into the MPEG-4 specification as the next-generation video codec. H.264/AVC is based on open standards.
H.264/AVC is an extremely scalable video codec, delivering excellent quality across the entire bandwidth spectrum—from high definition television to video conferencing and 3G mobile multimedia.
The new standard is widely regarded as an inflection point for the industry because it outstrips the best previous standards by 2x (or more) in compression while delivering a substantial improvement in perceived video quality.
As shown at the National Association of Broadcasters convention earlier this year, video encoded at full high definition resolution (1920x1080 24p) was played back between 6.8 and 8 Mbps on a dual-processor Power Mac G5 delivering full HD quality at up to half the data rate of MPEG-2.
According to Frost & Sullivan’s 2004 Global Media Streaming Platform Report, between 2002 and 2003 Microsoft’s and Real Networks’ worldwide market share percentages were either stable or declining while QuickTime’s market share increased to 36.8 percent, a close second to Microsoft. Real Networks came in third place with less than 25 percent of the worldwide streaming market share.
QuickTime 6.5, which also includes enhanced support for 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and 3GPP2 mobile networks, is available as a free download.
For more information, visit
www.apple.com.com
or
www.dvdforum.org
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