Re: [rtcweb] Straw Poll on Video Codec Alternatives

[Adrian Grange <[e-mail]>]

1.  All entities MUST support H.264
  a. Are you in favor of this option [Yes/No/Acceptable]: *NO*
  b. Do you have any objections to this option, if so please summarize them:
     Complex licensing and burden of book-keeping is a big barrier,
particularly for small and medium sized operators. WebRTC is most likely to
succeed with fewer and lower barriers to entry where niche and innovative
businesses can operate more on a par with the big service providers.

 2.  All entities MUST support VP8
  a. Are you in favor of this option [Yes/No/Acceptable]: *YES*
  b. Do you have any objections to this option, if so please summarize them:

 3.  All entities MUST support both H.264 and VP8
  a. Are you in favor of this option [Yes/No/Acceptable]: *ACCEPTABLE (0.3)*
  b. Do you have any objections to this option, if so please summarize them:
      Far from ideal. The higher implementation and maintenance burden of
specifying two codecs is a particular issue for smaller service providers,
but it does pass the 'guaranteed interoperability' test. Complex licensing
and burden of book-keeping for H.264 is a big barrier, particularly for
small and medium sized operators.

 4.  Browsers MUST support both H.264 and VP8, other entities MUST support
at least one of H.264 and VP8
  a. Are you in favor of this option [Yes/No/Acceptable]: *NO*
  b. Do you have any objections to this option, if so please summarize them:
      This fails the 'guaranteed interoperability' test, the major/sole
reason for an MTI codec, for operation between non-browser peers.

 5.  All entities MUST support at least one of H.264 and VP8
  a. Are you in favor of this option [Yes/No/Acceptable]: *NO*
  b. Do you have any objections to this option, if so please summarize them:
     Fails the 'guaranteed interoperability' test, the major/sole reason
for an MTI codec.

 6.  All entities MUST support H.261
  a. Are you in favor of this option [Yes/No/Acceptable]: *NO*
  b. Do you have any objections to this option, if so please summarize them:
      We should be planning for the future, not resurrecting the (distant)
past. H.261 does not do the right thing for the user, it does not make the
best available use of available bandwidth. Better options exist (VP8 being
my choice).

 7.  There is no MTI video codec
  a. Are you in favor of this option [Yes/No/Acceptable]: *ACCEPTABLE (0.3)*
  b. Do you have any objections to this option, if so please summarize them:
      Far from ideal in that it fails the 'guaranteed interoperability
test', but an acceptable placeholder if consensus cannot be reached.

 8.  All entities MUST support H.261 and all entities MUST support at least
one of H.264 and VP8
  a. Are you in favor of this option [Yes/No/Acceptable]: *NO*
  b. Do you have any objections to this option, if so please summarize them:
     In practice, this is little different to specifying H.261 as the MTI.
We should be planning for the future, not resurrecting the (distant) past.
H.261 does not do the right thing for the user, it does not make the best
available use of available bandwidth.

 9.  All entities MUST support Theora
  a. Are you in favor of this option [Yes/No/Acceptable]: *NO*
  b. Do you have any objections to this option, if so please summarize them:
      We should be planning for the future, not resurrecting the past. VP8
is a better option.

10.  All entities MUST implement at least two of {VP8, H.264, H.261}
  a. Are you in favor of this option [Yes/No/Acceptable]: *NO*
  b. Do you have any objections to this option, if so please summarize them:
      In practice, this is little different to specifying H.261 as the MTI.
We should be planning for the future, not resurrecting the (distant) past.
H.261 does not do the right thing for the user, it does not make the best
available use of available bandwidth.

11.  All entities MUST implement at least two of {VP8, H.264, H.263}
  a. Are you in favor of this option [Yes/No/Acceptable]: *NO*
  b. Do you have any objections to this option, if so please summarize them:
    In practice, this is little different to specifying H.263 as the MTI.
We should be planning for the future, not resurrecting the (distant) past.
H.263 does not do the right thing for the user, it does not make the best
available use of available bandwidth.

12.  All entities MUST support decoding using both H.264 and VP8, and MUST
support encoding using at least one of H.264 or VP8
  a. Are you in favor of this option [Yes/No/Acceptable]: *ACCEPTABLE (0.4)*
  b. Do you have any objections to this option, if so please summarize them:
     Better than inflicting the higher implementation and maintenance
burden of specifying two encoders, and does pass the
'guaranteed interoperability' test. Complex licensing and burden of
book-keeping for H.264 is a big barrier, particularly for small and medium
sized operators.

13.  All entities MUST support H.263
  a. Are you in favor of this option [Yes/No/Acceptable]: *NO*
  b. Do you have any objections to this option, if so please summarize them:
      We should be planning for the future, not resurrecting the (distant)
past. H.263 does not do the right thing for the user, it does not make the
best available use of available bandwidth.

14.  All entities MUST implement at least two of {VP8, H.264, Theora}
  a. Are you in favor of this option [Yes/No/Acceptable]: *NO*
  b. Do you have any objections to this option, if so please summarize them:
      In practice, this is little different to specifying Theora as the
MTI. We should be planning for the future, not resurrecting the past. VP8
is a better option.

15.  All entities MUST support decoding using Theora.
  a. Are you in favor of this option [Yes/No/Acceptable]: *NO*
  b. Do you have any objections to this option, if so please summarize them:
      This fails the 'guaranteed interoperability' test, the major/sole
reason for an MTI codec. We should be planning for the future, not
resurrecting the past. VP8 is a better option.

16.  All entities MUST support Motion JPEG
  a. Are you in favor of this option [Yes/No/Acceptable]: *NO*
  b. Do you have any objections to this option, if so please summarize them:
      Unacceptable compression performance and I suspect would not be used
in practice, so I believe this would fail the 'guaranteed interoperability'
test. Probably the worst of the proposed options.