Re: [rtcweb] Straw Poll on Video Codec Alternatives

[Bjoern Hoehrmann <[e-mail]>]

* Ted Hardie wrote:
>The straw poll’s purpose is to make it clear to the WG which of the
>alternatives that are favored or disfavored and what objections you have,
>if any, against a particular alternative. ...

Here is my current thinking. Some fields intentionally left blank.

  [    NO    ]  1. All entities MUST support H.264

The current Working Group charter says "the working group will try to
avoid encumbered technologies that require royalties or other encum-
brances that would prevent such technologies from being easy to use".

It seems many potential implementers and users would be unable to ob-
tain H.264 licenses under non-discriminatory and reasonable terms for
private and commercial use. Current H.264 licensing practises are also
often unclear and are likely to put various parties at risk.

A simple example for the latter point is the distribution of recorded
WebRTC sessions on a web site that generates revenue in some form. It
is likely people are going to do that, but doing so in a legally sound
manner is often unduly burdensome under current licensing practises.

(The second paragraph can stand on its own if a "short" form is needed.)

  [          ]  2. All entities MUST support VP8

Proponents of this exclusive option have not made a convincing case.
I note in passing that `video/webm` has not been registered with IANA.

  [    NO    ]  3. All entities MUST support both H.264 and VP8
  [    NO    ]  4. Browsers MUST support both H.264 and VP8, other
                   entities MUST support at least one of H.264 and VP8
  [    NO    ]  5. All entities MUST support at least one of H.264 and
                   VP8
  [ACCEPTABLE]  6. All entities MUST support H.261

  [    NO    ]  7. There is no MTI video codec
  
This might be acceptable after properly reviewed changes to the charter.
  
  [    NO    ]  8. All entities MUST support H.261 and all entities
                   MUST support at least one of H.264 and VP8
  [ACCEPTABLE]  9. All entities MUST support Theora
  [    NO    ] 10. All entities MUST implement at least two of
                   {VP8, H.264, H.261}
  [    NO    ] 11. All entities MUST implement at least two of
                   {VP8, H.264, H.263}
  [    NO    ] 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
  [    NO    ] 13. All entities MUST support H.263
  [    NO    ] 14. All entities MUST implement at least two of
                   {VP8, H.264, Theora}
  [ACCEPTABLE] 15. All entities MUST support decoding using Theora.
  [    NO    ] 16. All entities MUST support Motion JPEG

Thanks,
-- 
Björn Höhrmann · mailto:[e-mail] · http://bjoern.hoehrmann.de
Am Badedeich 7 · Telefon: [phone] · http://www.bjoernsworld.de
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