SBC, which has picked Microsoft as a system integrator for its IPTV infrastructure, has reportedly flip-flopped on the advanced video codec it plans to adopt. In the U.S., SBC may become the first operator to deploy VC-1-based IPTV services. Although ballots for VC-1 have reportedly been cast, SMPTE has not announced the outcome. Originally derived by Microsoft Corp.'s proprietary Windows Media Video 9 technology, VC-1 is currently in development within the Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers (SMPTE).
#MPEG 2 AND VC1 CODEC LICENSE KEYS TV#
No European service provider has announced a commercial digital TV plan based on VC-1. Many in the DVB group characterize licensing terms for H.264 as less than perfect, but "acceptable." Gilles Maugars, chief technology officer at TPS, a service provider in France, called royalties for H.264 "relatively reasonable." He quickly added, "If you add the cost of transport, satellite, programs and others, there is more to say about that."
#MPEG 2 AND VC1 CODEC LICENSE KEYS LICENSE#
Although BSkyB has yet to license H.264 IP, Brian Sullivan, BSkyB's director, indicated it is beginning that process. scheduled for launch next year will use an H.264-based advanced video codec. Key intellectual property holders of advanced video codecs such as H.264 are demanding royalties not only from set-top vendors but also from broadcasters.īSkyB announced Wednesday that its HDTV service in the U.K. While the trend toward multicodecs grows among chip makers, broadcasters still must find a preferred codec for their content. Broadcom is also adding VC-1 capability to the system. Broadcom is integrating the new H.264 chip into its existing MPEG-2-based SoC to create a multicodec IC. Speaking at the DVB World 2005 conference, Aidan O'Rourke, Broadcom's marketing director said, "As a chip vendor, it would be ludicrous to bet on one horse."īroadcom last December unveiled its own H.264 decoder IC designed to work as "a side car" to the company's mother chip, or set-top system-on-chip. said Thursday (March 3) it will stop developing MPEG-only chips by the second quarter of this year. EE Times: Latest News MPEG-only bows out of codecs race H.264 and VC-1 still contendingĭUBLIN, Ireland - Facing the inevitability of multiple audio/visual codecs required in new-generation digital set tops, Broadcom Corp.