VP3, Open Source Video at 200kbs

Honest Man noted that intel is hyping VP3 as the first low bitrate open source video codec. 200kbs for VHS quality video sounds good to me, especially when I can apt-get it. But is DivX already to entrenched in this niche?

Comments

Quick Answer

[theantix]

Is DivX ;) entrenched in the market? Well, how many non-technical people have heard of it? How many PCs is it bundled with? It has a reputation for being primarily used for pirated video (regardless of the truth). So, the answer is a resounding "no, it isn't entrenched".

Re:Quick Answer

[jvj24601]

It has a reputation for being primarily used for pirated video

So did MP3. Sometimes being first is more important than being better.

Re:Will the MPAA allow Intel to do this?

[steve_bryan]

Right, they'll sue Intel when hell freezes over. The last thing they would try is to sue anyone with the resources to defend themselves and the 'political' stature to laugh off the lies and slurs the MPAA might attempt.

Don't forget about patents.

[jmoffitt]

There are patents on the technology, which means it is of no more use to the open source community than True Type font hinting and MP3.

I hope that they address the patent issues, and not just brush them aside like the DivX guys have done.

There's a reason the Xiph.org project is trying to develop a video codec too :)

The **REAL** links are here...

[bani]

The real open source VP3 site

The VP3 open source license

The VP3 license claims to be MPL derived. Would be interesting to see if it still fits the open source criteria.

Open source? Looks like $395 to me....

[Lawmeister]

it may be open source, but it sure isn't cheap...

Intel's link takes you to on2.com's website where they have this to say:

With the VP3 for Windows codec, you can encode VP3 video and play it back through the Windows Media Player! The VP3 for Windows codec allows you to encode VP3 video using any Video for Windows compatible encoding application (such as Adobe Premiere and Virtual Dub) and play it back through the Windows Media Player. This version comes with limited email support. $395 USD"

The free open source versions can be found at www.vp3.com, but it looks like Intel is promoting them the big bucks version.

Re:well

[Wesley Felter]

I went to the VP3 site to watch some movie trailers they have. When I started playing the trailer, QuickTime Player told me I didn't have the VP3 codec and offered to install it for me. I clicked OK a few times and the trailer started playing. It couldn't have been easier. It even installed the encoder, so I can encode VP3 from any QuickTime app.

what about audio

[Splork]

200kbit/sec for video? so what. double that if you want VHS quality sound along with it!

VP3 as counterpart to MP3...

[sam@caveman.org]

MP3 finally has a video counterpart - a file-compression algorithm that makes it possible to send large multimedia files over the Internet on demand. VP3 is the first open-source video codec to truly support VHS-quality video at bandwidths as low as 200 kbps.

isn't MP3 a patented, non-free algorithm? isn't that why Ogg Vorbis exists? so the only reason Intel is comparing VP3 to MP3 is marketing crap, right?

either that, or they are hoping people will compress millions of DVDs into VP3 and set up giant file-swapping services, that would be a video counterpart to MP3.

in other news, are there any side-by-side comparisons of VP3 and DivX? and how does Ogg Tarkin fit into all of this, now that there is an 'open source' codec?

-sam

Re:optimized for P4?

[Rick the Red]

If it's "optimized for the P4" that means it will run twice as fast on a P3, and 2.5 times faster on AMD, right?

Re:*Not* Open Source *or* Free Software

[cruelworld]

You can improve the code, as long as your improved codec's datastream can still be decoded by a cvs co unmodified decoder.

This is smart, and contrary to what you believe you can improve the encoder without breaking compatibility with the decoder. The datastream format is what cannot change.

missed info

[akb]

Lots of missed info for a project that whose source was released in early September. Good to see it finally got noticed by /.

-first source is available on vp3.com. You must register to download (hrm).

-Its license is MPL derived, with some restrictions on IP for their patents. Also derivatives must always be able to play VP3.

-Its streamable with QT hinting.

-only currently available for Win and Mac. Port to *nix should be easy since there is code for OS X.

-Apple and Real will be supporting it in their players

Not free software

[oddityfds]

I'd say it is non-free software. This is cited from what they added:

[2.1] (e) Notwithstanding Sections 2.1 (a), (b), and (c) above, no license is granted to You, under any intellectual property rights including patent rights, to modify the code in such a way as to create or accept data that is incompatible with data produced or accepted by the Original Code.

and

[2.2] e) Notwithstanding Sections 2.2 (a), (b), and (c) above, no license may be granted to You by Contributor, under any intellectual property rights including patent rights, to modify the code in such a way as to create or accept data that is incompatible with data produced or accepted by the Original Code.

It is not GPL-compatible, anyway.

Possibly...

[Svartalf]

There was some discussion on the developer lists about getting them to allow us to release an OGG video stream using their codec. Right now, they're supposedly looking at re-working their license to make it where something like that might happen.

Otherwise, the best you can do with the current license is make a VP3 player/stream codec for Linux (Which wouldn't be a bad thing- I've seen the technology in action with RealPlayer 8 on Linux, playing some unbelievable streams from news.com.).