MPEG 4, Windows Media 9 At War

Andy Tai writes "According to this News.com report, backers of MPEG 4 are protesting Microsoft's licensing fee structure for Windows Media 9, which is up to 50% less than MPEG 4's. They accuse Microsoft of blocking the progress to move to an 'open standard' (MPEG 4), posing unfair competition and threatening consumer choice. Of course, what is really needed is a third choice, a totally Free Software media codec solution that's competitive with both Windows Media and MPEG 4."

Comments

Confusing Codec Crap

[Threed]

I am not a professional video artist of any kind. I have a TV capture device that spits out MPEG 1 video files which I then drop into VirtualDub for editing and converting to AVI. Currently, I use DivX 4.1 and MP3 to cut my favorite half-hour TV programs from almost 400 MB to less than 150 MB.

To maintain maximum freedom and guarantee future viewability (and hopefully not giving up much hard disk space), what codecs SHOULD I be using?

Re:Basic economics

[tealover]

This is the funniest post I've read in a long time.

Good luck on your noble journey, Mr. Quixote.

gut reaction

[Brat Food]

ok, as a gut reaction, id want to say MPEG4 should be free...

but the majority of the comments here seem to come from people who must not know how businesses run.

Some people, a lot in fact, actually get PAID to write code. Yes, they make some money so they can eat and buy mt. dew. Now, the companies who pay these programmers obviusly need to generate some revenue.. you see where this is going?

OK, now that the econ lesson is over, lets move to the licensing - is it not fair to ask that people who will make a profit off of your product, then in turn give you a small amount of the proceeds for you developing that product? I know this goes against everything you all beleive is so right.. but in the end... the people who developed it might like to continue toeat. (i know this is a gross oversimplification, but hey)

No on to microsoft: what do you do when you micorsoft and a superior technology comes around that you dont own?

1. Buy it
-or, if thats not an option-
2. Drive it in to the ground

MS doesnt sell stuff cheap for no reason - they sell it cheap to drive out competition. All the time, everytime. Look back at history, this is NOT different at all.

Yes, im sure the mpegla understands the benifits of releasin it for free, but if MS can charrge... why cant the for a superior product?

And dont be fooled, think in broader terms - mpeg4 has a planned ubiquity that could make it just as important to the next video revolution (ie. vidio phones etc) as the original quicktime was to desktop video.

and keep in mind - as god as any open source project is... making it robust enough to service the needs of both the content creators and viewrs, as well as be in enough distribution to command that it be used in the first place are of utmost importance. You ask the average consumer if they know what *insert oss codec project here* is and youl get crickets. Its not to say tey dont meet some of the above criteria, just not all.

A puny amount of people use quicktime compared to windows media. But, it passes because its in high distribution, and... almost ALL video you see on TV, film, etc, has passed thru quicktime.

rant off, im losin track and caffiene beckons!