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VideoLAN Announces Dav1d, a New Libre and Open Source AV1 Decoder (jbkempf.com)

Jean-Baptiste Kempf, president of VideoLan and developer of VLC media player, made the following announced Monday: AV1 is a new video codec by the Alliance for Open Media, composed of most of the important Web companies (Google, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft,...). AV1 has the potential to be up to 20% better than the HEVC codec, but the patents license is totally free, while HEVC patents licenses are insanely high and very confusing.

The reference decoder for AV1 is great, but it's a research codebase, so it has a lot to improve. Therefore, the VideoLAN, VLC and FFmpeg communities have started to work on a new decoder, sponsored by the Alliance of Open Media. The goal of this new decoder is: be small, be as fast as possible, be very cross-platform, correctly threaded, libre and (actually) Open Source. Without further due, the code: https://code.videolan.org/videolan/dav1d
Recommended: A talk during VDD 2018 conference about dav1d.

88 comments

  1. How long before ... by Alain+Williams · · Score: 2

    a patent troll magics up some patent relating to AV1 ?

    1. Re: How long before ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Threeve seconds ago. Just sent the CnD letter out.

    2. Re:How long before ... by jmv · · Score: 1

      Trolls are always a problem for anything you do, but at least here's a long list of companies that are providing royalty-free licensing of their video patents for AV1. It's no guarantee, but it sure beats any other free video codec effort.

    3. Re:How long before ... by Kjella · · Score: 2

      a patent troll magics up some patent relating to AV1?

      Well that could certainly happen but it's a risk for all codecs or indeed software in general, they've done an IPR review to make sure it doesn't infringe on the patents of their competitors in the HEVC camp so it'll have to be a surprise contender. But if you look at the Fortune global 500 they got #11 (Apple), #18 (Amazon), #52 (Alphabet/Google), #71 (Microsoft), #92 (IBM), #146 (Intel), #212 (Cisco) and #274 (Facebook) on board. I think they can afford a few lawyers to get the patent declared invalid or not applicable and if that fails a big payday for a patent troll is still pocket change for them. And if it turns out AV1 doesn't infringe your patent and that's the next dominant standard well too bad your patent is worthless, it'd be a pretty big gamble. If you're not first in line to be sued, what does it matter? I doubt they'll ever get to number two.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    4. Re:How long before ... by grep+-v+'.*'+* · · Score: 1

      a patent troll magics up some patent relating to AV1 ?

      *I* have a patent on letters, and my wife has a patent on numbers. My son, however, has the patent on mixing letters and numbers so HE'LL be the one doing the suing in this case. Expect a notice R3a1 S00n N0w.

      (Oh nuts, he saw that, I'm in trouble now!)

      --
      If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
    5. Re:How long before ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a patent troll magics up some patent relating to AV1 ?

      *I* have a patent on letters, and my wife has a patent on numbers. My son, however, has the patent on mixing letters and numbers so HE'LL be the one doing the suing in this case. Expect a notice R3a1 S00n N0w.

      (Oh nuts, he saw that, I'm in trouble now!)

      Well I am going to sue for your unapproved use of my patents on punctuation and white space characters. I may be willing to drop the suite if you agree to a cross licensing deal. but you will have to pay full licence on every use for my patent on expressing abstract concepts with symbols on a written medium and the separate patent for doing so on a computer.

    6. Re:How long before ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a patent troll magics up some patent relating to AV1 ?

      So it's no better with H.265. Just because a bunch of companies have licensed their patents, doesn't mean all the functionality is covered by them. Submarine patents can exists with proprietary / closed sourced codecs as much as open source ones. Unless the HEVC folks offer some kind of indemnification?

      * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indemnity

      Never mind that you have to talk to three (4?) different people for licensing: MPEG LA, HEVC Advance, Technicolor SA (and Velos Media?).

      * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Video_Coding#Patent_licensing

      Might as well save the money from licensing costs and put it in a bank account earning interest as an "emergency fund" for potential lawsuits.

  2. But it's still patented by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So they can tell you what you can do with it.

  3. Re:Just What We Need... by technosaurus · · Score: 0

    This one is bsd licensed and backed by many big corporate sponsors (who have contributed patents), so it will end up being very bloated and full of #ifdefs but not poorly adopted. If somebody disagreed with a code of conduct they can just fork it.

  4. Re:Just What We Need... by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

    Got some skin in the game, hmm?

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  5. Content creation is too expensive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, this story is about a decoder. But what good is that without content? AV1 is so much more computationally expensive that H.266 will come and go in the meanwhile. No company will pay to get their content created in AV1 format when there are alternatives that are good enough. Itâ(TM)s going to be years before this sees the light of day. This is a political game more than anything, but itâ(TM)s doing a good job of stirring up the OSS zealots.

    1. Re:Content creation is too expensive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can try those AV1 videos YouTube already has with the right browser, a TestTube setting and the beta AV1 playlist. Less than HD resolution clips are playing back fine on older machines already.

    2. Re: Content creation is too expensive by MachineShedFred · · Score: 3, Informative

      LOL nobody uses H.265 in wide distribution because nobody can afford to with the multiple patent pool licensing. It's dead, and will never generate the revenues needed to fund development of any further standard. MPEG killed the golden goose and sent their members to build their own org to cut them out, and AV1 is the result.

      The codec will get faster with optimization and forthcoming hardware en/decode acceleration, just like all codecs do.

      Nice FUD though.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    3. Re: Content creation is too expensive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is used also in Germany for broadcast television, but the licensing arrangements for that use, just like for pure streaming, might be different than for a Youtube style of service.

    4. Re: Content creation is too expensive by mentil · · Score: 2

      UHD Bluray and ATSC 3.0 (the upcoming US television broadcast standard) both use HEVC. Newer smartphones use it for encoding video taken with their cameras. AFAIK video sites like Youtube don't use it for distribution because software decoding is impractical on older mobile devices (and Google was pushing VP9 instead, which Youtube does use).

      --
      Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    5. Re: Content creation is too expensive by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      LOL nobody uses H.265 in wide distribution

      Nobody except for netflix and streaming producers who offer 4k.
      Nobody except for anyone producing any content for VR.
      Nobody except for live streamers who have native hardware codecs available.

      AV1 is the future, but HEVC will be around for quite a while yet. AV1 risks missing the boat entirely. There are native hardware decoders and encoders available in pretty much every computer right now. They are shipped with graphics cards, mobile phones, in TVs, media players, they are required for 4k Netflix support for example.

      AV1 runs the very real risk of being killed overnight. Their hardware codecs are behind the game with a new generation of higher resolution A/V equipment being shipped with HEVC codecs right now which embeds those codecs and entrenches them in the market. If MPEGLA pull their heads out of their arses and makes the codec as cheap to use as MPEG2, AV1 will almost certainly be as dead in the water as Theora was.

    6. Re: Content creation is too expensive by theweatherelectric · · Score: 2

      If MPEGLA pull their heads out of their arses and makes the codec as cheap to use as MPEG2

      The problem is that it's not just the MPEG LA. It's HEVC Advance, it's Velos Media, and it's individual companies that aren't in any patent pool. There's a reason why Leonardo Chiariglione calls HEVC an unusable modern standard.

      AV1 will almost certainly be as dead in the water as Theora was

      Theora never had the backing AV1 has. Theora wasn't on the roadmap for YouTube and Netflix.

    7. Re: Content creation is too expensive by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      And again AV1 only has the backing due to the licensing issues. If the lunatics that are shitting in their bed see some resemblance of common sense then the AV1 alliance will be about as big as the rebel alliance at the end of the Last Jedi.

      Ultimately you're still underestimating the staying power. "Netflix: I have a great idea, let's make the fans twirl when people play 4k content by switching to a computationally expensive codec without hardware decoder support!" Me personally I run a plugin that forces youtube to pretend to not be capable of VP8 so that Youtube stops slamming my CPU and draining my battery.

      And while people love talking about the decline of disc scales it's still a $4.7bn industry that in its latest standard specifies required HEVC support.

      It's amazing how well people use the unusable.

    8. Re: Content creation is too expensive by theweatherelectric · · Score: 2

      And again AV1 only has the backing due to the licensing issues.

      No, it has the backing because it has better licensing and better quality at the same bitrate (or the same quality at a lower bitrate) than HEVC.

      Netflix: I have a great idea,

      The great idea is that Netflix accounts for 15% of downloads globally, so AV1's bitrate savings over HEVC are needed.

      pretend to not be capable of VP8

      I think you mean VP9. If you really are only blocking VP8 then you're probably using VP9 a lot without even realizing it.

      It's amazing how well people use the unusable.

      There's no value in the HEVC tax any longer. AV1 is the future. Might as well get on board.

    9. Re: Content creation is too expensive by westlake · · Score: 1

      LOL nobody uses H.265 in wide distribution because nobody can afford to with the multiple patent pool licensing. It's dead,

      That will be news to people playing 4K video as streaming media or off 4K UHD Blu Ray video disks.

  6. What happens when one isn't fluent in English by macraig · · Score: 1

    When one isn't fluent in English, either because it's not the primary language or because one is an idiot incapable of being fluent in any language, the result is minor mayhem like replacing "without further ado" with "without further due".

    Why do Slashdot editors exist at all, if not to maintain that fluency when submitters cannot?

    1. Re:What happens when one isn't fluent in English by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This can be better understood using French, without further adieu.

      captcha: salut

    2. Re:What happens when one isn't fluent in English by Cyberax · · Score: 1

      "Without further due" is actually a native language speaker's mistake. Foreign learners are likely to learn English as a written language first, so they won't confuse "ado" and "due".

    3. Re:What happens when one isn't fluent in English by macraig · · Score: 1

      I don't discount that possibility, since I accounted for it in the phrase "because one is an idiot incapable of being fluent in any language". Such a person will repeat the same stupid mistake with any language he only learns phonetically and otherwise not fully.

      Regardless, the question that demands an answer is: did the current Slashdot editor(s) also only learn English phonetically, or did they approve the submitter's stupid mistake for some other equally stupid reason? In either instance, why are they employed in an editorial role?

    4. Re:What happens when one isn't fluent in English by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Native speakers are always messing it up here with "queue" vs "cue".

  7. Re:Just What We Need... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...Another damn codec

    Yup, what we need - a codec free of predatory license fees and security risks

  8. Re:So does it spy on you? by Tough+Love · · Score: 2

    Good thing this is a real open source project so you can check.

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  9. That whole "license" bullshit is so silly. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I remember when the same "trouble" was in the news, with regard to H.264 and the various MPEG containers.
    Meanwhile, the entire file sharing community already used H.264 and Matroska with all its luxuries.
    It took years, before Google also started using Matroska, albeit its stupidly crippled form, webm.

    Nowadays, everyone already uses H.265.
    With regard to the licenses ... Nobody cares.

    Because frankly, if they want real actual money, where I had to work another bit for every bit of money I got, in return for giving me the "right" to merely use an idea "they" partially came up with, based on the free work of others, with a one-time bit of work ... then all they are gonna get in return from me, is that I mirror them exactly, and expect them to work and come up with another better codec format, every time I give them a mere copy of those $100 I "worked hard for" that one time. And yes, I will wall them "pirating thieves" too, if they refuse to take my worthless funny money. And sue them on the grounds that by not giving me free shit, they effectively stole from me. ... You know. Content Mafia "logic".

    1. Re:That whole "license" bullshit is so silly. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "everyone already uses H.265" ? wth. are you in one of the paten pools? Are you in danger and in denial ?

    2. Re:That whole "license" bullshit is so silly. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      H.265 is dead for streaming. You know, that thing that consumes 60% of the Internet and represents nearly all of watched media for people younger than 30.

    3. Re:That whole "license" bullshit is so silly. by Trongy · · Score: 2

      Nowadays, everyone already uses H.265.
      With regard to the licenses ... Nobody cares.

      Nowadays, the streamer negotiates with the client to chose the codec. People watching Netxflix on a Chromcast are probably using a different codec to those watching Netflix in a web browser and those watching Netflix on an ipad. Streamers care about the license fees - they will chose the cheapest codec that the client supports.

      Web browsers will have AV1 support next year and hardware devices will probably start rolling out in 2021. There's a huge installed base that won't have AV1 support, but the same thing is true for H.265.

      You can see which codec Youtube is using in a web browser by right clicking on "Stats for nerds". On most systems I see it's using VP9.

    4. Re:That whole "license" bullshit is so silly. by default+luser · · Score: 3, Interesting

      What were you saying about HEVC being too expensive to be available in less-expensive devices?

      $40 for a 4k HDR h.265 Roku is pretty much mainstream. Which means aV1is dead-in-the-water.

      AV1 hardware acceleration will be TWO YEARS behind the $40 Roku, and you can be sure that it will cost OVER $100 o release (like the first 4k Roku).

      HEVC enjoyed early adoption beause of early phone spec war. My Galaxy S4 had HEVC playback built in,

      HEVC encode support was added to devices after the S4 a Apple, because video storage space is limited on a cellphone. The TVs have actually been slow to adopt HEVC compared to the rest of the industry, but 4k TVs with HEVC haw been around fo five years now, an 4k BluRay is almost two years old. Both are standard devices that don't support AV1.

      The other upcoming standard hat will also kill AV1 is ATSC 3.0.

      https://www.atsc.org/newslette...

      --

      Man is the animal that laughs.
      And occasionally whores for Karma.

    5. Re:That whole "license" bullshit is so silly. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AV1 development did get a lot of input from the device manufacturers, so the hardware just slides into the products transparently to the consumers, just like VP9 acceleration did.

    6. Re:That whole "license" bullshit is so silly. by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      There's a huge installed base that won't have AV1 support, but the same thing is true for H.265.

      My several year old budget graphics card boasts a hardware h.265 decoder. As does my TV (pretty much every 4K TV does), any UHD bluray player, any computer with a Skylake or more recent CPU (though you could happily decode UHD in software on Haswell)

      You can see which codec Youtube is using in a web browser by right clicking on "Stats for nerds". On most systems I see it's using VP9.

      And? Netflix uses HEVC for 4k streams, as do UHD blurays. The install base is far larger than you think.

    7. Re:That whole "license" bullshit is so silly. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not everyone buy little $40 weird things to plug on a TV, that's one more thing to buy, one little box, one input etc.
      There will still be the huge installed park of desktop and laptops that don't support H265 in hardware or sometimes do but may not be expected to work (linux). Then there's browsers sadly. I sure would want to watch 480p H265 and Opus stereo in a browser even decoding that in software.

      My Galaxy S4 had HEVC playback built in,

      That was a flagship phone followed by years of phones that didn't support it yet.

    8. Re:That whole "license" bullshit is so silly. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By budget graphics card maybe you mean something midrange like the GTX 750.
      GT610, Radeon 5450 and GT710 are stuck on H264, albeit the latter and maybe the former will decode 4K H264.

      But yes, there's a decent installed base, albeit all these computer, TV and DVD things can be kept for a decade or until it breaks. It will depend whether reliability got better the few years before H265 and 4KTV. It was the "LED" TVs.
      Many in my country use the ISP's set top box to watch TV : if they've got the older one that "only" does full HD and HDMI, that will take a while to get replaced too.

    9. Re:That whole "license" bullshit is so silly. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lots of TVs, phones, laptops, etc. etc. come with H.265 hardware decoding support these days. This isn't 2013 anymore.

  10. Eggcorn by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 3, Funny

    Without further due

    For all intensive purposes, this has peaked my interest in one foul swoop.

    --
    Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
    1. Re:Eggcorn by julian67 · · Score: 1

      Ah men!

    2. Re:Eggcorn by commodore64_love · · Score: 2

      I had to look-up "egghorn" and discovered all kinds of comical errors:

      "eggcorn" instead of acorn. "Mating name" instead of maiden name. "On the spurt of the moment" instead of on the spur of the moment. "Passes mustard" instead of passes muster. "Sammwich" instead of sandwich.

      - And since it's Oktoberfest: "Ziggy Zaggy" instead of the actual German phrase Ziche zache.

      - And in India: "Updation" instead of update.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    3. Re:Eggcorn by ortholattice · · Score: 1

      Here's my list, fellow gnurds.

      Once and a lifetime opportunity, laundry mat, ad homonym attack, commynism, weight lifting can stump your groth, trial by error, refudiate, all of the sudden, a whole nother thing, nucular, aniliation, laxadaisical, irregardless, so long as, anyhow, besides the point, asterix, ax a question, Daylight Savings Time, every once and a while, misunderestimate, should of, a mute point, wreck havoc, hang grenade, brandy sniffer, bob wire fence, statue of limitations, try and make me, Sodom & Gonorrhea, viscous cycle, old timers [alzheimer's] disease, sickly cell anemia, squeamish cell carcinoma, prophylactic shock, prostrate cancer, escape goat, pre-Madonna, Klu Klux Klan, Signore Weaver

    4. Re:Eggcorn by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      My god don't these people have spell chequers on their pee sea?

    5. Re:Eggcorn by ath1901 · · Score: 1

      "Passes mustard"

      Oww... that just got to hurt...

    6. Re:Eggcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hole-hardedly agree, but allow me to play doubles advocate here for a moment. For all intensive purposes I think you are wrong. In an age where false morals are a diamond dozen, true virtues are a blessing in the skies. We often put our false morality on a petal stool like a bunch of pre-Madonnas, but you all seem to be taking something very valuable for granite. So I ask of you to mustard up all the strength you can because it is a doggy dog world out there. Although there is some merit to what you are saying it seems like you have a huge ship on your shoulder. In your argument you seem to throw everything in but the kids Nsync, and even though you are having a feel day with this I am here to bring you back into reality. I have a sick sense when it comes to these types of things. It is almost spooky, because I cannot turn a blonde eye to these glaring flaws in your rhetoric. I have zero taller ants when it comes to people spouting out hate in the name of moral righteousness. You just need to remember what comes around is all around, and when supply and command fails you will be the first to go. Make my words, when you get down to brass stacks it doesn't take rocket appliances to get two birds stoned at once. It's clear who makes the pants in this relationship, and sometimes you just have to swallow your prize and accept the facts. You might have to come to this conclusion through denial and error but I swear on my mother's mating name that when you put the petal to the medal you will pass with flying carpets like it’s a peach of cake.

    7. Re:Eggcorn by gosand · · Score: 1

      I am glad you can now breath easier.

      --

      My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

    8. Re:Eggcorn by cellocgw · · Score: 1

      that's fowl swoop .... you insensitive cloud.

      --
      https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
  11. Higher FPS and resolutions. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This decoder needs to replace the arithmetic coding by one better ANS coding (invented by Jarek Duda) that has a good speed as Huffman's and a good ratio as Arithmetic Coding's.

  12. the very best compression by Skapare · · Score: 1

    do we still need to squeeze every last byte out of video files given how big our storage devices have gotten to be and how fast our networks are getting to be? or what about a decade from now? or is this going to be a cause for compression for the next millenium?

    --
    now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
    1. Re:the very best compression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes.

      Longer answer, definitely yes. I'd love to shrink my collection by 25%. And that doesn't even cover how much better that would be for really big players that have video collections in the petabyte range (think NetFlix).

    2. Re:the very best compression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In a couple of decades, majority of people don't have enough network bandwidth to watch even h.264 without any buffering.

    3. Re:the very best compression by mentil · · Score: 1

      Yes. Look into the bitrates required for light-field videos (~2 terabytes per minute IIRC). Mobile bandwidth caps are still going to suck in the USA a decade from now.

      --
      Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    4. Re:the very best compression by iampiti · · Score: 1

      Yes, imagine you're Netflix or Youtube and you're streaming millions of videos at any given time. Better compression will save them lots of money.
      The change to H265 allowed for 4k Blurays which wouldn't be possible with the older codecs. Also many phones still have relatively small amounts of storage so saving space when recording video is worthwhile.

    5. Re:the very best compression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      imagine the illegal streaming and porn sites upgrading from 360p to 480p.

  13. Re:Just What We Need... by Skapare · · Score: 1

    So where is the open and free ENcoder?

    --
    now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
  14. Re:So does it spy on you? by gweihir · · Score: 1

    And how would that work with a _codec_? The interfaces are just not there. A backdoor of this type could be found with a simple string-search.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  15. Re: Important things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If it wasn't authored by an animal friendly vegan pro muslim feminist lqbtqfgamprtac friendly drumpf hating anti gun democratic socialist then it's nothing more the maga promoting misogynistic late stage capitalist ik bullshit.

  16. Re: So does it spy on you? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't assume, clone the repo and look yourself.

    Hard to hide that kind of shit when the code is sitting there for all to see...

  17. Re:Just What We Need... by Tough+Love · · Score: 0

    Not sure what the most popular video format is for the game industry now, a few years back it was Bink. Maybe it still is. For audio, the standard has been Ogg for a long time. Looks like the Dav1d codec could do for game video what ogg did for audio.

    Taking over the web is more of a challenge. Given the roster of backers, it's a cinch that all the main browsers will support it. Basically, if browsers and Youtube supports it, it wins.

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  18. Re:Important things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    - Is the code inclusive?

    Yes, I see the word "include" in every file!

    - Is it written by women?

    Yes. Every file has more instructions telling the computer what to do. Very bossy!

    - Any cis-gender hetero-normative white males involved?

    Yes. Someone has to take the screenshots!

  19. Re: So does it spy on you? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hard to hide that kind of shit when the code is sitting there for all to see...

    Lol. Yup. I'll get to reading that code just after I finish these EULAs.

  20. Re:Just What We Need... by Cyberax · · Score: 2
  21. English by sexconker · · Score: 1

    AV1 is a new video codec by the Alliance for Open Media, composed of most of the important Web companies (Google, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft,...).

    I would have added "developed" or "written" or "created" before "by", but whatever, I'm busy figuring out how a codec is composed of "most of the important Web companies" or why we're capitalizing "Web".

    AV1 has the potential to be up to 20% better than the HEVC codec, but the patents license is totally free, while HEVC patents licenses are insanely high and very confusing.

    I'm going to give you a pass on the unexplained "better", and "the patents license" may be an awful Britishism that I'll ignore (for now), but if the HEVC "patents licenses" are "insanely high", isn't that a problem? Are they going to go out and announce that they're taking HEVC public at $420?

    The reference decoder for AV1 is great, but it's a research codebase, so it has a lot to improve.

    I'd throw in "based on" or "compiled against" before "a research codebase", and probably throw in an "on" after improve (or rewrite it so there's no preposition at the end of a sentence, though I never found that to be a logical rule). However, the big concern here is that you're calling the reference decoder "great" while simultaneously saying that it isn't.

    Therefore, the VideoLAN, VLC and FFmpeg communities have started to work on a new decoder, sponsored by the Alliance of Open Media. The goal of this new decoder is: be small, be as fast as possible, be very cross-platform, correctly threaded, libre and (actually) Open Source.

    You shouldn't be capitalizing "Open Source" here, and something being "very cross-platform" doesn't really fit, unless you're talking about a waffling politician. Can we at least agree on quantity, though? You've listed more than one goal. You want "goals" and "are".

    Without further due, the code: https://code.videolan.org/vide...

    It's "without further adieu", you clown!

    1. Re:English by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since this is the internet I'll assume you're being obtuse or are trying to be funny but just in case the mods are asleep the actual phrase is "without further ado"

    2. Re:English by jaa101 · · Score: 1

      It's "without further adieu", you clown!

      Try "without further ado," you clown!

    3. Re:English by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      When it is incorrect, it is, at least *authoritatively* incorrect. -- Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    4. Re:English by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AV1 is a new video codec by the Alliance for Open Media, composed of most of the important Web companies (Google, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft,...).

      I would have added "developed" or "written" or "created" before "by", but whatever, I'm busy figuring out how a codec is composed of "most of the important Web companies" or why we're capitalizing "Web".

      AV1 is by the Alliance for Open Media. The Alliance for Open Media is composed of those Web companies. "Web", as used here, is a proper noun.

      and "the patents license" may be an awful Britishism

      Americanism, actually. From Oxford: "Note that in British English licence is the correct spelling for the noun, and is also an acceptable variant spelling of the verb. In US English both noun and verb are spelled license"

    5. Re:English by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Woosh

    6. Re:English by sexconker · · Score: 1

      AV1 isn't "by" the Alliance for Open media unless it's physically beside it. It's a minor nitpick, sure.

      If the "composed of" piece refers to the codec, then there should be an "and" before "composed of" to indicate that the codec is both "by..." and "composed of ...". Otherwise, it's ambiguous as to what "composed of" refers to. Alternatively, you could add a comma after "codec".

      "Web" is not a proper noun. It's an adjective here, describing the type of companies. The companies are not owned by the "Web", nor do they make up the "Web".

      Further, it's not the 90s and we don't need to capitalize internet or web, just like we don't need to say "electronic mail". Unless you're talking about a very specific thing (e.g., in relation to Internet2) the proper nouns aren't involved. This article was not talking about the official, proper noun "World Wide Web".

      And the Britishism I was referring to was not license, but "patents". I could just hear the jackass pronouncing it with a long "a". An American would say "patent license" or "patent licenses" as we are referring to the type of license or licenses. The quantity is not applied to the adjective "patent". But the British love that shit. Hell, we can't get them to drop the "s" when abbreviating "mathematics".

  22. Re:Just What We Need... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bink is for games duh

  23. Re:Just What We Need... by TigerTime · · Score: 0

    Dav1d is not a codec. It's an encoder. It encodes video into the AV1 codec. AV1 is the updated codec that will replaced last generations version VP9. Just as HEVC/x265 is replacing last generations x264.

  24. Re:Just What We Need... by markdavis · · Score: 1

    >"Dav1d is not a codec. It's an encoder. It encodes video into the AV1 codec."

    Not according to the summary nor the description on the code site:

    "dav1d is an AV1 decoder :)"

    Nor inside the code readme:

    "**dav1d** is a new **AV1** cross-platform **D**ecoder, open-source, and focused on speed and correctness."

  25. Re:Important things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    - Is the code inclusive?

    No it uses the exclusive "OR" operator, I purpose a twitter campaign to name and shame the developers involved.

  26. VLC is poorly now by skovnymfe · · Score: 1

    I had to downgrade from v3 to v2 because whatever they did to the interface has completely fucked it up.

    1. Re:VLC is poorly now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, I agree. I ran back so quickly I can't quite remember what the problem was. I think it was that the progress bar could no longer could be dragged to another monitor. Also the image was looking very blocky/pixelated (couldn't change the output module to Direct2D or something like that).

    2. Re:VLC is poorly now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I switched to MPV shortly after VLC went "Gnome 3" on us. Couldn't be happier with the interface, or lack thereof. They also handle HEVC decoding much cleaner than VLC ever did.

  27. Re:So does it spy on you? by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    Oh gee sorry I forgot the tag.

  28. Re:So does it spy on you? by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    Considering who's behind it and their general pattern of behavior I posted sarcasm.

  29. Re:Just What We Need... by theweatherelectric · · Score: 1

    You can view the source for libaom, which is the reference encoder and decoder. And FFmpeg 4.0 (which incorporates libaom) has been released.

  30. Grammar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think you mean, "ado."

  31. Re:So does it spy on you? by gweihir · · Score: 1

    Ah, sorry. Sometimes it is hard to tell.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.