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HEVC has been around longer, and has been widely deployed, so the risk is much smaller.

shmerl 9y ago
Patent trolls can decide to attack any time they feel like it. Free codecs actually are in somewhat better position, because they do due diligence to work around known related patents. And attack from unknown / invalid can always happen. So overall HEVC is nowhere less risky, and on the contrary, many explicitly declare upfront, they want money for it which is its major downside.
Andrex 9y ago
"HEVC has been around longer, and has been widely deployed, so the risk is much smaller." Isn't this the opposite of what you said in the parent? "They will wait till the format gains traction and then sue the players with the biggest bank accounts."
- grandinj 9y ago
  Let me try again: HEVC has been deployed by big players with deep pockets. Therefore, any patent trolls that might have targeted it have already been lured out of the woodwork. A new codec like this however, has an unknown risk attached, because no one knows how many trolls might be lurking out ther e.
  - shmerl 9y ago
    > HEVC has been deployed by big players with deep pockets. Therefore, any patent trolls that might have targeted it have already been lured out of the woodwork. Depth of the potential targets' pockets was never a deterrent for patent trolls. On the contrary, they prefer to go after the big fish and they have nothing to lose (except their patents). So back to square one. HEVC is as risky as anything else plus it bears already declared huge tax.
  - roca 9y ago
    You could have said exactly the same thing about VP9. Tons of FUD over its patent status, but nothing stopped its adoption. You could say exactly the same thing about any new codec before it's widely adopted. As I said in my post, AV1 is more strongly protected than previous codecs because anyone who sues over AV1 can't use it themselves, so only pure patent trolls can sue over AV1. Anyway this is only a short-term concern. Probably as soon as this year Google, Netflix and others will start deploying AV1 and we'll see what happens.

Patent trolls can decide to attack any time they feel like it. Free codecs actually are in somewhat better position, because they do due diligence to work around known related patents. And attack from unknown / invalid can always happen. So overall HEVC is nowhere less risky, and on the contrary, many explicitly declare upfront, they want money for it which is its major downside.

Andrex 9y ago

"HEVC has been around longer, and has been widely deployed, so the risk is much smaller." Isn't this the opposite of what you said in the parent? "They will wait till the format gains traction and then sue the players with the biggest bank accounts."

grandinj 9y ago
Let me try again: HEVC has been deployed by big players with deep pockets. Therefore, any patent trolls that might have targeted it have already been lured out of the woodwork. A new codec like this however, has an unknown risk attached, because no one knows how many trolls might be lurking out ther e.
- shmerl 9y ago
  > HEVC has been deployed by big players with deep pockets. Therefore, any patent trolls that might have targeted it have already been lured out of the woodwork. Depth of the potential targets' pockets was never a deterrent for patent trolls. On the contrary, they prefer to go after the big fish and they have nothing to lose (except their patents). So back to square one. HEVC is as risky as anything else plus it bears already declared huge tax.
- roca 9y ago
  You could have said exactly the same thing about VP9. Tons of FUD over its patent status, but nothing stopped its adoption. You could say exactly the same thing about any new codec before it's widely adopted. As I said in my post, AV1 is more strongly protected than previous codecs because anyone who sues over AV1 can't use it themselves, so only pure patent trolls can sue over AV1. Anyway this is only a short-term concern. Probably as soon as this year Google, Netflix and others will start deploying AV1 and we'll see what happens.