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> Would AV1 have been possible in 1993 when MPEG-1 came out? No. There weren't enough transistors in the world. I'm not being silly. Something like Av1 happ
by xiphmont 9y ago
> Would AV1 have been possible in 1993 when MPEG-1 came out?
No. There weren't enough transistors in the world. I'm not being silly. Something like Av1 happens now because Moore/Dennard allow it to.
- niftich 9y agoIt seemed to me like they meant the question politically, not technically, as in, would AOMedia have been possible? I think it's widely understood that the technical innovations in sixth-generation codecs like AV1 were simply not computationally feasible on circa ~1993 devices, so I highly doubt that's what was meant. Therefore I'm not sure how transistor density relates to funding models for DSP innovation.
- xiphmont 9y agoThe answers aren't entirely separable. Hardware capable of any kind of video wasn't accessible to the larger community and it sure as hell wasn't affordable. When Xiph.Org started (1994), even audio required high-end hardware. Yes, sound cards were available for PCs, but big enough hard disks were not. When only the elites have access, the standards are made by elites.