5 ms·

It's a tremendous effort to simply ensure standards. There are so many knobs and dials on h264 encoders, and features in each profile, is hard to appreciate the

It's a tremendous effort to simply ensure standards. There are so many knobs and dials on h264 encoders, and features in each profile, is hard to appreciate the compatability we have today across devices - especially considering how much is in silicon. I remember sponsoring a feature in x264 (the best software encoder) and the level of complexity in that code is mind bending. The patch was to allow better CPU utilization when running with over 16 cores - something the authors hadn't run into at the time and had no systems to test on. I did a simple profile during encode, sent them the trace, in 2 days the patch was tested and working and it hit main in a week's time. Boom, all 48 cores used. Made me realize just how much talent is behind these technologies and I still shake my head at how much money is generated with this and how little of that makes it's way back to the developers at the core of it.

ahartmetz 7y ago
x264 is really amazing because it has an amazing team of knowledgeable people who are personally interested in its success. x265 seems to be just some commercially run open source project and I'm not sure if it will ever make as good use of the spec as x264 does. For a time x265 was only about as good as x264 regarding subjective quality per bit.
ksec 7y ago
>something the authors hadn't run into at the time and had no systems to test on. Was it Dark Shikari? I remember there were lots of threading optimisation done, but that was... ~2010 time frame. I really wish he is still working in the video encoding scene.
- tgtweak 7y ago
  Yes, was Jason, in 2012 iirc. Sliced-thread lookahead patch circa may 2012. He was working at gaikai at the time doing amazing things with cloud game streaming.
da_chicken 7y ago
> Made me realize just how much talent is behind these technologies and I still shake my head at how much money is generated with this and how little of that makes it's way back to the developers at the core of it. If it's any consolation, not much more makes it to the talented developers in commercial products, either. It mainly ends up going to executives and sales.
- nojvek 7y ago
  Demand and supply right. How many of these developers started a profit sharing company? As a dev you sign up your life to work for another company where you trade time for money. You sign on that sheet. That's the contract. The company can make bazillions off you but that's the deal you signed. I really really hope with the recent IPOS, all the devs that made good money end up doing startups that are more employee friendly than VC friendly. But then, this is the ugly world we live in. The selfish gene yo!
- winter_blue 7y ago
  I think in New York and California at least, developers are getting paid closer to what their work is worth. Salaries are often hitting the $300k ballpark for highly talented developers. Average pay itself is now around a $150k. I think it's primarily developers in other countries[1] that are getting severely underpaid. Hopefully that changes in the coming years. [1] The most egregious example might be India. Around 7 years ago, I was on a plane from Kerala (a state in India), and the guy sitting next to me happened to run a software consulting company (in Kerala). His customers were from Japan and some other countries (can't remember), and his company wrote Linux drivers for proprietary hardware. He hired kids right out of college. I asked him how much he paid them, and he said without blinking, Rs. 15000 per month. Type in "INR 15000 to USD" to Google, and you're in for a shock. It's around $2600 per year, but probably closer to $3000 per year at the exchange rates back then. American developers doing the same job could earn up to 100 times that, and at the very least 40 times that amount. I can't understand why on Earth salaries are 40 to a 100 times higher for the same exact work, and for work that could be done by anyone anywhere on the globe, but I hope this massive difference in pay converges and disappears soon.

ahartmetz 7y ago

x264 is really amazing because it has an amazing team of knowledgeable people who are personally interested in its success. x265 seems to be just some commercially run open source project and I'm not sure if it will ever make as good use of the spec as x264 does. For a time x265 was only about as good as x264 regarding subjective quality per bit.

ksec 7y ago

>something the authors hadn't run into at the time and had no systems to test on. Was it Dark Shikari? I remember there were lots of threading optimisation done, but that was... ~2010 time frame. I really wish he is still working in the video encoding scene.

tgtweak 7y ago
Yes, was Jason, in 2012 iirc. Sliced-thread lookahead patch circa may 2012. He was working at gaikai at the time doing amazing things with cloud game streaming.

da_chicken 7y ago

> Made me realize just how much talent is behind these technologies and I still shake my head at how much money is generated with this and how little of that makes it's way back to the developers at the core of it. If it's any consolation, not much more makes it to the talented developers in commercial products, either. It mainly ends up going to executives and sales.

nojvek 7y ago
Demand and supply right. How many of these developers started a profit sharing company? As a dev you sign up your life to work for another company where you trade time for money. You sign on that sheet. That's the contract. The company can make bazillions off you but that's the deal you signed. I really really hope with the recent IPOS, all the devs that made good money end up doing startups that are more employee friendly than VC friendly. But then, this is the ugly world we live in. The selfish gene yo!
winter_blue 7y ago
I think in New York and California at least, developers are getting paid closer to what their work is worth. Salaries are often hitting the $300k ballpark for highly talented developers. Average pay itself is now around a $150k. I think it's primarily developers in other countries[1] that are getting severely underpaid. Hopefully that changes in the coming years. [1] The most egregious example might be India. Around 7 years ago, I was on a plane from Kerala (a state in India), and the guy sitting next to me happened to run a software consulting company (in Kerala). His customers were from Japan and some other countries (can't remember), and his company wrote Linux drivers for proprietary hardware. He hired kids right out of college. I asked him how much he paid them, and he said without blinking, Rs. 15000 per month. Type in "INR 15000 to USD" to Google, and you're in for a shock. It's around $2600 per year, but probably closer to $3000 per year at the exchange rates back then. American developers doing the same job could earn up to 100 times that, and at the very least 40 times that amount. I can't understand why on Earth salaries are 40 to a 100 times higher for the same exact work, and for work that could be done by anyone anywhere on the globe, but I hope this massive difference in pay converges and disappears soon.