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> Presumably now Netflix will have to pay Broadcom some amount to stream over HEVC. Presumably, Netflix will in the short-term pay X amount for this but work p

> Presumably now Netflix will have to pay Broadcom some amount to stream over HEVC. Presumably, Netflix will in the short-term pay X amount for this but work probably started yesterday or earlier to replace it with something that doesn't have fees to use.

mikerybka 3y ago
They've been working with Intel on AV1 hardware since 2019. [1] https://research.netflix.com/publication/AV1%20at%20Netflix https://research.netflix.com/publication/AV1%20at%20Netflix
- cubefox 3y ago
  Unfortunately AV1 hardware acceleration support was really slow. Apple only just adopted it in their new SoCs. Qualcomm didn't support it until recently either. It's probably still years till the hardware support is anywhere close to H.265, or even H.264 (the currently most common format). It's possible to decode AV1 in software, but the computation requirements are quite high.
  - lern_too_spel 3y ago
    HEVC is from the VP9 generation of codecs. Qualcomm has supported VP9 decoding since 2016 (Snapdragon 820). Unfortunately, no Apple device has ever supported hardware accelerated VP9 decode, so HEVC is the only UHD option on those devices.
  - mort96 3y ago
    I guess it doesn't really matter anyway since AV1 is also patent encumbered...
KaiserPro 3y ago
> probably started yesterday or earlier to replace it with something that doesn't have fees to use. For netflix? its not that simple. Video codec design is a mammoth task. Sure you can make your own fairly easily, but making an efficient, hardware accelerated encoder that is suitable for broadcast work is one thing. Making a spec for consumer hardware to implement, efficiently and cheaply is another. go and read the spec for MPEG2, then compare it to MPEG 4, with all the amendments to make h.264. Its a lot of work.
- jdiff 3y ago
  Probably is a good thing that they've already been on the case for 5+ years with AV1 then.
- capableweb 3y ago
  I do realize this, I didn't mean literally yesterday as in "the day before today", but more "earlier in time".

mikerybka 3y ago

They've been working with Intel on AV1 hardware since 2019. [1] https://research.netflix.com/publication/AV1%20at%20Netflix https://research.netflix.com/publication/AV1%20at%20Netflix

cubefox 3y ago
Unfortunately AV1 hardware acceleration support was really slow. Apple only just adopted it in their new SoCs. Qualcomm didn't support it until recently either. It's probably still years till the hardware support is anywhere close to H.265, or even H.264 (the currently most common format). It's possible to decode AV1 in software, but the computation requirements are quite high.
- lern_too_spel 3y ago
  HEVC is from the VP9 generation of codecs. Qualcomm has supported VP9 decoding since 2016 (Snapdragon 820). Unfortunately, no Apple device has ever supported hardware accelerated VP9 decode, so HEVC is the only UHD option on those devices.
- mort96 3y ago
  I guess it doesn't really matter anyway since AV1 is also patent encumbered...

KaiserPro 3y ago

> probably started yesterday or earlier to replace it with something that doesn't have fees to use. For netflix? its not that simple. Video codec design is a mammoth task. Sure you can make your own fairly easily, but making an efficient, hardware accelerated encoder that is suitable for broadcast work is one thing. Making a spec for consumer hardware to implement, efficiently and cheaply is another. go and read the spec for MPEG2, then compare it to MPEG 4, with all the amendments to make h.264. Its a lot of work.

jdiff 3y ago
Probably is a good thing that they've already been on the case for 5+ years with AV1 then.
capableweb 3y ago
I do realize this, I didn't mean literally yesterday as in "the day before today", but more "earlier in time".