The Coming H.265 Video Wave — What It Means for Business, What It Means for Consumers

Sorenson Medai Blog by Peter Csathy

Move over H.264, which — much to the chagrin of Google’s WebM initiative — is effectively “THE” high quality video codec standard and champion in the marketplace today to enable optimized online video experiences. Coming early 2013, there may be a new contender — and its name is H.265.

H.265 is the high-efficiency video encoding (HEVC) codec that has been the “buzz” of late in the world of online video, supplanting MPEG DASH (dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP) in overall buzz-worthiness. Tim Siglin of Streaming Media recently wrote a must-read overview about the subject, titled “When Will H.265 HEVC Arrive and What Will It Mean for MPEG DASH?” According to Siglin, “H.265 is set to double the efficiency of H.264, especially when it comes to mobile delivery.” Think about that — 2X the efficiency of the current high quality video standard! But, what does that really mean — in a practical sense — for businesses involved in the delivery of online video? And, what does that really mean — in a practical sense — to you and me as consumers of online video content?

Given Sorenson Media’s central role in video transformation for optimized online delivery (which most definitely ultimately will feature H.265), I wanted to get the perspective of one of our foremost experts (and one of the foremost experts in online video period), Randon Morford, Director of Desktop & Core Technology Development. Randon has been with Sorenson Media nearly 10 years since 2003; among other things, Randon was actively involved in laying the foundations for video in Flash. He also was a driving force behind H.264 encoding and is a respected voice in the online video industry.

Here is the text of my interview with Randon: read more...