[ale] video software programming jobs (MPEG? H.264?)

Dylan Northrup docx at io.com
Fri Jan 9 13:04:01 EST 2009


A long time ago, (09.01.09), in a galaxy far, far away, aaron wrote:

:=On 2009, Jan, 08, , at 9:46 AM, Daniel Howard wrote:
:=
:=> I've just joined a new GaTech startup, and we're looking for two
:=> software engineers with video (MPEG/H.264) coding experience.
:=
:=Just a thought, but...
:=
:=Given the W3C announcement of making Ogg Theora THE (actual & open)
:=standard for compressed Audio / Video media delivery on the internet,
:=AND given that this is supported my Mozilla's plans to embed Ogg
:=Theora support in the next major releases of their bowsers, AND knowing
:=that Ogg Theora are GPL Open Source solutions, why would anyone
:=pursue proprietary MPEG/H.264 schemes for a media delivery system?

Because MPEG/H.264 are standards that have been out for a while and there's
quite a bit of hardware and software out there that already groks it.  If
you're looking to interact with other software/hardware or make video that
can be consumed by said software/hardware it's generally good to use a
format that's somewhat universal.

Also, as an aside, H.264 has very good quality for very small video
files/streams.  It does tend to be a bit processor intensive, but it's
really good for what it does.

I admit this reply focuses on functionality and leaves aside the issue of
MPEG/H.264 having a proprietary nature.  For a business, using what's likely
to a) get you to market b) with a good product c) for a price that's not
egregious is generally more important than FLOSS ideology.  This is not to
say "proprietary is good", but to say "proprietary is not necessarily bad".
Perhaps I'm reading too much into your comment, but the proprietary nature
of MPEG/H.264 seems to be the impetus behind it.

Hope this helps.

-- 
Dylan Northrup - docx at io.com - http://www.io.com/~docx/
"Harder to work, harder to strive, hard to be glad to be alive, but it's
 really worth it if you give it a try." -- Cowboy Mouth, 'Easy'


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