James Delahunty
5 Apr 2006 10:27
After being submitted for standardisation in 2003, Microsoft's VC-1 codec has been officially released by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE). The event paves the way for the technology's use on next generation DVDs and other things. Adoption of Windows Media will now be easier for companies as the need to negotiate directly with Microsoft is gone. Microsoft's approval is no longer needed for devices to natively support VC-1.
SMPTE will collect the licensing fees and Microsoft will be paid for the use of its patents. The Redmond-based company embraced standards to provide the industry with better and easier access to high quality video compression. Both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc include VC-1 in their specs and at least Warner Bros. plans to encode and release movies using the VC-1 format.
Peter Symes, SMPTE Engineering Vice President said the 2 year+ process to standardize WMV9 as VC-1 was complicated. "The work was contentious at times, and initially some people thought that SMPTE would just 'rubber stamp' the Microsoft document. In fact, many individuals and organizations contributed to the final documents over the two-year development period," he said. The process required over 120 individuals from 75 different media and entertainment companies.
"The SMPTE VC-1 standard went through a very rigorous and formal open due process procedure involving committee members from all segments of the Media, Entertainment and Computer industries" added Mike Dolan of Television Broadcast Technology (TBT). "This process has resulted in a clear, comprehensive and completely open standard for development of compressed video bitstreams."
Source:
Betanews