New encoding standard for streaming Ultra HD video with low Internet connections.
Google is one step closer to the era when Ultra HD videos will become as widespread as Full HD is today, as the company announced a new video codec standard that dramatically reduces the internet speeds required to stream Ultra HD audio and video directly over the web. Google has named the standard VP9 and will make it available for free so that, in addition to its own YouTube, any other online video service can use it.
Ultra-high definition (3,840×2,160 pixels) ushers in a new era of television, with four times the resolution of Full HD, resulting in an impressively detailed image on a compatible TV or monitor, giving the impression of looking more like a “window to the world” than a screen. Inevitably, however, the size of an Ultra HD movie is very large, requiring fairly high internet speeds to play over the Internet.
Thus, even with the official High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC or H.265) coding standard, which has already been approved by the International Telecommunication Union, a good Internet connection is needed for a viewer to use YouTube or a similar service to enjoy ultra-high-definition videos. A typical example is the case of the online "video club" Netflix in the US, which will include the first Ultra HD TV series with the HEVC standard starting this year, which will only be available to subscribers with connections with a speed of at least 15 Mbps.
In contrast, Google's standard promises the same image quality at 50% lower speed, making ultra-high definition accessible to many more households around the world. The only condition will be that VP9 is supported by the hardware of the Ultra HD devices where the video is to be played. However, even at this point, the American company seems to have prepared the ground properly, having secured the cooperation of several of the largest manufacturers of electronic products or components. Thus, giants such as Samsung, Sharp and Toshiba will support VP9 in their devices in the near future. In fact, at the Consumer Electronics Show technology exhibition, which took place last week in Las Vegas, the LG, Panasonic and Sony booths had TVs that played ultra-high definition videos directly from YouTube, showing in practice the possibilities of the technology.
The alliance around the new standard also includes companies active in the personal computer sector, with the most indicative case being the American Intel, whose processors are present in more than 80% of PCs sold worldwide. Also, with the popularity of "smart" devices, which are increasingly used for watching videos, Google's partners include Nvidia, MediaTek, and Qualcomm. In statements to the technology site Gigaom, YouTube senior executive Francisco Varela claimed that the first models that will support VP9 are expected this year, starting with PCs and mobile devices, since televisions will follow in 2015. He also added that the new standard does not come to compete, but to complement HEVC with the aim of contributing to addressing the lack of Ultra HD audiovisual material that exists today.
The increase in available hardware, and the release of more affordable TVs, is expected to make ultra-high definition much more popular. Moreover, even with today's data, the research firm DisplaySearch predicts that global sales of Ultra HD models will increase by 550% this year, reaching 12.7 million. However, the VP6 standard will also make life easier for those who use YouTube to watch lower-resolution videos, since in this case it will also reduce the required speeds by 50%. "From 2015, it will be increasingly rare for someone to have to wait for the selected clip to 'load' before starting to watch it," Varela said.
SOURCE: THE SUNDAY DAILY
Source: portal.kathimerini.gr
