- cross-posted to:
- linux@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- linux@lemmy.ml
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/22949658
If I’m interpreting this correctly, many MP4 patents are going to expire next year. 🎉
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I have literally no understanding of video codecs, standards etc. Is there a “set and forget” option which is free and good?
Wasn’t Theora the set-and-forget free option? Don’t recall if it had the “good” part tho.
H264 is almost universally playable and transcodable by nearly everything on earth.
cries in core 2 duo
But non-free?
That depends on where you live. In many parts of the world, software patents don’t exist and aren’t applied.
Never cared. I’m one of those people that would indeed download a car.
God I wish
No, e.g. the package x264 from videolan.org is free software (FOSS) with GPL2+ licence.
It is also illegal in most places beside France
Not enforced so you should use it but it is technically illegal. Same thing with Linux distros shipping anything under patent.
Commercial use requires payment to patent holders, free use does not (whenever end user does not pay to watch). I dont know how ad supported streams are categorized, probably commercial. For personal use, I wouldnt worry about the license. Worry when you start a streaming server and start making revenue.
How would the patents expiring help the common man?
Because patents cause issues for free software. Some examples:
And free and open source software can be written, shared and used without potentially getting sued. And these projects power lots of things.
To be fair, this is mainly a US issue. VLC (French) has provided h264 encoders and decoders for years.
I mean ffmpeg, GStreamer etc also provide the encoders and decoders. That doesn’t make it legal. I think they’re all (including VLC) threatened by software patents. But you’re right. There are differences between the EU and other jurisdictions.
The devices implementing the patented codecs may become cheaper.
Oh you sweet child.
They won’t.
That’s absurd. This crap is pennies. $30 kid toys pay 264. The codec was commidized nearly a decade ago.
