ON2 fka ONT

[cksla]

"Goodbye to the Video Store"
Economist (09/21/02) Vol. 364, No. 8291, P. 15
Anytime, anywhere video-on-demand can only be achieved through compression/decompression algorithms (codecs) that are far more advanced than current programs such as MPEG-2, and both major technology vendors such as RealNetworks and upstarts such as Pulsent are vying to create a codec standard. The upstarts, however, have an edge because they are focusing on consumer-electronics devices such as set-top boxes. MPEG-4 is ahead of other codec efforts, because it uses object-based compression to produce high-quality video images without clogging bandwidth, but tough licensing terms could be a barrier to adoption. Alternative codec technologies include Divx from Divx Networks, which began as a grassroots effort and became a highly popular format for playing mostly pirated digital media; On2 Technologies' VP5, which can stream video at 400 Kbps with near-DVD picture quality; and a mostly secret codec from Pulsent that will reportedly optimize video playback by processing each real-world object separately instead of converting foregrounds and backgrounds into grids. Meanwhile, the nonprofit Xiph.org is focusing on Tarkin, an open-source video codec designed to be continuously tweaked by programmers. Xiph.org head Emmett Plant believes that the open-source nonprofit model is more likely to lead to a codec of superior quality rather than the for-profit model. To speed up the delivery of video-on-demand, the CableLabs consortium is working on OpenCable, a cable transmission standard that will enable set-top boxes from any manufacturer to interoperate with any cable system. Successful codecs will depend on not just research and development, but marketing and the participation of cable companies. Before all this can happen, however, content providers must settle on a standard format for content delivery.
http://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?Story_id=1324695