Larry Kless' Weblog: On2

Showing posts with label On2. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Google Releases VP8 as Open Source Royalty Free Video Codec, Launches WebMproject.org with Broad Support from Online Video Industry

After much anticipation, big news came from the Google i/O developers conference today as Google announced the release of the VP8 video codec as a royalty free open source license. The announcement is aimed at making high-quality, open video freely available to everyone as noted by Google's vice president of product marketing Sundar Pichai who said, “We think video should be a great, free and an open option for all.”

Google has packaged VP8 with the open source audio codec Vorbis as part of Google's wider open source initiative called WebM Project, that is a broadly-backed community effort being led by Google, Mozilla, Opera, and an impressive list of more than 40 industry partners. Among the supporters are software, hardware, video platform and publishing, and foundations, just to name a few that include: Adobe, AMD, ARM, Brightcove, Broadcom, Collabora, Digital Rapids, Encoding.com, Grab Networks, iLinc, INLET, Kaltura, Logitech, MIPS, Nvidia, Ooyala, Qualcomm, Skype, Sorenson Media, Telestream, Texas Instruments, Verisilicon, ViewCast, Wildform, plus many more and the list will surely grow.

Adobe Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch appeared at the i/O conference, and said Adobe will be incorporating VP8 into Flash, "We'll push it out to a billion people within a year of the release."

Notably absent from the list of supporters is Apple which backs H.264. But Microsoft, on the other hand who recently announced support for H.264-encoded HTML5 video in IE9, just followed up with an announcement that the company will support VP8 as well.

WebM defines the file container structure or container format. Video streams are compressed with the VP8 video codec and audio streams compressed with the Vorbis audio codec. The WebM file structure is based on the Matroska (.mkv) container and will have a .webm extension. VP8 uses 14 bits for width and height, so the maximum resolution is 16384x16384 pixels. VP8 places no constraints on framerate or datarate. Google, Mozilla and Opera are all adding WebM support to their browsers and all videos that are 720p or larger uploaded to YouTube after May 19th will be be encoded in WebM as part of its HTML5 experiment.

Google acquired the VP8 codec, when it bought the video codec company On2 Technologies last year for $124m and ultimately threw in an extra $26.5m for a total of $133m. Ryan Lawler broke the story last month that Google would open source VP8 at the annual developers conference. Many have speculated that this move would cause major disruptions within the online video space, and ultimately challenge H.264 as the de facto web video standard for HTML5.

According to The WebM Project Frequently Asked Questions

Will WebM files play on my TV, set-top box, PVR, etc.?

Stay tuned! The WebM community is working with hardware manufacturers to bring WebM support to a wide range of devices.

Are there any portable media players that can play WebM files?

There are none in the market today but we’re working with hardware manufacturers to bring WebM support to a wide range of devices.

But will it pose a major threat to H.264? Stay tuned as the story develops.

Related:

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Google Finally Acquires On2, What's Next for Online Video?

After many long months and several offers increasing their bid, Google has won over the On2 shareholders with an additional $26.5 million on top of their original $106.5 million to purchase On2 for $133 million, in a merger deal that should close the by end of day Friday. The saga of this acquisition dates back to August 2009, when Google announced that they would acquire New York-based video codec maker On2 Technologies f0r $106.5 million, but the search Goliath was met with their own modern-day version of David, in the form of defiant On2 shareholders who refused to agree to the terms of the sale.

An outspoken group of stockholders protested "the attempted theft of the company at $0.60 per share" and believed that On2 was worth more than 60 cents a share. They held out for many months as Google upped the offer several times, with the final offer last month of $133 million, that was approved by a majority of On2 stockholders today. On2 shareholders will receive 1/1000th of a share of Google stock, plus 15 cents per share. Google (GOOG) stocks are currently trading at $538 a share.

With all the recent debate on the future of web video, Flash vs. HTML5 and open video formats, H.264 licensing fee extension, and the coming mobile explosion of 2010 - now that Google has finalized this deal, how disruptive will it to the online video landscape?

In a previous post, I asked that same question:

"There's been a lot of speculation that Google is purchasing On2 to take advantage of the advanced V7 and V8 codecs for either open source the codecs and make them license-free. Such a move would create serious competition to the other major video compression technologies of H.264, Flash and Silverlight all of which are proprietary codecs. Could Google be looking to to avoid the licensing fees for H.264? Will Google open source On2's technology to disrupt HTML5? Is Google looking to bake the high quality video compression technology into YouTube to speed up videos and lower bandwidth costs?

This all sounds like a big deal that's going to give Google the edge to disrupt the fabric of the online video landscape and "win the online video format war" and with the acquisition Google acquires technology that it can embed within its Android and Chrome OS platforms. This may cause companies like Adobe, Microsoft and Apple to take a financial hit and force them to support whatever new video codec that Google brings to market. Also, with the situation regarding browser-based decoding for tag in HTML5 at a stalemate and undefined, Google could help change the tide by open sourcing On2 VP technology."

I also cited a number of sources in that post who shared their theories on the acquisition, such as Dan Rayburn who didn't think it would be a big deal, Om Malik who said to pay attention to what Google does with Android, and Brian Dipert who thought that it could be Google's latest move to wrest control from Adobe, Apple, Microsoft and Mozilla.

For now, we can only speculate what Google will do next with On2's video compression technology, but this could prove to be a major game-changer in online video landscape and the mobile frontier. 2010 is shaping up to be quite an interesting year so far.

Related:

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Not So fast Google, On2 Shareholders Protest "Attempted Theft" of Company

In a follow up to the story that On2 Technologies Inc., the video compression software company that is being acquired by Google for a $106.5 million stock deal, the On2 board and CEO is under fire from shareholders who "are livid about the attempted theft of the company at $0.60 per share" and believe that On2 is worth more than 60 cents a share.

As Dan Rayburn noted,

"While many of us in the industry have been trying to figure out what exactly Google will do with On2 after the acquisition, we may be getting ahead of ourselves. Some On2 investors have filed separate lawsuits in New York and Delaware looking to block the acquisition, claiming that On2's board essentially agreed not to shop the company around and look for a higher price. Many of On2's investors are already banding together to stop the deal and have launched a website at Vote4On2.com to make their opinions heard."

This play by the shareholders is their call to action to get fair value for their company shares. Many feel it's worth 10 times the offer by Google. Their web site points out On2 actually made money this quarter also traded at $.65 several weeks ago. In fact, On2 traded for as much as $3.99 in 2007 when it was rumored that Adobe might acquire it and long before the VP8 product was developed.

According to VOTE4On2,

"On2 management has consistently stated over recent quarters that income was ramping up and expenses were falling into line. Indeed, 2nd quarter results confirmed that and there is every indication and belief that 3rd and 4th quarter results will be even better as income from recently signed license agreements in China and elsewhere kick in. This company is about to rocket.

On2 is on the cusp of exponential growth in the most explosive sector of the video universe. Their VP8 product is the game changer in video transmission and is just now being introduced. On2’s codecs have recently become the de facto standard in China, the largest market on the planet. Additionally, On2 codecs are ubiquitous in Flash, Java and elsewhere. On2 has 10 US patents with 14 pending, Hantro has 8 patents with 12 pending - and On2 owns VP8, a superior technology to H.264! On2 codecs are also now showing up in mobile video on the web and smart phones - the real future of video. There is a lot more to this company that isn't immediately apparent"

The web site also collects both company news including On2's most recent earning calls and other news, commentary, and blog coverage. Shareholders spoke out on the earnings call with many questioning why the company was being sold when it's making a profit. Interim CEO of On2, Matt Frost stated that they were unable to comment on the specifics of the merger since the deal has been filed with the SEC and they are constrained under securities reqgualtions. He mainly apologized to the many shareholders for not being able to answer their questions and asked for their patience. Several shareholders said that they'd see him court.

Dan Rayburn suggested that the shareholders are not going to take this lightly,

"If there is one thing I have learned about many On2 shareholders in the past it's that they are very opinionated, do a good job of talking to one another and sharing info, are very aggressive in trying to get their message across and always seem to be up for a fight."

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Google To Acquire On2 Technologies for $106.5M, How Disruptive Is It Really?

The big news yesterday was that Google announced they would acquire On2 Technologies for an all-stock deal valued at $106.5M. On2 is the developer of the high quality VP series of Truemotion video codecs, of which VP6 replaced the Sorenson Spark video codec for Adobe Flash player 8 and above and is the core of On2's video encoding software suite of Flix Standard, Pro, Exporter, Live, Engine and Directshow SDK. The VP6 is a proprietary codec and has been a direct competitor to H.264, the dominant compression standard for high-quality web video, IPTV and Blu-Ray disc also known as H.264/AVC/MPEG-4 Part 10. On2 also developed the earlier VP3 codec of which the open source codec Ogg Theora is derived. On2 customers include Adobe, Skype, Nokia, Infineon, Sun Microsystems, Mediatek, Sony, Brightcove, and Move Networks.

In a letter to on2 Flix customers, Frank Galligan, Vice President of Engineering said that they are thrilled to become part of the Google family and gave the rationale for why Google is acquiring On2. He said:

"Google has indicated to us that they are continually looking to improve video quality and delivery on the web, and that our video technologies will allow them to do even more with their products and initiatives. They have indicated that they are interested in all parts of our video technology. With Google Video, Google Talk and YouTube, among others, they have a substantial interest in developing tools and technology that will better support more high quality video on the Internet. Google has indicated that they believe that our team and technology will help Google make higher quality video available online."

While it's too early to discuss specific product plans until the deal closes, Mr. Galligan said that all existing agreements will remain in effect under their existing terms and that they expect that Google would honor its obligations under existing contracts.

So how "disruptive" will this be for the online video industry?

There's been a lot of speculation that Google is purchasing On2 to take advantage of the advanced V7 and V8 codecs for either open source the codecs and make them license-free. Such a move would create serious competition to the other major video compression technologies of H.264, Flash and Silverlight all of which are proprietary codecs. Could Google be looking to to avoid the licensing fees for H.264? Will Google open source On2's technology to disrupt HTML5? Is Google looking to bake the high quality video compression technology into YouTube to speed up videos and lower bandwidth costs?

This all sounds like a big deal that's going to give Google the edge to disrupt the fabric of the online video landscape and "win the online video format war" and with the acquisition Google acquires technology that it can embed within its Android and Chrome OS platforms. This may cause companies like Adobe, Microsoft and Apple to take a financial hit and force them to support whatever new video codec that Google brings to market. Also, with the situation regarding browser-based decoding for tag in HTML5 at a stalemate and undefined, Google could help change the tide by open sourcing On2 VP technology.

According to Dan Rayburn, who wrote in a two-part post that debunks many of the theories posed in the blogosphere, it's really not a big deal.

Dan Rayburn said:

"While one could assume that Google will do something with VP8 and Chrome tying into the new HTML 5 standard, is that the reason to spend $100M to acquire a codec? I don't think so. While many want to automatically assume Google will always be successful in whatever they do, simply because they are Google, they have never done anything well outside of search and advertising, as far as generating revenue goes. If they want to challenge H.264, they'll lose. If they simply acquired On2 for their own use in YouTube and Chrome, ok, could work. But it won't have any major impact on the industry."

UPDATE 8/9/09: Check out Tim Siglin's new blog WORKFLOWED, which he launched following a discussion on Dan's post, Google's Acquisition of On2 Not a Big Deal, Here's Why. Tim says:
"Dan listed off a series of reasons why Google may not have been interested in purchasing On2. A fascinating read, and a bit of a different take from the streamingmedia.com news article I'd written early this morning, which outlined the deal. In between writing mine and reading Dan's I had spent some time thinking through what Google might be up to, so I posted the following as a comment on Dan's blog: Google Purchases On2 - Additional Thoughts"

Om Malik offered this take:

"I would pay special attention to what Google does with On2 on Android, because there is an opportunity for it to outshine rivals such as RIM and Apple. Just look at On2’s mobile video arsenal: It owns technologies for embedded video for mobile platforms (Hantro) and On2 TrueMobile System, a mobile video system designed to send video across the networks — including 2.5G, Edge, 3G and 4G networks — using On2’s VP7 technology."

According to Brian Dipert:

"... my angle on this acquisition is one that no other commentator I've yet seen has taken: following in the footsteps of the Chrome web browser and the Android and Chrome O/S operating systems, Google's pending direct control over On2 is the company's latest move to wrest control of the Web from companies such as Adobe, Apple, Microsoft and Mozilla (specifically, the latter's under-siege Firefox web browser)

Also, with the current legal issues around Skype, Google could use On2's video technology could enhance its video communication suite of tools (Voice, Talk, Wave) to compete with Skype. With the open source movement gaining speed and online video growing at explosive rates it will interesting to see how disruptive this latest acquisition by Google will be for the web video. For now we can only speculate and since the deal won't close until the fourth quarter the effect of this merger won't be felt for months but the ripples within the online video landscape are already starting to appear.

Beet.TV Live from NAB 2008

Andy Plesser is in Las Vegas this week broadcasting live from the floor of the 2008 NAB show. His Mogulus channel is embedded below and the live feeds are scheduled at 4:00 PM PDT. Try out the new on-demand feature to see interviews with Bill Joel, CEO of On2 Technologies, Cory Bergman of Lost Remote and Max Haot, CEO of Mogulus, Thomas R Wilde, CEO of multimedia SEO solution EveryZing, Art Mimnaugh of Digital Fountain, John Griffin of UK-based ioko, with more to come. Thanks again to Beet.tv for providing the videos!

Notably absent from NAB this year were competitors Avid and Apple who both pulled out of the show leaving Adobe to slug it out with Microsoft. I recall when I went to NAB in 2006 that Avid, Apple and Adobe all had very large competing booths right across from each other. At that time I saw several emerging trends which now two years later are becoming the norm.

H.264 as standard video delivery format
Mobile content
Alternate distribution channels
Tapeless acquisition
Move from SD to HD

These are a few links I've been checking to get updates from the show:

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Adobe Releases Flash Media Server 3 and Flash Player 9

It's a big day for online video because H.264 playback within the Flash player has finally arrived. Today, Adobe released the much anticipated update to it's streaming media line of products with the new Flash Player 9 Update 3, which now supports the H.264 and VP6-S codecs, both capable of efficiently streaming high definition content via the new Flash Media Server 3 (FMS). They also dramatically slashed the price of the FMS 3 to $995 for unlimited connections paving the way for High Definition H.264 streaming.

Why is this important?
In short, one word - convergence.

H.264, or AVC (Advanced Video Coding), is the scalable video compression component of MPEG 4 (Part 10) and the core of HD media like Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. This is the first public version of Flash Player 9 to include support for H.264 HD video playback, which means we could be seeing HD video at 1080P on YouTube and everywhere else in the near future. Along with the H.264 video support, Flash Player 9 also supports High Efficiency AAC (HE-AAC) audio encoding, the same audio encoding format used by iTunes.

In the clip below courtesy of Beet.TV, Bill Joll, CEO of ON2 Technologies helps put HD playback within Adobe Flash Player into perspective. On2S Supports H.264 as HD Flash Comes into Focus.