[mythtv-users] H265 support

[HP-mini]

On Thu, 2015-10-08 at 20:06 +0000, Raymond Boettcher wrote:
> 
> > On Sat, 11 Apr 2015 15:45:43 -0500, you wrote:
> > 
> >> I'm still not totally convinced that h265 will take over h264, but
> who
> >> knows.  And even looking up h.264 licensing, it sounds like you
> still might
> >> have to pay some usage fees to somebody if you're a big business
> and not an
> >> end user.
> > 
> > It will as soon as 4K video becomes prevalent.  H.264 is
> insufficient
> > for 4K - it can IIRC encode a 4K size frame, but only just and the
> bit
> > rate it too high.
> 
> I am!  I think the problem will be delivery of 4K Video on portable
> medium.  Currently the best format we have is Blu-ray disc.  However,
> this does have space constraints and I think that is where H265 will
> eventually get its appearance.  Because the alternative to that is to
> come up with a Disc that holds more than a Blu-Ray disc which would
> cost more money than just switching to a different codec.  So far I've
> seen 4K TV Sets but haven't found any hardware that will connect to a
> 4K TV and deliver 4K Content.  No doubt they will release Blu-ray
> players that "up-scales" to 4K just like they did with DVD (what a
> waste of time).  At the moment, I think buying a 4K TV is a waste of
> money.  But now that the technology exists, they will need to address
> how to deliver that content efficiently to a 4K TV.  I really don't
> think H265 will fail.  I'm sure NVidia will pickup H265 decoding in
> their hardware soon enough.  And it obvious from previous posts that
> they are testing HEVC over Satellite (FTA, etc).  Which means someone
> out there is already trying to add the support to Satellite Receiver
> Box Hardware.  Also, if they can reduce the bandwidth footprint for SD
> and HD Channels, then they can put (mux) more stations on the same
> Frequency.  This will allow a Single Transmitter Tower or Satellite to
> carry more stations which means less money spent per station.  But I'm
> sure the transition will be slow.  As broadcasting H265 over ATSC,
> DVB-T or DVB-S will no doubt break video decoding on virtually every
> TV out there now. Once again, we will have the option of buying
> converters much like the HomeWorks Converter which has an HDMI out.
> Codec's have failed in the past because they weren't as efficient or
> couldn't do something better than another codec could.  But with the
> invent of 4K Hardware, we are going to need a standardized codec that
> can handle such content.  MPEG2 has been used for years, but its time
> to put it to rest.  I used to have a DOS EXE that could decode MPEG2
> Video and display it on Vesa Compatible Video Hardware which worked
> great on a 486/DX4-100Mhz.  Sad sad, old technology...
> 
> 
> -Raymond Boettcher-
> 
The new FireTV box purports to doing UHD over HDMI. This device does
lock you into their ecosystem but at least Amazon is incentivised to
keep the device working after sale & they seem to have content.
(The first smart TVs are already unsupported by manufacturers & android
devices are even worse)

Web reviews suggest HEVC but the detail seems confused w.r.t. the TV
decoder requirements.
Could be good soln for the 1 million new UHD TVs sold in UK & Europe in
the last year that most likely can't do HEVC decoding.

AFAIK As of couple of months ago only the GTX960 has VDPAU HEVC decode.
This suggests nVidia have refreshed the decoder block in the 900 family.
There are leaks about a GTX950 which would be a better HTPC choice if it
gets HEVC decode.