[Spice-devel] Streaming video performance concepts

[John A. Sullivan III]

On Wed, 2011-06-22 at 23:49 +0200, Alon Levy wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 22, 2011 at 03:44:40PM -0400, John A. Sullivan III wrote:
> > On Wed, 2011-06-22 at 17:01 +0200, Alon Levy wrote:
> > > On Wed, Jun 22, 2011 at 09:56:28AM -0400, John A. Sullivan III wrote:
> > > > On Wed, 2011-06-22 at 11:27 +0200, Alon Levy wrote:
> > > > > <snip>> Thank you very much for the explanation.  It's pretty much what I
> > > > > > expected - that the codec is different, trading CPU efficiency for
> > > > > > bandwidth inefficiency and I certainly understand the reasons why.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Is there any thought or plan to make the codec configurable for those
> > > > > > who are willing to sacrifice CPU for bandwidth, e.g., VP8, Theora, or
> > > > > > H.264?
> > > > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > > I haven't done any testing on this but I think the cpu requirements are large.
> > > > > maybe with hardware doing the encoding this would work well enough. Technically
> > > > > just dropping in a different codec and extending the protocol doesn't sound like
> > > > > a lot of work. Patches welcome?
> > > > <snip>
> > > > I wish I had the skill set to help in that way! Thanks - John
> > > > 
> > > Would you be able to provide some benchmarks (choose some pc you have) for:
> > >  encoding speed of
> > >   VP8, Theora, H.264
> > >  for various bitdepths and resolutions (you choose, maybe just one - take the resolutions
> > >  of a normal youtube window and a fullscreen of your choice).
> > > ?
> > > 
> > > Alon
> > > 
> > I would be delighted to do so if it will help.  I don't have a clue how
> > to.  If you have a link or reference you can point me to, that would be
> > appreciated. Otherwise, it will be off to the world of Internet
> > research.  Thanks - John
> 
> It's been pointed to me off list that my suggestion was very inaccurate, and that perhaps
> we have other considerations, like prefering an open (source, no patents) codec like
> Theora even if it is worse then H.264 / VP8. Yaniv gave a link to an already old but
> interesting comparison: http://keyj.emphy.de/video-encoder-comparison/
> 
> > 
I believe H.264 is heavily patent encumbered even though free but I also
thought that VP8 was now not patent encumbered and as readily usable as
theora. It would seem to be the ideal candidate if using it as a real
time codec is feasible.  Again, I'm way out of my depth and merely
spewing a couple of hours of Internet research.  Thanks - John