h.264

Why HTML5 matters to Mac users

Recent announcements from popular video hosting Web sites YouTube and Vimeo that they will now be offering HTML5 compatible video streaming have tremendously positive affects for Mac users. YouTube kicked off the announcement on Wednesday with Vimeo following suit shortly thereafter. If video on HTML5 gains traction, we could see the end (or at least a lot less) of Flash online.… Read more

Wikipedia's controversial video player coming soon

Wikipedia users will be getting new tools for uploading, editing, and viewing video very soon. According to a Beet.TV interview with Erik Moller, who is the deputy director of the Wikimedia Foundation, we'll see all of these things shortly. However, what's more interesting is the Web encyclopedia's choice of video formats and how it fits into a fracas in the browser world.

Wikipedia has been working on video support for years, and is putting considerable effort into making it easier for users to upload video--specifically, to bridge a video format divide. Moller says that while Wikipedia … Read more

(Some) YouTube videos get download option

My CNET News colleague Charles Cooper's kvetching about YouTube not offering a download option for political videos seems to be answered. Such an option now appears right underneath the player on certain videos, including President-elect Barack Obama's weekly addresses.

While users have long been able to grab YouTube clips both with Flash rippers and H.264 stream downloaders, this would be the first time such an option has appeared on the site as an official offering. The new option gives users a full-quality H.264 file--the very same copy that's sent out to YouTube-capable set top boxes … Read more

What's new for audio in Windows 7?

Update at 5:10 p.m. PDT: Changes were made based on a draft version of the Windows 7 Reviewers' Guide.

Microsoft took the wraps off the next version of Windows Tuesday at its Professional Developers Conference, and the Web's abuzz with first impressions and previews--most of which are positive.

It looks like Microsoft is making the right moves to counter some of the problems with Vista: application and hardware compatibility are top priorities, and most of the UI tweaks I've seen so far seem helpful rather than arbitrary, as many of the changes in Vista seemed … Read more

DirecTV and TiVo: Together again

Great news from a press release I received today:

EL SEGUNDO and ALVISO, Calif., Sept. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- DIRECTV, Inc. (Nasdaq: DTV), the nation's leading satellite television service provider, and TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVR), announced today that they have extended their current agreement, which includes the development, marketing and distribution of a new HD DIRECTV DVR featuring the TiVo(R) service, as well as the extension of mutual intellectual property arrangements. Under the terms of the non-exclusive arrangement, DIRECTV and TiVo will work together to develop a version of the TiVo(R) service for DIRECTV's broadband-enabled HD DVR platform. The product will support the latest TiVo and DIRECTV features and services, including TiVo's Universal Swivel Search and TiVo KidZone. TiVo will develop the new HD DVR for an expected launch in the second half of 2009.

I had a TiVo HD DVR (the Hughes HR10-250) that worked with DirecTV's original HD channel lineup, but when DirecTV adopted the new H.264 technology to provide more channels, the HR10-250 became effectively obsolete.

I've previously explained why I've been so disappointed with the replacement DirecTV HR21-700 DVR and, more generally, with the way DirecTV pushed this product on its customers without offering the superior alternative of a true TiVo DVR.

As I mentioned in my HR21-700 review, I suspect that one of the reasons that DirecTV's DVRs are somewhat feature-deficient compared with TiVo DVRs is that TiVo, as a pioneer in the development of DVR technology, owns… Read more

Google yanks open-source project after copyright complaint

In response to a copyright complaint, Google has taken down an open-source project called CoreAVC-for-Linux it had hosted on its Web site.

Google didn't share details, but said on the project site that it removed CoreAVC-for-Linux from its Google Code site after receiving a complaint under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

CoreAVC itself is proprietary software for Windows supplied by a company called CoreCodec. The software can play video encoded with the H.264 standard.

According to a cached version of the Google Code page, CoreAVC-for-Linux provides patches to open-source media player software such as MPlayer or MythTV … Read more

FixMyMovie saves your woefully bad digicam films

FixMyMovie is a new service that takes your pixelated digital video clips and does its best to fix them. The technology stems from MotionDSP's processing technology, which is similar to what's used in government intelligence operations to improve those dark and grainy security films--like you see in movies.

The entire process is fairly straightforward: Just upload and tag a supported movie file, and the service will crunch it on its servers. You get a note by e-mail when it's done. Once it's finished you can preview the first 10 seconds of the enhanced version, as well as compare before and after results live, by pressing the "compare" button. What's even cooler is a stills mode that lets you compare the before and after with an easy-to-use slider that follows your mouse. Whatever's on the left of the slider is the old, with the new on the right.

To grab the improved film, there are download options for multiple formats, including iPod-formatted H.264, Adobe Flash, and Windows Media. You can also grab quick embed code to stick it in any blog, which I've done after the break.

I tried out the service on several video clips this morning and got improved results on every single one of them. The most dramatic improvement of all was with text, which managed to turn almost unreadable pixelated words into legible sentences. Just be wary, though: The service can only handle clips up to 352x288 in resolution, which means the VGA videos from your digital camera aren't going to cut it. Older cameras, on the other hand, are fine.

FixMyMovie is launching in beta at this morning's DEMOfall conference in San Diego with $25 worth of free processing for everyone while still in its beta period. Eventually, FixMyMovie plans to charge users for the option to enhance video and still images, which can also be captured manually by users within the Flash player. I can see this service being hugely popular, as everyone wants better looking video clips, and ways to improve older, lower resolution clips.

Update: It's worth noting you need the latest beta of Adobe Flash 9 to view videos on the service (which makes the neat, live before and after feature possible). You can pick it up here, or just get a feel for what it can do with the screenshot below.… Read more

Get wet with the Sanyo Xacti E1 pocket camcorder

Summer's coming, and that means you're going to see plenty of opportunities to get wet. Whether you're swimming in a pool or surfing at a beach, you're probably going to get soaked in the next few months. Unfortunately, most camcorders simply can't take the moisture. The Olympus Stylus 770SW and the Pentax Optio W30 are two of the few digital cameras you can take swimming with you, but even they're not the best choice for shooting video.

Sanyo just announced the Xacti E1, a waterproof pocket camcorder. This new gadget can handle getting dunked … Read more