[X4U] **RANT** video stuff on the web

[Michael Winter]

On Nov 22, 2005, at 9:08 AM, net kat wrote:

> I think that Quicktime *is* a standard, but in the professional  
> film/video industry. It's common on the web, but as we all know the  
> internets are a political football for m$ to try to dominate, and  
> you'll always encounter sites which just don't work unless you're a  
> good little boy or girl and use the "right" platform.

IIRC, both Quicktime and WMV can use any one of several video codecs.  
For example, the video in a given Quicktime movie may be compressed  
using an mpg1,2 or 4 ,  H.264, motion JPEG or a host of other  
compression schemes. The big difference is that Apple is pushing  
industry standard codecs (mpg1-4) while MS is trying to push its own  
proprietary format as the codec of choice.

Just saying the above because many people seem to think Apple is  
using and pushing proprietary codecs, when in fact they are the ones  
pushing the codecs endorsed by the Motion Picture Working Group   
(that doesn't sound quite right) -the mpg standards (mpg1 used in  
VCDs, mpg2 used in DVDs, mpg4 to be used for HD DVD's).

At this point, Real and Microsoft are the only ones pushing a non- 
industry standard.

-Mike