Apple Announces QuickTime H.264 Codec Support

Support for next-generation video has arrived on the Macintosh, largely thanks to the ratification of a technical standard called H.264 by the DVD Forum. This standard is expected to double the quality of video on computers, provide a method for authoring high-definition (HD) content and benefit mobile networks.

H.264 offers a method for compressing and decompressing video (codec for short) and is used in the authoring of digital video streaming in MPEG-4 formats, including for HD. The codec is slated to replace the MPEG-2 format, commonly used by broadcasters and in multimedia products, such as DVDs and video games, today.

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) announced during the opening-day keynote of its annual World Wide Developer's Conference (WWDC) Monday that an upcoming release of QuickTime will include support for H.264. iChat AV will benefit from higher quality video and conferencing capabilities in its upcoming release of OS 10.4, also known as "Tiger," which is slated for early 2005.

High Definition on the QT

Frank Casanova, Apple's senior director of QuickTime product marketing, told MacNewsWorld that QuickTime is not the only beneficiary of H.264 in 2005.

"We will have standard support in authoring tools like Final Cut Pro to access the QuickTime [application programming interface] by 2005, along with the QuickTime release," he said. "Thus an author can create content, encode it for H.264 and stream it for broadcast, the Internet and using 3GPP standards to mobile networks."

Rhonda Stratton, director of QuickTime product marketing at Apple, added it is important that this new standard can deliver higher quality video to today's machines, including those without HD capabilities.

"It not only supports the latest HD hardware, but everyone who uses QuickTime on their computer will also see a boost in video quality," she said.

Scalability Is Central

Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, agreed that the video quality is evident.

"It is a much crisper image, and the iChat improvements will be significant," Bajarin said in an interview with MacNewsWorld. "More importantly, this standard is scalable from cellular phones all the way up to high-definition gear."

Casanova explained the new codec's scaling features. "With H.264, authors can scale video without sacrificing quality from low-level bandwidth rates like 160 kilobits per second for handhelds and mobile phones, all the way up to HD at 8 megabits per second."

For his part, Bajarin believes it will take some time for this to trickle down to consumers outside of early adopters, who already own costly high-definition equipment.

"It's the chicken and the egg," he observed. "If the hardware makers run with this and there is widespread adoption, content producers will follow suit with video to match."

Mobile Networks Benefit

According to Rui Carmo, an analyst with a major European GSM operator, H.264 will open the door for more content to mobile networks.

"Many GSM operators are either experimenting or already providing media downloads and streaming in 3GPP audio and video formats -- ringtones, video clips, live streaming of selected TV channels or events," Carmo told MacNewsWorld.

"Pretty much anything being distributed to mobile phones is according to some sort of 3GPP formal spec or guideline," Carmo continued. "Whether or not people will adopt this type of content is, as always, dependent on the quality-cost ratio. Very few people find it justifiable to download an AAC ringtone for the prices currently being charged."

Carmo does believe that if media companies and operators find a way to work together on cross-distribution deals, mobile-phone users potentially could get the latest singles in ringtone format at the same time a new CD arrives in record stores.

Apple's Microsoft Invite

Casanova emphasized that Apple's decision to work with open standards in adopting support brought about H.264 functionality in QuickTime.

"QuickTime is the file format for MPEG-4, as defined by the International Organization for Standardization, and this is another example of our efforts to adopt standards," he said. "We invite Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Real and anyone else to adopt MPEG-4 compatibility."

Carmo observed that most GSM operators have a strong commitment of working towards full compliance with 3GPP specs.

"Most of this activity revolves around the recent wave of 3G network launches, but the fact that things have so far 'just worked' is very closely tied on operators' strong tradition of sticking to standards," Carmo said.

Adopt or Perish

From experience, Carmo said that, in stark contrast to the Internet playground, there is very little chance of a GSM operator ever adopting a non-3GPP media format.

"It's not merely a situation of there being fewer options or no other competing technologies, it's the heavy emphasis on interoperability and reliability," he explained. "In the mobile universe things have to work first time around with any device or network."

According to Carmo, in the GSM world, "any" simply has to mean "any" -- not "the majority" or "our pet format."

Said Carmo: "Anything that is not carefully planned for and ratified by 3GPP has very little chance of being deployed on the network."