Video quality keeps getting better, and nowhere is that more apparent than at CES where major consumer electronics manufacturers are showing off 4K TVs and OLED screens – with some even showing off 8K. That’s great for traditional TV, but what about streaming video?
One thing Rovi Product Management Director Charles Dawes is excited about is the ratification of H.265 or the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) format, which will provide higher-quality video streams over the Internet while using less bandwidth. After the standard gets ratified, you can expect content owners to start pushing even high-quality video files.
H.265 is designed to allow for 4K-like streams at about the same file size as today’s 1080p videos. That’s good news for consumers, who could soon be able to watch streaming video that’s indecipherable from traditional TV. And doing so won’t kill the network.
At first, the videos will be decoded in software, according to Dawes. But over time you should expect more devices to ship with hardware-based decoders, which will provide better performance and improved battery life. Check out the video above to learn more, as well as to find out what Dawes and Rovi are looking forward to at CES.