Native H264 support is way, way, way overdue in Windows and Silverlight. And if anything the reason its taken this long is Microsoft hoping that if they dragged their heels and aggressively pushed WMP9 / VC-1 that H264 would go away. While VC-1 has had partial success in some mediums (e.g. 30% of BDs use it drawn largely down studio lines) it hasn't been a game changer. Microsoft's competitors, be they Adobe (in Flash), Sun (in Java / JavaFX), Apple (Quicktime / iTunes) or at the codec level such as DIVX all support H264. And the industry demands this support. I expect VC-1 will still play a role in Microsoft's DRM plans, but hopefully H264 will takeover elsewhere.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
DrXym @ Mar 27th 2009 5:52AM
Native H264 support is way, way, way overdue in Windows and Silverlight. And if anything the reason its taken this long is Microsoft hoping that if they dragged their heels and aggressively pushed WMP9 / VC-1 that H264 would go away. While VC-1 has had partial success in some mediums (e.g. 30% of BDs use it drawn largely down studio lines) it hasn't been a game changer. Microsoft's competitors, be they Adobe (in Flash), Sun (in Java / JavaFX), Apple (Quicktime / iTunes) or at the codec level such as DIVX all support H264. And the industry demands this support. I expect VC-1 will still play a role in Microsoft's DRM plans, but hopefully H264 will takeover elsewhere.