Real plays codec catch-up

[Gregg Lengling]

While it appears MPEG-4/H.264 and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media 9 are neck and neck in the advanced video codec race, RealNetworks Inc.'s new Real 10 platform has entered the track and is now making a run. The question is whether it can close the gap fast enough to compete for cable's next generation of video services.
Announced in January, the Real 10 audio and video codecs also offer to boost video quality while cutting bandwidth for high-quality video services. It faces rivals MPEG-4/H.264 and Windows Media 9, which have been out for roughly a year and have moved into silicon integrations. Nevertheless, Ian McKerlich, general manager of Real's broadband solutions, is confident.

"It's going to be a very hard-fought battle to be the next-generation codec," he says. "I'm excited we are entering the battle with something that is as high quality as Real 10, and I think there have been some early skirmishes, but I don't think the real race has started yet."

Others aren't so sure. Brian Sprague, director of Broadcom Corp.'s marketing broadband business group, says Real hasn't figured much in set-top video systems in recent years, nor has Broadcom done any work with the new codec.

"There was a time when we thought it would have more market share than Windows Media," he says. "But we don't hear of them from any of the broadcast guys."

IP video systems provider SkyStream Networks Inc., meanwhile, has only recently heard of the new codec, so it is too early to tell what the strategy will be, according to Bethany Mayer, vice president of product marketing.

"We had worked with some of the Real codecs in the past, but this is new. So we will also look at that, and frankly, from our perspective we are agnostic in terms of which direction the industry is going towards."

Comcast Corp. CTO David Fellows also is keeping an open mind. While he hasn't viewed the codec as yet, he said competition could help.

"We welcome competition to MPEG, given their licensing stance, and Real is certainly real in the Internet world and the streaming world," Fellows says. But he also notes Comcast has a long history with Microsoft, "so they are both in the running."