ideo codecs have now existed for long enough that they’re starting to establish traditions. It’s an odd thought for a technology that barely existed during the early careers of now-senior people, but it’s true. The majority of videos watched in 2024 are encoded using one of a few key technologies. Recently, though, new ideas have provoked changes in the way we get video from place to place, changing how we think about bandwidth, portability and the very fundamentals of electronic devices. LESSONS IN LCEVC “Let’s not forget that traditional codecs were designed for SD video,” points out Guido Meardi. As one of the founders of V-Nova, Meardi’s experience goes back to the nineties – a time when some of those traditions were yet to be established. “Most codecs are good at compacting low-resolution signals,” he adds, “but not so much the fine details. We did something original. If you want, it’s a typical story where you have an idea which has already existed for decades. But, as often happens in life, it was too early. At the time, it couldn’t work.” The intervening decades have seen CPUs become a little sturdier – but Meardi’s work currently centres on a codec which carefully balances performance and complexity. V-Nova actually calls it the low-complexity V
MOST CODECS ARE GOOD AT COMPACTING LOW-RESOLUTION SIGNALS, BUT NOT SO MUCH THE FINE DETAILS
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