It's Time to Take Another Look at H.264 SVC

Taken at the same time, all of these announcements underscore the growing role of SVC as an alternative to H.264 Advanced Video Coding for delivering high definition video conferencing across any underlying network infrastructure. This is a development that offers the ability of video conferencing buyers to support high-quality video for remote or mobile workers without requiring huge investments in bandwidth.

Standards just as H.264 AVC and SVC define how video is captured, converted, sent among endpoints, and decoded. Up until recently, most video conferencing vendors had standardizing on ITU H.264 AVC, commonly referred to simply as "H.264". It's worth noting that Microsoft and those who license its innovation have taken a different approach using a proprietary codec, RTvideo, as a way of supporting reliable high-quality video over variably performing data networks. In the meantime, Vidyo, along with Radvision, have delivered SVC-based products, touting the benefits of SVC in terms of its ability to support HD even when there is significant packet loss.

But there's a drawback among all the SVC momentum - lack of interoperability. The problem is that the current H.264 SVC amendment defines only standards for coding and decoding. There are no standards but for areas just as transmission and error control, meaning that H.264 SVC solutions on the market today rely on proprietary approaches for these areas. The ITU Study Group 16 continues work on additional H.264 SVC standards, and more recently the Unified Communications Interoperability Forum announced a H.264 SVC interoperability committee, raising the hope that interoperable H.264 SVC solutions are on the horizon.

The Vice President for Communication

Irwin Lazar is the Vice President for Communication and Collaboration Technology at Nemertes Innovation, where he develops and manages technology projects, develops cost models, conducts strategic seminars and advises customers. His background is in network operations, network engineering, voice-data convergence, and IP telephony. Mr. Lazar is responsible for benchmarking the adoption and use of emerging technologies in the enterprise in areas including VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), unified communications, Web 2.0 initiatives, social networking, and collaboration.