There has been some buzz in the streaming industry around HEVC (High Efficiency Video Codec)/ H.265, a new codec many consider a potential successor to H.264.
HEVC/ H.265 is still in its early stages, and this codec has not yet gained much traction in the digital media ecosystem. However, we are starting to see signs of at least some forward progress, such as Rovi’s recent introduction of their MainCocept HEVC SDK
(http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=90025).
At this stage, it appears that HEVC/ H.265 offers only about a 30% improvement over H.264, and that does come at a significant expense in terms of additional CPU required for processing. At this stage, these factors probably mean that and even if there were support for this new codec in consumer tools right now, users weighing costs vs. benefits might not have a great deal of incentive to go to the trouble of re-encoding existing H.264 media libraries.
We will continue to monitor news in this space and and keep you informed of new developments with HEVC/ H.265, but at this stage there doesn’t appear to be any reason to alter existing workflows.
