alt Hacker NewsA few things - this is one step in a long, LONG path. AV2 is currently unusable in its current state (the encoder typically runs at around 1fps on good hardware), and likely will remain so til ~2028 when the first av2 hardware accelerated chips start dropping. Even then, I wouldn't expect AV2 streams to be common til 2030.
IMO, if it were just the efficiency gains on the table (which are substantial - ~20-30% over AV1), I'd say that AV2 isn't worth it. The biggest thing it does add though is multi-stream support, which will be a big win for VR and live sports. The other fun thing is you can send an alpha channel as a separate stream, which the file will then composite for proper transparent video support.
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> The biggest thing it does add though is multi-stream support
I would have thought this would be a part of the container format rather than the video codec?
The way things are going, we can pretty much forget about AV2 hardware encoders in PCs anytime soon. All the newest, best chip capacity is being completely hogged by Apple and AI companies.
Unless chipmakers port the AV2 design to older, cheaper nodes, it’s just not happening for average users. We’ll probably see some Chinese TV chip makers throw in an AV2 decoder just to check a box, but as an actual encoder? I wouldn't count on it anytime soon.
Looking at how GPU development has been sidetracked for NPU, I worry that this is 2035 target at best. Manufacturers will push for maximising matrix operation silicon area. In the era of trillion dollar investments into datacenters, traffic cost is afterthought. The only benefitors might be YouTube, Netflix and such, but on their scale investment into ISP level caches might be cheaper.
> enabling high-quality video delivery at significantly lower bitrates
> likely will remain so til ~2028 when the first av2 hardware accelerated chips start dropping
This might sound dumb, but whats the point if its intended for slower devices, but those slower devices don't even exist yet?
In HW accelerated chips, what part of the calculations they usually accelerate? Could it be possible to repurpose old HW?
I feel like in 2030 it's more likely that we send 480p and just upscale with ai on the other end
> The biggest thing it does add though is multi-stream support
This was supported in H.264 MVC but only saw real use for 3D movies on physical BluRays. With almost no content available outside that.
That's fine and not anything new for codecs, they always take a long time before mass adoption.
Take a look at AV1 itself, you can't even say it's really ubiquitous on all hardware. It's quite well along in adoption compared to early days, but some mobile devices are still lacking hardware acceleration for it.
>........I'd say that AV2 isn't worth it.
Unless they have hardware encoder and decoder design done in parallel, otherwise it would be 2028 before a hardware block design is done and 2030 for the earliest product to ship with it. In reality I think 2031 or 2032 is more likely.
And I have been saying the same for quite some time that 20-30% for a generational codec improvement isn't worth it. I think they originally aimed at 50%, and then 40% and then 30%.
Where do you see information about the efficiency gains over AV1?
> The biggest thing it does add though is multi-stream support, which will be a big win for VR and live sports.
AV1 supports it too ?
I feel like these encoders that require acceleration are a big reason why good hardware obsoletes so quickly.
Based on AV1's trajectory, hardware encode isn't necessary (though it is nice). The current encoder is a reference encoder. Now that the spec is finalized, expect significant speed improvements from production encoders (realtime likely won't happen until we get it in hardware though)