MPEG-4 plan shakes video industry
A newly proposed MPEG-4 licensing plan is sending jitters through multimedia circles, raising cost concerns about a new standard that promises to bring powerful interactive features to digital video.
Some MPEG-4 backers praised the licensing plan for removing lingering uncertainty over the costs of implementing the new format, but others said a proposed per-minute streaming fee, equivalent to 2 cents an hour, makes the plan all but unworkable.
"I don't think (the fees) are commercially viable," said Douglas McIntyre, chief executive of On2 Technologies, a video-compression provider. "To come out with very high usage fees undercuts the whole concept of having a standard."
Source: www.neowin.net.
