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    MPEG-4 successor, H.265 HEVC, hits new milestone with draft standard

    MPEG-4 successor, H.265 HEVC, hits new milestone with draft standard

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    With the submission of a committee draft, the successor to MPEG-4 has reached a new standardization milestone, with a final standard due to be set in January 2013.

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    ITU MPEG
    ITU MPEG

    The next generation of the MPEG format has hit a new milestone, as a committee has put together an initial draft of just what the standards will be for H.265 High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC). The ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) and the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) began working on HVEC back in 2010, aiming to replace today's H.264 with a standard that could support resolutions of up to 7680 x 4320 — the 8K "Ultra HDTVs" that are still years away. According to one speaker at the meeting, the new standard could provide efficiency boosts for data transmission of up to 67 percent, which should reduce bitrate requirements without a noticeable effect on image quality. The committee draft, finalized this week at a meeting in San Jose, will be followed by an international standard in July and a final standard next January.