Is H.264 better than MPEG-2?

[Walter Graff]

http://www.videography.com/articles/article_15564.shtml

[Jesus Sifuentes]

It all depends on where you are outputting it to. DVD use Mpeg-2. HD videos online then H.264. Nowadays most pc video players will play both because they have the codecs for it. A few years back it was a pain to view any video format online because of the numerous codecs. Now its not a problem. For a more universal codec I would use Adobe Flash Video codec FLV.

[David Auner aac]

Hi Walter, that article is a great find. Especially with all the discussion going on here right now.

 

Hi Jesus, Walter wasn't actually asking a question. He was quoting from the article he linked to.

 

Cheers, Dave

[Hal Smith]

http://www.videography.com/articles/article_15564.shtml

Given the article's argument about necessity for precision of language it's quite obvious that many published specifications are deliberately written without adjectives and modifiers.

 

Is H.264 better than MPEG-2? Sometimes, sometimes not. Reminds me of the hassle I once went through when a satellite system equipment provider changed from Musicam to MPEG-2 for audio compression. Equipment had been ordered before they changed algorithms, but delivered after they changed and satellite carriage had been contracted. What sounded just fine (full bandwidth classical music) before at 128kB/s went to sounding like cr*p. My client had to buy another slice of satellite bandwidth which cost them an additional $600/month. Comstream, the manufacturer, saved about $100 per system in licensing fees. An earlier version of "Gotcha Capitalism".