How much do commercial SW codecs cost, wholesale?

[charact3r]

I am looking at setting up a new startup company. Core to my idea is video compression and I have pretty much decided that H.264 is the standard that fits best. This being a commercial venture with quality and support requirements, I want everything legal and should hopefully be able to pay for my software. So I will most likely license from VSS, Elecard, MainConcept, CoreCodec or similar.

Does anyone know how much these guys charge for an OEM license of their H.264 (a) encoders and (b) decoders?

Ballpark or anonymous figures would also be helpful - many thanks!

PS. I'm a devotee of open-source software so please don't just reply to tell me about x264 or libavcodec unless you have information on their commercial prices.
PPS. I'm in pre-stealth mode so I don't want to approach anyone yet (or for them to approach me). Hope to exit stealth mode here later in the year.

[nm]

PS. I'm a devotee of open-source software so please don't just reply to tell me about x264 or libavcodec unless you have information on their commercial prices.

See this post: Announcing commercial licensing for x264 (http://mailman.videolan.org/pipermail/x264-devel/2010-July/007508.html)

Note that you only need a commercial x264 license if your business idea conflicts with the GPL.

And from that post, regarding "OEM" use of all H.264 encoders:
4. You're responsible for patent licensing if you're based in a
nation where patents are an issue. This isn't our choice; the rules
of MPEG-LA require that if Company A uses Company B's encoder in their
product, Company A must pay the fees, not Company B. FYI, MPEG-LA's
fees are zero for the first 100,000 units, 20 cents per unit until 5
million, and 10 cents beyond that, capping at around $5m per year.

[charact3r]

Thanks for the link. I'd read that before but must have missed Jason's pricing - $1 per unit with a 10k minimum. Is that accurate / still current? What about decoders? I guess they'd be cheaper.

[nm]

What about decoders? I guess they'd be cheaper.

I doubt it. That x264 deal is quite cheap.

libav/FFmpeg is LGPL. I wonder what issues you have with that.

[kieranrk]

I doubt it. That x264 deal is quite cheap.

"quite" is a massive understatement. For some applications 3-4 extra zeroes would be reasonable on the top of that price.

[Dark Shikari]

Thanks for the link. I'd read that before but must have missed Jason's pricing - $1 per unit with a 10k minimum. Is that accurate / still current? What about decoders? I guess they'd be cheaper.The x264 prices are negotiable depending on the use-case and application. $1 per unit is a general guideline for a typical low-cost application (e.g. a consumer videoconferencing program).

Typically, we'll adjust the pricing model to match whatever business model you're using, in order to be as convenient as possible.

[Blue_MiSfit]

Yes, it's hard to overstate how inexpensive this is.

If you want to use someone else, I'd point you towards Mainconcept. In fact this is a better option if you need things like 4:2:2, plus decoders / directshow filters included. Be prepared to pay a lot though.

If you're encoding deliverables (always 4:2:0 8 bit), do yourself a favor and license x264. I sure as hell would.

Derek

[CruNcher]

Yep on the Professional side nothing goes by Mainconcept and in the newest case Rovi now which try to dominate the future of online distribution ;)

[charact3r]

So ballpark (or at least order of magnitude) is $1 per unit and the choice is pretty much x264 (for best optimization but no decoder) vs MainConcept (for features+filters+support). Many thanks for all answers.

[nm]

So ballpark (or at least order of magnitude) is $1 per unit and the choice is pretty much x264 (for best optimization but no decoder) vs MainConcept (for features+filters+support). Many thanks for all answers.

As people said, the ballbark for MainConcept's codecs is probably a few orders of magnitude higher. And I doubt their support is any better.

[Dark Shikari]

There is a decoder: since CoreCodec sells both, you can also buy CoreAVC from them. Or you can just use libavcodec.

[schweinsz]

As to the H.264 software decoder, you can consider my DiAVC (http://di-avc.com), it is the fastest H.264 software decoder in the world.

[CruNcher]

As to the H.264 software decoder, you can consider my DiAVC (http://di-avc.com), it is the fastest H.264 software decoder in the world.

Didn't we hear that before somewhere ;) but yeah you did a marvelous job so far on your decoder, though ultimately you fighting against a code that was supplied by mostly Russian codec Engineers (some big names here) over lets say estimated 7 years now (not counting Mpeg-2) over 3 (specialized industry codec implementer veterans) allot of manpower and knowledge over the years. With all the Industry pro testing you can think off and dozen of 3rd party licenses worldwide with a more/less stable working SVC codebase.
Libavcodec, ffmpeg, xvid, x264 could reach that state fairly fast in the non Pro parts and yeah CoreCodec and DiAVC showed that it is doable faster with less resources in the beginning if you being fully dedicated (coding 24h) and have the brainpower for it (like picard or Jason), and it's interesting to watch you growing as well in those respects :)
Though the most interesting thing obviously is what is happening around of MPEG these days (and the inflictions it brings maybe for the future,who knows) :P

[charact3r]

@CruNcher - who are the big-name engineers and the 3 veterans? Interesting thoughts, even without names though.

[posdnya]

@CruNcher - who are the big-name engineers and the 3 veterans? Interesting thoughts, even without names though.

I'm one of the veterans.
Not sure if CruNcher means me :-)

On your original question - something around 5-10% of the cost of your app.
If you are going to build a consumer software selling to big OEMs in millions units, than it could be 10 cents or even less.
If you will do something like professional encoder for broadcasters and will sell twenty systems a year, $20K each, it will be $1K per license