[MPlayer-users] Re: encoding quality - bpp, resolution, quantsand quality

[Jonathan Rogers]

HR wrote:
> This is getting really educational, thanks for all the good input! The
> reason why I was using XViD was mainly the open source argument, while
> observing the commersial direction of the DivX on windofz. I've been
> assuming that DivX on any platform would be subject to that "closing" of
> the source, ie that lavc mpeg4 would be somewhat less reliable as open
> source in the future compared to XViD. This is propably just ignorance
> on my part? Whats the licence status on lavc (mpeg4)?

Do you really think MPlayer would rely on proprietary software as a core 
component? FFMPEG is released under the GPL. Unfortunately, there are 
patents covering MPEG-4, so no use of it can be completely free. We 
might be violating patents (in the US anyway) every time we use XviD or 
lavc. Ironically, it might be safer legally to use DivX then either XviD 
or lavc, since DivXNetworks may have taken care of MPEG licensing. Does 
anyone here know the actual legal status of using each of these codecs?

Jonathan Rogers