Thanks Brion for the detailed breakdown re: video issues. Replying under the changed subject line :)
Re: transcoding video, Brion wrote:
Allowing *ingestion* of MP4 h.264/AAC would allow uploading camera originals from most consumer gear -- a major democratizing feature. Ingestion of MP4 HEVC/AAC would give more compatibility.
In both cases we have all the software we need, we already use the Debian ffmpeg package which includes code supporting both formats; we just don't allow uploading the files, reading them to convert for playback, or downloading the originals from our web site.
Do we need a MPEG-LA patent license for that? Nobody seemed to think so in 2014 but nobody could tell me for sure either, then or now.
IMO it would be useful to commission a renewed legal/policy assessment of those questions. Similarly, it would be good to know if any expiring patents might soon expand the range of options Wikimedia projects could enable without a patent policy change. At least for H.264 it seems like a pile of patents are coming up for expiry in 2024 and 2025, but I don't know if they alone help us much. [1]
Regardless of any changes to Wikimedia's hard line policy stance on patent-encumbered codecs, the industry trend towards more open formats does make me optimistic about video in the long run.
Warmly, Erik
[1] Per this community-maintained page: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Have_the_patents_for_H.264_MPEG-4_AVC_expire...
On Tue, Jan 30, 2024 at 11:59 AM Samuel Klein meta.sj@gmail.com wrote:
[New thread for the discussions started by brion, Ivan, James and others on becoming video-friendly and building a community of video editors and curators. Was "Re: We need more interactive content."]
James Heilman wrote:
With VideoWiki we have been able to create some higher quality content with a partner at MyUpchar. The text was written by us, the individual short animations were done by them, and then the tool combines it all together with text to speech. Hope to get the tool working again soon: https://mdwiki.org/wiki/Video:Tuberculosis
A nice example of a) creating a space explicitly to develop new tools and encourage one another in using them; b) trialing a workflow that can be automated at need.
Text-to-speech and animation tools have also advanced tremendously since that was produced; this is also becoming an important channel for more mainstream media (I see the spammers taking over mainstream social media with it as well, in how-tos, education, news, sports, and leisure).
SJ
On Tue, Jan 30, 2024 at 2:25 AM Ivan Martínez galaver@gmail.com wrote:
It is not difficult to do something that is already happening. By referring to encyclopedic videos I am talking about multimedia that can enrich existing content. I understand your point, it's a bit like what happened with the project of reading recorded Wikipedia articles that after years seem obsolete.
What I am referring to is all that multimedia material that is visual, that can be made into video to complement articles. The process you mention is complicated, but not impossible, in fact, there are many of us editors who have all those skills already implemented in the projects.
By not having a Youtube 2.0 we are avoiding a Wikipedia 2.0 with pure encyclopaedic videos. I see a false dilemma there.
brion wrote:
My recommendations for Wikimedia Foundation on this subject:
- Overturn the requirement to avoid handling h.264 files on Wikimedia servers or accept them from users or serve them to users. Allow importing h.264 uploads and creating h.264 transcodes for playback compatibility.
- Create an interactive media team with at least two engineers, a designer, and a project manager
- Give this team a remit to rebuild *and maintain in an ongoing fashion* the existing TimedMediaHandler, Graphs, Score, 3D, etc extensions
- Integrate those tools cleanly with mobile apps and social media embedding tools managed by other teams
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