• patatahooligan@lemmy.worldEnglish
      15·
      7 days ago

      Because patents cause issues for free software. Some examples:

      • As far as I can tell, vlc is legal only because French law does not recognize software patents, see here.
      • HDMI 2.1 support in AMDGPU is impossible, see here.
      • I think Media Foundation is unsupported in Proton because of patents as well, though I’m having trouble finding a reliable source on that.
    • hendrik@palaver.p3x.deEnglish
      29·
      7 days ago

      And free and open source software can be written, shared and used without potentially getting sued. And these projects power lots of things.

      • exu@feditown.comEnglish
        5·
        7 days ago

        To be fair, this is mainly a US issue. VLC (French) has provided h264 encoders and decoders for years.

        • hendrik@palaver.p3x.deEnglish
          3·
          7 days ago

          I mean ffmpeg, GStreamer etc also provide the encoders and decoders. That doesn’t make it legal. I think they’re all (including VLC) threatened by software patents. But you’re right. There are differences between the EU and other jurisdictions.

  • kralk@lemm.eeEnglish
    9·
    7 days ago

    I have literally no understanding of video codecs, standards etc. Is there a “set and forget” option which is free and good?

        • d_k_bo@feddit.orgEnglish
          7·
          7 days ago

          That depends on where you live. In many parts of the world, software patents don’t exist and aren’t applied.

          • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipEnglish
            21·
            7 days ago

            It is also illegal in most places beside France

            Not enforced so you should use it but it is technically illegal. Same thing with Linux distros shipping anything under patent.

            • Successful_Try543@feddit.orgEnglish
              12·
              7 days ago

              I think you’re mixing the libdvdcss library for playing protected DVDs or referring to some other non-free, patented codec with the x264 package implementation of the H.264 codec, which the patent holders allowed to be used freely for non-commercial use.

        • PieMePlenty@lemmy.worldEnglish
          7·
          7 days ago

          Commercial use requires payment to patent holders, free use does not (whenever end user does not pay to watch). I dont know how ad supported streams are categorized, probably commercial. For personal use, I wouldnt worry about the license. Worry when you start a streaming server and start making revenue.