Cisco over the last week has pushed its codec prowess to the fore, suggesting that it can replace HEVC, which has become too expensive and embroiled in a dangerous and costly patent war. Cisco reckons it can sideline the standard patent with its own inventions which could be open source and at least as effective as HEVC, maybe even better. Suddenly after three years of HEVC (H.265) assuredly and slowly taking its rightful place as the codec of choice for 4K and UHD video, as well as providing capacity relief to both cellular and pay TV networks on existing Full HD delivery, its future is in doubt. History tells us that it faces a long and painful battle, and the…