Codec writer On2 Technologies said this week it has signed an agreement with Texas Instruments to collaborate to put its TrueMotion VP6 and VP7 compression formats onto TI’s major video platforms, the OMAP handset architecture and the DaVinci video chip used in set tops and diverse video applications.
The On2 codecs are behind Adobe Flash Video, which is now the dominant form of video seen traveling across the internet. Only a month or so ago, the same Flash Video formats were introduced to handsets in the latest version of Flash Lite.
But this doesn’t strictly mean that TI is expecting VP6 and 7 to dominate. TI already has its own understanding of H.264, and has implemented that on these architectures already. Adobe has also recently embraced H.264, and its Flash Video now supports both the On2 codecs and H.264 supplied by MainConcept. By building in better support for the VP6 and 7 codecs TI is effectively covering both bases so that much of the existing YouTube style video will run faster on TI based devices.
‘This is a far reaching agreement in that TI’s technology leads the industry for mobile handsets and IP video devices,’ said Bill Joll, president and CEO of On2 Technologies. ‘What this means for On2 and the market in general is that VP6 and VP7 based cross platform high-quality video will be available for a wide range of mobile, IPTV, and web video devices.’
Charlie Gonsalves, DSP Third Party Network marketing manager, at TI said, ‘Through this agreement we anticipate acceleration of availability of highly optimized solutions that our customers can leverage to bring to market applications based on TI’s technology.’