Samsung has finally followed through this week in what we knew months ago was an inevitability – signing up for the royalty free codec group the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) in what is sure to throw the cat among the pigeons as we approach NAB 2019. Yet the South Korean electronics colossus has no need to join AOMedia for access to technology given its wealthy patent portfolio – although Samsung could be interested in getting on board to influence developments around AV2, the successor to the AV1 codec currently in development. We have suggested previously that Samsung could join as AV2 development gathers steam, suggesting the R&D wing at AOMedia is making significant progress in the development of AV2…