On2Vp8 vs. H.264 (non-free patented codec)

What is the H.264 video codec?

You already know H.264. It is a video codec used in YouTube videos, Blu-ray and lots of other videos with very good quality / compression ratio.

But did you know that such standard created by the MPEG group is not free? Yes, H.264 usages aren't free, as it is a patented software algorithm.

So H.264 has changed from being a great video codec to being one of the obstacles which make difficult having a good, common open source video standard as part of the HTML 5 standard, so that it could be used throughout all web browsers free of additional charge.

The On2 codec alternative

More than 5 years ago, Flash video achieved an extremely good quality / compression ratio using a new proprietary video codec called Sorenson Spark. Thanks to it, some small videos started appearing on our web pages.

But the days of glory of Sorenson quickly ended when the On2 codec (specially, its On2Vp6 version) was released. This is the video codec that has been used on most Flash videos that you can see out there. The amazing part is that On2 allows nearly full screen high quality videos that load in nearly real time using just an average ADSL connection.

Google could make On2 free and open source

The interesting part is that On2 was purchased by Google. And Google owns YouTube, the biggest video site in the world. So Google has a golden chance of making the last version of the On2 codec (On2Vp8) an open source codec. And it could start using it through all its YouTube videos, making it a de facto standard in a blink.

If Google did such open source effort, it would be removing the need to use proprietary technologies from the web video landscape (Flash Player still contains some proprietary pieces of code, and remember that the H.264 codec is not free as it is patented till 2028). That would really lead to a new open video standard. And that would be progress.

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Posted by ESV

Web design e-books in PDF

Good web design e-books available in PDF

If you have some special interest about increasing your skills in web design, website development and web coding, you definitely need to check out this list of useful (and free) web design e-books.

They really cover every interesting topic that a good web developer should know: from web typography to accessibility and usability, including even some freelance business management tips.

This kind of resource, together with the lots of free e-books available, are possibly the best excuses to finally grab a good e-book reader (and, if you were wondering, the answer is yes: the number 1 e-book reader, Amazon's Kindle, already supports native PDF reading).

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Posted by ESV

Error 8001050F PS3

Error 8001050F solved in all PS3

Finally! The in-famous error 8001050F that has prevented many PS3 gamers to play during a whole day has been solved automatically. This trophy sync error that forced many modern PS3 games on the first PS3 models to quit, was a real problem that started on 1st of March 2010 but that should be fixed now, 2nd of March 2010.

Below is the original blog post

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Error 8001050F PlayStation 3

Many PlayStation 3 users have recently been welcomed by the Error 8001050F when trying to connect PSN or play any game.

Surprisingly, this error 8001050F does not happen in the new PS3 Slim, but just in the big, original PlayStation 3 models.

So the error 8001050F in PlayStation 3 is probably making most Sony engineers work agains the clock, as the error is already reported in its official website as being currently fixed.

Error 8001050F at PSN and PS3 trophies, but not at PS3 Slim

This weird PS3 error has nothing to do with the overall network connectivity of the PS3 system, because it happens even when the PlayStation has a working Internet connection. Nevertheless, the error 8001050F prevents from logging in to PlayStation Network (PSN).

But the worst part of error 8001050F is that it doesn't allow to play some PS3 games which could have some kind of DRM or trophies data sync. The PS system will display a message such as "trophy load failed - reboot system". But rebooting your PlayStation 3 won't fix the problem.

Error 8001050F is not solved rebooting PS3 or restarting games

In any case, it is important to warn PlayStation 3 users that such kind of error message about a wrong trophy data load, or trophies out of sync, won't be fixed rebooting the PlayStation system. Restarting games does not fix this this error either.

So the best course of action is to keep as they are the current saved data, as well as any other configuration data stored in the PS3 till Sony finds a patch for this error 8001050F, as well as its related PSN, trophy and game related problems.

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Posted by ESV