[foms] W3C activities on HTTP adaptive streaming - Inform and ask opinion.

[Francois Daoust]

On 12/02/2010 11:07 AM, Raphaël Troncy wrote:
>> are you saying that the W3C is considering starting a WG for adaptive
>> HTTP streaming?
>
> This has indeed been discussed during last TPAC (last month). I'm cc-ing
> François Daoust, staff contact in W3C, that might lead this activity.

"Starting a WG for adaptive HTTP streaming" is too positive a statement at this point. We make the same analysis as others, in other words: it is important for the success of video on the Web (through the <video> tag), there are different proprietary solutions out there, different standardization organizations that also work on the topic, but no royalty-free solution in sight.

HTTP adaptive streaming can be addressed at the application level through the definition of a manifest file format, or at the network level through improvements to HTTP. W3C would welcome the work on a manifest file format and its associated processing model, provided there is enough support from its members involved in the field. People are, I think, looking for convergence towards a common open solution much more than for the creation of yet another standard, which is fine.

This got discussed a bit at TPAC, and keeps coming up in discussions. We put our members in touch when they show interest in HTTP adaptive streaming. As of today, there is no concrete proposal within W3C to start standardization work, or public threads on the topic I could point you at.

I encourage people to bring this topic to the upcoming Web and TV workshop in Berlin in February:
  http://www.w3.org/2010/11/web-and-tv/
(the topic is of particular relevance for TVs because of constraints such devices have in terms of the number of technologies they can integrate).

This could also be discussed within the upcoming Web and TV Interest Group (for clarity, note an "Interest Group" cannot develop rec-track specifications), once created. Mailing-list is public-web-and-tv at w3.org, archived at:
  http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-web-and-tv/


>> If that is the case, I would very much think that the
>> discussion and conclusions that we have come up with here would be
>> well placed as input into that WG. I believe Jeroen, who has very much
>> taken the lead in pulling all the information together here, may even
>> have some very good draft proposals as starting points.
>
> +1!

If something gets started, the possibility to use existing works as starting point would be extremely useful, indeed. Raphael had pointed me to the FOMS workshop where this got discussed.

Francois.