GoPro turns to HEVC compression for Hero 6 Black, same codec used by Apple in iOS 11 and m...
Briefly mentioned during Thursday's GoPro launch event, the new Hero 6 Black with GP1 chip compresses ultra high-resolution video into manageable chunks of data using High Efficiency Video Coding, the same standard adopted by Apple in its latest operating systems.
According to GoPro, the company's decision to build in support for HEVC, also known as H.265, came well before Apple announced it, too, was throwing weight behind the next-generation standard.
Announced at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Apple initially promised HEVC support for macOS High Sierra, including hardware acceleration on select Mac models including the late-2015 27-inch iMac, early-2016 MacBook and MacBook Pro models manufactured in 2016 and beyond. The company later confirmed iOS 11 would bring the codec to compatible mobile devices.
For GoPro, the decision to incorporate H.265 support is in response to new high bitrate shooting modes added to 6 Black's arsenal. Video shot in 4K at 60fps or 2.7K at 120fps, for example, generate unamanageable files in H.264, so the firm sought a more efficient alternative.
In our early testing, we found HEVC to be incredibly effective. A 12-second clip shot in 4K at 60fps with a "wide" aspect ratio came in at 99 MB, while a clip of equal length shot in 2.7K at 60fps -- a carryover resolution from Hero 5 Black, encoded in H.264 -- weighed in at 96MB.
Looking at the nuts and bolts behind GoPro's HEVC implementation, the 6 Black and accompanying GoPro app default to the device's base video encoding scheme when transferring files over to a smartphone. For iPhone users, that means large HEVC files are supported natively -- no transcoding is involved.
Native support equates to decreased file sizes -- up to 40 percent smaller than H.264 -- smooth playback and higher quality images. Also important for action cam enthusiasts is enhanced motion compensation for fast-moving scenes, a feature that comes in handy when recording at 6 Black's maximum 4K resolution at 60fps.
GoPro representatives we spoke with said iPhone 8 (and likely iPhone X, though that handset has yet to see release) is the pinnacle of HEVC viewing thanks to Apple's A11 Bionic system-on-chip. Like contemporary desktop silicon, such as sixth-generation Intel Core processors powering recent Macs, the A11 Bionic integrates hardware acceleration for H.265 encoding and decoding operations.
The A10 Fusion chip in iPhone 7 also integrates a flavor of HEVC hardware acceleration, while A9 SoCs and below rely on software to get the job done. That doesn't mean an iPhone 6s will struggle with HEVC video pulled from a Hero 6 Black, but content might take longer to process and render.
Looking ahead, GoPro is likely to expand HEVC integration in future products, especially now that major industry entities like Apple are throwing weight behind the codec.
Interestingly, GoPro's upcoming Fusion, a dual-lens device capable of 5.2K spherical video capture, does not rely on HEVC to compress its expectedly large files. Instead, that device uses the current H.264 standard, just like the Hero 5 Black and Hero 5 Session. A probable explanation is that Fusion does not GP1, suggesting
With its in-house designed GP1 chip, introduced alongside Hero 6 Black, GoPro has a distinct advantage over other action camera makers seeking to include dedicated hardware acceleration for the codec in their respective products.
According to GoPro, the company's decision to build in support for HEVC, also known as H.265, came well before Apple announced it, too, was throwing weight behind the next-generation standard.
Announced at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Apple initially promised HEVC support for macOS High Sierra, including hardware acceleration on select Mac models including the late-2015 27-inch iMac, early-2016 MacBook and MacBook Pro models manufactured in 2016 and beyond. The company later confirmed iOS 11 would bring the codec to compatible mobile devices.
For GoPro, the decision to incorporate H.265 support is in response to new high bitrate shooting modes added to 6 Black's arsenal. Video shot in 4K at 60fps or 2.7K at 120fps, for example, generate unamanageable files in H.264, so the firm sought a more efficient alternative.
In our early testing, we found HEVC to be incredibly effective. A 12-second clip shot in 4K at 60fps with a "wide" aspect ratio came in at 99 MB, while a clip of equal length shot in 2.7K at 60fps -- a carryover resolution from Hero 5 Black, encoded in H.264 -- weighed in at 96MB.
Looking at the nuts and bolts behind GoPro's HEVC implementation, the 6 Black and accompanying GoPro app default to the device's base video encoding scheme when transferring files over to a smartphone. For iPhone users, that means large HEVC files are supported natively -- no transcoding is involved.
Native support equates to decreased file sizes -- up to 40 percent smaller than H.264 -- smooth playback and higher quality images. Also important for action cam enthusiasts is enhanced motion compensation for fast-moving scenes, a feature that comes in handy when recording at 6 Black's maximum 4K resolution at 60fps.
GoPro representatives we spoke with said iPhone 8 (and likely iPhone X, though that handset has yet to see release) is the pinnacle of HEVC viewing thanks to Apple's A11 Bionic system-on-chip. Like contemporary desktop silicon, such as sixth-generation Intel Core processors powering recent Macs, the A11 Bionic integrates hardware acceleration for H.265 encoding and decoding operations.
The A10 Fusion chip in iPhone 7 also integrates a flavor of HEVC hardware acceleration, while A9 SoCs and below rely on software to get the job done. That doesn't mean an iPhone 6s will struggle with HEVC video pulled from a Hero 6 Black, but content might take longer to process and render.
Looking ahead, GoPro is likely to expand HEVC integration in future products, especially now that major industry entities like Apple are throwing weight behind the codec.
Interestingly, GoPro's upcoming Fusion, a dual-lens device capable of 5.2K spherical video capture, does not rely on HEVC to compress its expectedly large files. Instead, that device uses the current H.264 standard, just like the Hero 5 Black and Hero 5 Session. A probable explanation is that Fusion does not GP1, suggesting
With its in-house designed GP1 chip, introduced alongside Hero 6 Black, GoPro has a distinct advantage over other action camera makers seeking to include dedicated hardware acceleration for the codec in their respective products.
Comments
Only newer Macs and iPhones will be configured to record using HEVC.
https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2017/503/
https://devstreaming-cdn.apple.com/videos/wwdc/2017/503i6plfvfi7o3222/503/503_introducing_heif_and_hevc.pdf
Glad to see this. Another nail in the VP9 coffin.
Why would developers pay?
Honest question now: Why is an open royalty free codec with wide-ranging support from some of the biggest players in tech so threatening to some of you?
Apple can't be making THAT much in h.265 royalties, not enough to make any difference to them. VP9 ( and the next gen VC1) is also the only one of the two where the royalty costs are assured. The fees associated with licensing h.265 are still not clear despite what some here repeatedly imply. It's not even certain that content providers, and yes that includes at least big developers, will not be subject to royalty demands at some point. One of the standards bodies has said that is something that will be evaluated going forward.
VP9 has some benefits over HVEC for streaming, but not enough to make a difference to the user. If Google doesn't want to deliver YouTube via h.265, then, there will be an adjustment by somebody at some point.
Either way, everyone will be happy at the next iteration, since MPEG LA won't likely be at the party.
Comparing it to Flash?? That's just the type of FUD, vague IP implications, implied support and security issues, and veiled threats coming from the HVEC camp. Surprised you've embraced it.
IMO having a competing alternative is all that's kept 3 of the 4 different standards bodies (so far!) claiming to have a piece of the pie honest. Technicolor bolted for good reasons. You should read why.
Because it's from Google. A dishonest company whose only concern is mining data and serving ads while pretending to give things away for free.
The simple answer is that Google wants control.
You can get acceleration if your graphics card supports hardware acceleration for video in HEVC, too. Some of the Apple laptops and phones of the last few years have had that kind of acceleration in their chipsets, but owners have not been able to take advantage because Apple did not have drivers that supported use of that functionality until now. In a computer this is less of an issue because it is easier to install third-party players and the machine itself is more powerful. but on mobile devices and STBs like the AppleTV, the successful playback of HD content is more dependent on the hardware having on-chip features to handle those specific tasks better (hardware acceleration), because as a general computing device these products are simply not as powerful as a full-fledged computer (if they were, they would have higher power and cooling requirements).
No worries. I think some of the ones who wanted to make this about Google instead of GoPro have realized that h.265 is not the simple, straightforward standard with well-defined royalties they were presenting it as. Velos Media is just the most recent screw in the tire, and one that EricTheHalfBee nor any other other promoter of it will talk about. I would not be surprised to see others along the highway either http://velosmedia.com/technology/q-and-a/
Having lost the high ground it's now devolved into "Oh Yeah? Well I hate Google" and no amount of cajoling, rational argument, or fact-finding is likely gonna change a hater's stripes. FWIW the nex-gen replacement for VP9 is AV1 coming from the Alliance for Open Media which is no longer a "it's just Google" project. Founding member companies in charge of development: Amazon, ARM, Cisco, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, Netflix and NVIDIA. Lots of others on board since then.
http://aomedia.org/
Back to GoPro one of the more interesting tidbits I read in the AI article is that the upcoming Fusion models won't use h.265 but instead the older and better supported h.264. I would have liked reading the author's expanded opinion for it but that particular thought was inadvertently clipped from the article.