I have some questions about video in general.

[paddlepop]

Hello all. I'm trying to learn a bit more about video, but there are some details I'm still not clear on. If someone could clarify a few of these things for me, it'd be appreciated.

1. H.264 and x264 -- what's the correct terminology? x264 makes H.264 videos, so do I say H.264 is the video format and x264 (or MainConcept H.264, etc) the codec? But x264 doesn't de-compress it, so... is H.264 the codec, and x264/MainConcept/etc the encoder? I'm a little unclear on the correct usage of the terms here. Likewise, Xvid and Divx -- they're codecs that compress, and decompress, videos in the ASP format, right? As best I can figure, H.264 and ASP are the video formats/standards, while Xvid and Divx are compressor-decompressors (there is Xvid software for each function) while x264 is just a compressor, I guess making CoreAVC/ffdshow/etc the decompressor part. Am I correct?

2. Where can I read about exactly what happens when I take, say, 24fps videos and make them 30fps, or perform other framerate conversions? I mean, I assume it's just duplicating or throwing away frames to get to the desired rate, but I'd like to know exactly what's going on, how it chooses which frames to throw away, etc. Actually, does anyone have any book recommendations for digital video that explains some of these things? I'm also curious about the mechanics of deinterlacing.

3. When is HEVC expected to "come out", and what happens then? The folks working on it publish details or code, and then it's up to software authors to look at those details and add support to it to their programs? The "final draft international standard" is planned for January 2013, but how long does it take after that before you and I can actually use HEVC? It looks like H.264 was formally approved in 2003 -- how long did it take before that got some support and popularity, both casually (Youtube, VLC, etc) and professionally (cameras, NLEs, etc)? Bonus question: will Matroska need an update to support HEVC video? I have to assume it won't, but I don't really know.

[pandy]

1. H.264 is a CODEC (and also video coding/decoding standard), x264 is H.264 encoder.

2. Not sure is there any detailed publication that focus only on frame rate conversion - perhaps "Video Demystified" by Keith Jack - on google book or amazon some fragment are available if its OK then for beginning should be OK.

3. H.265 - IMHO industry needs approx 5 - 10 years, H.264 is not yet widely spread as it should be.

Bonus answer - if Matroska is well designed then it doesn't need any change to support H.265 - but if H.265 support require changes in container description then my advise is not use Matroska at all.

[Hoser Rob]

If you want video tools that support h.265 in the near future be prepared to pay for them. Probably pay handsomely. You'd be looking at pro level stuff.

One of the problems with free software is that it takes the developers much longer to adopt new standards in general. Like pandy said, matroska still isn't really well supported.

[edDV]

2. Where can I read about exactly what happens when I take, say, 24fps videos and make them 30fps, or perform other framerate conversions? I mean, I assume it's just duplicating or throwing away frames to get to the desired rate, but I'd like to know exactly what's going on, how it chooses which frames to throw away, etc. Actually, does anyone have any book recommendations for digital video that explains some of these things? I'm also curious about the mechanics of deinterlacing.

Simple frame dups result in choppy playback. Typically, field repeats are used to reduce "judder".

Start with Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinterlacing