Patents are very appreciated when you have some to get paid for by others; but when you get in the risk to have to pay for a competitive patent holder pool ... then you may suddenly realize how useful the development of patent free software may be.

.:|:.:|:.
Cisco (LAN/WAN solutions developer) decided to develop another free video codec called "Thor". The source code is publicly available (and some of their ideas have been used in Xiph Daala already); a Win64 build as well.

I made a few tests ... and, well, cannot recommend it yet. But not regarding the quality: Its efficiency is already impressive – if you are patient enough: 2 seconds per frame with default options, 3 frames per minute with "high efficiency" sample options, processing 720p YUV 4:2:0 test material on a good old Phenom-II X4.

But give it some time. At the moment it is merely a "proof of concept", but this proof is valid, IMHO. Optimization will make it usable later.