VLC With Jean-Baptiste Kempf – The FOSS Pod
If you're reading this, odds are good you've used VLC before. The most capable video player out there got its start in surprising ways, and on this ep we're joined by project founder Jean-Baptiste Kempf to talk about both VLC's origins and everything else, from '90s MPEG2 decoder hardware to the French Minitel system, the state of modern DRM and upcoming video codecs, VideoLAN's business model, friction with Apple on the App Store, and plenty more.The FOSS Pod is brought to you by Google Open Source. Find out more at https://opensource.google
- 0:05:50 History of VLC
- 0:19:10 Bundled codecs instead of codec packs / system codecs on Windows and MacOS
- 0:22:10 Managing the legal aspect of the project, including thoughts on software patents, prior art, DRM:
- “DRM is not a tool to block piracy”
- “DVD DRM so easy to break“
- “There are 4 DRM system on a Blu-Ray”
- “Blu-Ray has killed their format with DRM”
- “companies like Dolby are bullshitting“
- “IP lawyers just try scare you into paying”
- 0:35:44 Licensing free codecs like AV1 and VP9
- “VP9 is a failure”
- “AV1 has a decent chance”
- “HEVC is a complete failure”
- dav1d
- 0:39:30 Progress on VLC 4.0
- Technical dept
- “VMLC is dead”
- 0:44:40 On open source software, web sites and business models and app stores
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