I love the BBC -- first off, ever the ones to put a few pennies into real research, they bring to proof a new video compression method so ultra-advanced it rivals the lock-in codec foisted by the world's largest budget, and state of the art so much it has roots in quantum physics. If that weren't enough, next they turn around and release the code ... under a free software license

And why would they do that? Because, says the BBC, they want this thing to go places ...

"A lot remains to be done to convert our promising algorithm and experimental implementation into practical useable code. This includes optimization so that it can decode in real time. Algorithmic enhancements are needed to improve the compression performance still further. The resulting codec needs to be integrated with other parts of a compression system such as players, and interfaced using standard IO formats."

and to do all that, the shortest path is the one with the most load-bearing feet.

[ Source: BBC develops 'alternative' codec ]