Google no longer wants to be dependent on Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos and has a plan to create alternative standards on HDR and 3D audio content.
Android, Youtube, Chrome. Google is at the helm of this operating system, this video streaming service and this web browser, all three of which are widely used around the world. Therefore, we understand that the content broadcast through these platforms is a major challenge for the Mountain View firm. The Californian giant therefore wishes to have free rein to carry out its strategies and be able to freely choose the technologies to be exploited.
With this in mind, Google is preparing a plan called “Project Caviar” internally to no longer depend so much on the video and audio standards Dobly Vision and Dolby Atmos. That’s what the media say Protocol. The web giant wants to create royalty-free alternatives. Why ? Basically, to pay less money on HDR and 3D audio content.
Dolby’s business model
You should know that content, hardware or service claiming to be compatible with Dolby Vison for HDR or Dolby Atmos for 3D audio, must pay a certain amount of money to Dolby. The investment is normally worth it since it makes it possible to seduce the public with the promise of a quality of viewing and listening worthy of the cinema. It’s not for nothing that these standards have made their way to SVoD platforms.
To give an idea of the sums involved, Protocol cites a document provided by an industry source. This states that when a manufacturer sells a media box for $50, two dollars are paid to Dolby. The alternatives that Google dreams of would not require such transactions.
Indeed, the Mountain View company wants to rely on the Alliance for Open Media (AOM), a consortium made up of tech giants such as Amazon, Microsoft, Samsung or Nvidia to name a few. Google is also a founding member.
Google, AV1 and AOM
Moreover, it is precisely with the support of the AOM that Google has greatly pushed the AV1 video codec on Android, Chrome and YouTube. It even forced its integration on Android TV products. The AV1 codec is designed to make online video streaming more efficient without affecting quality. Above all AV1 is open source and royalty free. The promise is therefore to allowMore screens display vivid images, deeper colors, brighter highlights, darker shadows“.
This video codec is likely to be used more and more in the industry. Netflix (member of the AOM) notably believes in AV1 and has adopted it for its service. Google therefore wants to reiterate this strategy, but this time to attack Dolby.
Besides, the AOM has already laid some foundations and has already published the characteristics of an “Immersive Audio Container”: a “codec-independent audio bitstream format for providing three-dimensional sound fields that can be used for multi-channel audio playback“. That’s for the alternative to Dolby Atmos. To counter Dolby Vision, Google and AOM want to push the HDR10+ standard. This was initially concocted by Samsung, but suffers from a lack of compatible content.
A difficult battle
Thus, within the framework of Google’s “Project Caviar”, there would be no need to develop new codecs. The firm and its allies can rely on already existing elements. However, the battle is far from won. Vision and Atmos are two very strong Dolby brands that have built a solid reputation in the industry.
Google and the other members of the AOM may be powerful, but it will not be easy to impose a new standard capable of shaking Dolby.
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