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Google details what you need to play Stadia games in 4K on the web
Now that you can play Google Stadia games in 4K on the web, you're probably wondering just what you need to see the game streaming service reach its visual potential. The company is happy to help -- although it might be disappointing for some would-be players. It recently posted requirements, and the main demand is a Chromebook or Windows PC that can decode video in Google's preferred VP9 format, a 4K display to match and enough bandwidth to handle the "best visual quality" option. Stadia won't be too picky about the overall power of your computer, then.
Netflix switches to the AV1 codec for data-saving streams on Android
Way back in 2015 Netflix announced it would team up with Amazon, Google, Intel and other companies to develop a royalty-free codecs that worked well on modern devices. Two years ago they revealed the fruits of their labor as the AV1 codec, that promised not only freedom from licensing payments they wanted to avoid, but also a saving of up to 30 percent on the amount of data used to stream 4K HDR video. Now, Netflix has started using AV1 on a "select" set of titles, and only for users on Android who've enabled the "Save Data" feature.
Google Play adds 4K movies to its catalog
When we reviewed the Chromecast Ultra, one of our biggest gripes was the dearth of 4K content to justify it -- not even Google's own movie store had material to watch. The company is fixing that glaring omission, though. As of now, Google Play Movies & TV carrying over 125 4K movies in the American and Canadian stores. You can buy or rent them, and choose from big-name movies like Captain Philips, Star Trek Beyond and The Secret Life of Pets. If you own a Chromecast Ultra, you'll even get a free movie (from a handful of approved selections) as a reward for your early adopter status.
Netflix updated its video encoding to make downloads look better
From time to time, Netflix updates the technology it's using to convert and compress each of the digital copies of movies it streams to customers. Because people watch from so many different platforms, in so many different situations, it has to be ready for any number of possibilities. Late last year, it revealed the use of a smarter way to apply compression, recognizing that different types of content (animation like Bojack Horseman vs. dark action scenes in Daredevil) need different levels of bitrate or resolution to look their best. Now it's focused on enhancing the efficiency of compression, starting with the video it delivers to mobile devices.
Google is working to make 4K video less of a data hog
Ultra HD 4K video is still in its infancy, but there's no doubt the format will become increasingly popular in the next year or two. Huge players like YouTube and Netflix already support it, but delivering such high bandwidth video content remains a challenge. Google's trying to do its part to solve that problem by developing a more efficient video compression codec called VP10. The new codec has been in the works for nearly a year, but the company gave some details about how effective it can be over the VP9 format it'll eventually replace. In an interview with CNET, Google product manager James Bankoski said that VP9 uses half the bandwidth needed to deliver the same quality video as the popular H.264 format -- and with VP10, the company is trying to cut it in half again.
SpaceX's 4K rocket footage is a great excuse for an upgrade
Not sure if you need a new high-res display? The 4K footage SpaceX just posted of its rocket launches might be enough to push any reasonable person over the line. It's on YouTube, predictably, and even if your connection or hardware is merely HD-ready it's still an incredible experience. It's embedded after the break -- press play, expand to full screen and enjoy.
Here's how YouTube is making it easier to watch 4K video
It's one thing to find 4K video, but it's another thing to play it -- the bandwidth needed to play high-quality 4K video could easily crush many home internet connections, let alone your mobile service. YouTube isn't taking that challenge lying down, though. As the service explains, it has been encoding many videos in its newer VP9 format in recent months to make 4K more viable and improve the picture you see. The codec uses as little as half the bandwidth as the H.264 standard you see on many parts of the web, even as it bumps up the image quality by prioritizing sharp features and taking into account fast-moving elements in the footage, like water spray.
Firefox beta brings touch-friendly web browsing to Windows 8
After roughly a year of development, Mozilla has at last released a beta of Firefox for Windows 8. The not-quite-finished browser gives early adopters a full touchscreen interface with finger-friendly elements and gesture support. It also supports Windows 8's window snapping and sharing features. And don't worry if you're running another OS -- there are still a few useful upgrades in the beta for everyone, including newly enabled gamepad support and VP9 video playback. No matter what platform you're running, you'll find both a download and release notes at the source link.
VLC gets one-touch playback controls and a fresh new interface on iOS 7
VLC for iOS just got a much-needed coat of fresh paint. The media player's version 2.2 update has introduced an iOS 7-native interface with its own set of multi-touch playback gestures: you can tap with two fingers to pause a video, and swipes control the brightness, playback position and volume. This is more than just a skin-deep upgrade, though. VLC is now more cloud-savvy with support for Dropbox streaming, HTTP Live Streaming and downloads from Google Drive. The new app handles both lock screen privacy and TV show organization more elegantly than its predecessor, and it plays clips encoded in the more advanced HEVC (H.265) and VP9 formats. All told, there are plenty of reasons for video lovers to swing by the App Store for the upgrade.
YouTube to show off lower-bandwidth 4K streaming at CES
For ultra-HD to truly take off, there needs to be a wealth of native content available -- not just displays -- and according to a GigaOM report, that could happen sooner than expected. Next week at CES, YouTube is demoing new 4K streaming-tech at a handful of major hardware manufacturers' booths, and the first TVs supporting Google's video format should ship by 2015. Don't worry about bandwidth overages though, these streams will run on YouTube's VP9 codec, which uses substantially less data than current formats. The outfit's Francisco Varela said that this royalty-free codec will have benefits outside of his company, as other video providers can use it too. There's even an upside if you don't have a 4K display: The jump to VP9 should drop the amount of data for plain-Jane HD streams by around 50 percent. If you want a peek at VP9 before next year though, Varela expects hardware decoding for it will come to PCs and mobile devices first.
MediaTek launches world's first true octa-core mobile chip, first devices due end of year
Qualcomm's nightmare has finally come true. Earlier today, MediaTek officially introduced the world's first true octa-core mobile processor, MT6592, and the first devices to feature it are expected to arrive as soon as end of year. This 28nm chip packs eight low-power Cortex-A7 cores, and courtesy of the Heterogeneous Multi-Processing use model on top of ARM's big.LITTLE architecture (though it's actually "LITTLE.LITTLE" in this case), all eight cores can operate simultaneously -- at up to between 1.7GHz and 2GHz, depending on the bin. MediaTek pointed that Chrome can already make use of all eight cores, and likewise with some map apps, video players plus multi-window function. According to the company's figures, the MT6592 manages to beat what appears to be the quad-core Snapdragon 800 in benchmarks, power consumption (as low as 40 percent) and temperature. You can see the full detail in this article's gallery.
