Warner Bros. Entertainment has partnered with HEVC Advance to become both a Licensor and Licensee of the HEVC/H.265 Patent Pool, giving Warner Bros. access to H.265 technology through HEVC Advance, but also allowing the studio/distributor to contribute their own patents for license.
As a Licensor, Warner Bros. will make its patents available through the pool which provides a transparent program for HEVC/H.265 essential patents. And as a Licensee, Warner Bros. will gain access to patents related to the HEVC/H.265 video compression standard used for 4k content on disc and in digital formats.
Warner Bros. currently has just over a half dozen titles on Ultra HD Blu-ray, and plans to release at least twenty five more on the disc format by the end of the year. In the digital space, the distributor announced at least fifty 4K UHD movies will be available through third-party distributors by the end of 2016.
“We are pleased to continue our history of market leadership by making UHD technology available in our products,” said Warner Bros. Technology Solutions Executive Vice President and General Manager, Vicky Colf.
“We are excited that Warner Bros. has chosen to lead in bringing UHD technology to the marketplace as well as supporting our efforts at HEVC Advance to facilitate the efficient licensing of the HEVC/H.265 IP that makes UHD technology possible,” said HEVC Advance CEO, Peter Moller.
Moller added, “Having the support of a major studio like Warner Bros. will help eliminate HEVC/H.265 IP barriers and greatly accelerate UHD adoption.”