Dynamic activation of H264

[aligre]

Hi

we use CEF in a big application in which there are a hundred different uses.
One of these uses would like to be able to play videos in H264 format.
If we build CEF in H264 mode, because of its licensing rules, we would have to pay the licensing costs
for all our CEF integrations while only one would use it: this is not possible for us.

So the question is: would it be possible to enable/disable H264 dynamically on a CEF which was built with H264?
I understand that the answer is currently no : viewtopic.php?f=10&t=16782#p45587

but is it possible to make a development that would unlock this point or has someone already solved a similar problem?

[magreenblatt]

You cannot distribute binaries containing proprietary codecs support without potentially being subject to licensing. It does not matter if the functionality is dynamically enabled or disabled.

[aligre]

Yes, we know we'll have to pay for H264 licensing.

The goal is to block H264 for most of our applications and authorize it for only one.
With that, we'll be able to declare to H264 owners (MPEG LA, FFMPEG, ...) the right number of customers of H264, i.e. the ones who have purchased our single application that uses H264.
If we're not able to block H264, we would take a risk to not know which cases use H264 and then not declare the right numbers.

Then, we would like to block or allow dynamically usage of H264

[magreenblatt]

Have you talked to MPEG LA about whether that would be acceptable to them?

[aligre]

You're right, i've maybe answered to you too quickly.
I'm currently in touch with our company team that manages contract and licenses with other companies.
They'll check in our current contract with MPEG LA if presence of H264 code in our binaries is a criteria to pay some licensing fees.
Thanks

[aligre]

Hello Marshall

Our legal has taken the time to check deeply our contract with VIA Licensing Alliance.
They've confirmed me the contract contains a clause that takes into acccount the dynamical disabling of H264/H265.
In other word, a customer launching a CEF instance, built with H26x activated but strongly blocked by code, won't have to pay royalties to VIA Licensing Alliance

So the initial question comes back :
is it currently possible to dynamically block/allow H26x in CEF ?
If the answer is no, what I'm quite sure, is it feasible to developp such feature ?

Regards, Julien

[magreenblatt]

is it currently possible to dynamically block/allow H26x in CEF ?
If the answer is no, what I'm quite sure, is it feasible to developp such feature ?

It is not current possible. It may be possible to develop. See https://github.com/chromiumembedded/cef/issues/3559 which has some related details.

[aligre]

Hi

It is not current possible. It may be possible to develop.

I've been looking for ways to develop this without any success. Do you have any ideas on how to do this?

See https://github.com/chromiumembedded/cef/issues/3559 which has some related details.

Very interesting, if this issue were delivered, it could actually satisfy our needs.
From the last two comments in this link, I understand that there are some blocking points in the chromium code.
Is there any information if they will be processed in the future (but not too far... ) ?

Thanks