Startup vows to improve video compression codecs

Startup Advanced Digital Compression Squared (ADC2) Technologies is taking the wraps off of a technology advancement in video compression that it claims can compress high-definition video more than five times better than existing codecs, including those in MPEG-4.

After more than 10 years working on the technology, CEO and CTO Angel DeCegama, an engineering professor in Boston, founded ADC2 to focus specifically on HD video compression. He demonstrated the technology at last week’s Supercomm conference with video streamed from Akamai Technologies, where it was stored in Cambridge, Mass. The compression is accomplished with no change to the initial codec itself and without any perceptible loss of video quality compared to that produced by the codec, DeCegama said. The end result is HD 1080p video delivered over the Internet in real-time through either a wireless or wired connection of less than 0.75 Mbps bandwidth.

Companies like YouTube, for example, spend upwards of $800 million on video storing and transmission, but ADC2’s technology can save them 80% of that, DeCegama said. The startup is targeting traditional video distribution companies, as well as a host of verticals in which video compression is central to the business. DeCegama said the biggest opportunities lie in video conferencing, telemedicine and a growing opportunity in distance learning.

DeCegama has attempted a startup before in the form of TrueLight Technologies, shut down in 2008. He said that the company had video compression technology “clearly superior to any of the standard codecs,” but it was disruptive, serving as a replacement to the standard codecs. “Of course, the standard codecs won when the original investors gave up the fight,” he said. Based on his experiences with TrueLight, DeCegama realized he had to create a technology that doesn’t compete with any standard codecs, but makes them perform better. He patented a technology in the summer that he said can do just that, as well as lower bandwidth requirements and double – or even quadruple – the number of customers a service provider can provide on its current infrastructure. He is just beginning to demonstrate its capabilities at the fall’s trade shows.

“We can save companies money on video transcoding and transmission,” DeCegama said of the ADC2’s ultimate goal. “We can work with standard codecs and take anyone’s content and make it better...It’s not a threatening technology.”