Disabling HEVC Support: A Costly Decision for OEMs
In a striking move, major Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), including HP and Dell, have opted to disable hardware-based support for the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) codec in their laptops and desktops. This decision comes amidst rising costs associated with the international video compression standard, set to increase in January. The licensing administrator, Access Advance, announced in July that royalty rates for HEVC will see a notable rise. According to the VIA Licensing Alliance, rates for manufacturers producing over 100,001 units will jump from $0.20 to $0.24 per unit in the United States.
To contextualize these numbers, in Q3 2025, HP sold approximately 15,002,000 laptops and desktops, while Dell followed closely with about 10,166,000 units, as reported by Gartner.
Industry Changes and Consequences
Notably, last year, NAS company Synology also made headlines by ceasing support for HEVC, H.264/AVC, and VCI transcoding on its DiskStation Manager and BeeStation OS platforms. The rationale was straightforward: “Support for video codecs is widespread on end devices, such as smartphones, tablets, computers, and smart TVs,” Synology stated.
With this update, Synology aimed to reduce unnecessary resource usage on its servers and significantly enhance media processing efficiency. The optimization, they emphasized, is particularly effective in environments with high user traffic compared to conventional server-side processing.
The User Experience Impact
As the costs and complications associated with HEVC licenses continue to grow, the ramifications of disabling widely-utilized features could lead to considerable confusion and frustration for users. A Redditor expressed a shared sentiment, saying, “This is pretty ridiculous, given these systems are $800+ a machine, are part of a ‘Pro’ line (jabs at branding names are warranted – HEVC is used professionally), and more applications these days outside of Netflix and streaming TV are getting around to adopting HEVC.”
The shift away from HEVC support is indicative of the larger challenges facing the tech industry, where licensing fees and evolving standards create an intricate web of compliance and user-centered design. As consumers increasingly rely on high-quality video formats, understanding these changes is vital for making informed purchasing decisions.
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Image Credit: arstechnica.com
