The MPEG group already has a name for the next generation video coding: HVC (High performance Video Coding). Small detail: the technology is not specified yet. Actually the group is currently collecting evidence HVC can indeed be developped.
| Long history
The ISO/IEC JTC MPEG Group has a long history of development of video and audio compression standards. The MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) story began in 1989 with the development of the first DCT-based compression system MPEG1 Video, and in the early 1990s with the three-layered MPEG1 Audio (MPEG1 Audio, Layer 2 is still used in DAB, and what is now called MP3 is a short form name of MPEG1 Audio, Level 3). VCDs are still found in some parts of the world, which use MPEG1 video compression.
Contributions welcome
|  Video format and compression demo. |
There followed major steps in efficiency improvement periodically. For Video is was MPEG2, MPEG4part2, and MPEG4 AVC. Each of these emerged from the locked rooms of the MPEG group every 6-9 years, largely when Moore's law allows a serious step forward is decoder sophistication in consumer equipment. According to the periodic time line, we are close to the start of the development of a new compression technology, MPEGn video. In fact, the MPEG group have already a better name for it: HVC, or High Performance Video Coding. A first stage is to establish the video formats it should compress, and the process of examining test material has begun. Check these details if you would like to contribute.
The same for half?
One of the facets of the discussion will be 'how much improvement is needed to make a new compression technology worthwhile?' Looking at history, it seems that the world may want something like the same quality for half the bit rate if it is to make the change from MPEG4 AVC. The question of if and how this can be achieved will be one of the most fascinating technical questions for the next two to three years.