China to say goodbye to H.264?

China Telecom is planning to run field trials of a domestic codec called AVS, which is a competitor with H.264. The trials are set to begin in Shanghai, which is the largest IPTV submarket in the country. The size of the trial has yet to be disclosed, but if China Telecom decided to standardize its entire offering on AVS, the H.264 gear makers would miss out on a huge opportunity in the emerging market.

For more on China's AVS trial:
- see this blurb from IndiaTelevision