email from Avid:

Hello Sebastian,

We’re happy to hear that your codec of choice is Avid DNxHD. We would like to license you for the Avid DNxHD codec, however the use case you propose is not typical. Avid DNxHD is intended for commercial use. How would you record the royalties due if the intended product, AXIOM is open source?

The Avid source code found on our website is for End User use only. This is not intended for commercial use or distribution.

VC-3-

Is an open source codec

A patent license is required for use of VC-3 as it falls under the DNxHD patents. The patent license grants you the right to use and even distribute the technology but, in no way can you reference the technology in the product as Avid, Avid DNxHD, DNX, etc. when it is from an open source. The use of VC-3 falls under the same schedule of royalty reporting under the patent license. In order to market your product as DNxHD from VC-3, Avid would need to test the product and a $10,000 fee for testing would be applied.

-a subset of DNxHD; Does not meet all SMPTE requirements

-Unsupported; as is codec

Avid DNxHD-

Any product that incorporates the Avid supplied DNxHD codec will have the most optimized level of the codec, which is why we urge third-parties to do so. The Avid Unified license grants the right to distribute and refer to the product as Avid DNxHD. There is no testing requirement when using the DNxHD codec. Marketing rights, for use of the DNxHD logo is included.

-Meets SMPTE standards

-Market recognition

-Provided updates and support

Any ffmpeg implementation is considered a subset of Avid DNxHD and would be subject to testing verification in addition to the royalties. The information in the link you provided below is inaccurate and is not affiliated with the blog, http://3dcinecast.blogspot.com/ or its owner Olivier Amato, http://www.linkedin.com/in/oamato

(http://www.itbroadcastanddigitalcinema.com/ffmpeg_howto.html#Encoding_VC-3)

VC-3 (aka Avid DNxHD) is a false claim. As explained earlier, VC-3 is a subset of Avid DNxHD and does not comprise of the full optimized codec, therefore cannot be deemed or suggested otherwise.