Any time that a 'standard' has to be done by the creator to make it work better is not saying much of it as a 'standard'. This speaks volumes that the creator is doing something outside of the bounds of the standard to get it to work better.
I think you misunderstand what "standard" means here...
The
decoder is standardized, not the
encoder.
The decoder then gets implemented in software/hardware and whatever you do with the stream to encode -
nobody cares, as long as it is properly decoded (i.e. complies with the standard), has the best quality and takes least space.
You can't do anything "outside of the bonds" - Broadcom and Sigma chips have to decode the stream!
And they manufacture their chips based on the VC-1 standard (Sigma has as good a relationship with MS as Sony does).
This was true for over 10 years for MPEG-2 and is true for VC-1 and AVC today.
The encoder part is where the companies compete to offer the best implementation.
Of course, Microsoft, having created the codec some 5 years ago, has the most experience here.
But as a standard, VC-1 is as open as MPEG-2 or AVC and more open than DD or DTS in all its variations.
To get a sense what variables the VC-1 codec has, download Zambelli's WMV Power Toy (he's heading the WMV testing team at Microsoft).
I've been using it for over 3 years (as a hobby; encoding satellite hidef). You can never say "I know how it works":
the number of variables in the codec and variations in the source make for an infinite number of possibilities...
Diogen.
EDIT: Sorry, forgot the link
Windows Media Video Tools
According to Ben Wagonneer (he's heading the team that writes the codec), the WMV encoder available
from MS in few different incarnations, is the same as the studios/post-houses use. The workflow is different.
Both, Zambelli and Ben, post on doom9 and AVS.