1. To the Post above on VP8 better then x264. Comparing a single frame, single video, single....? isn't very detail. VP8 has improved A LOT!. That is true. But as far as i am concern and many other video encoder it is also true that it hasn't match x264 yet.
2. VP9 is great! It has matched and in many case even exceed x264 quality. Although there would still be areas where x264 perform better simply because it is much more mature.
3. So given more time VP9 will very likely beat x264 quality. It is only with 10% range of HEVC / h.265 JM, under benchmarks. So it will very likely beat that too.
4. Do bare in mind JM is reference encoder. So it does not in anyway show the full potential of h.265 as a codec. While VP9 is itself the standard and the best encoder available. If you look at the difference between h.264 JM and x264. I will argue it is very likely x265 ( If DS decide to do it ) will still be better then VP9.
5. Daala... as much as i love Mozilla, knowing their pace of work and Daala's current condition, expect it to compete with h.266 or VP10.
6. Patents are not evil. Patents Trolls are.