re: H264

Not all standards bodies require RAND terms, and not all RAND terms are 'reasonable' for individuals. You have to look into each standard and then to the assigned licensing agencies and what they charge for.

In the case of H264, the patent pool is licensed by MPEG-LA, and they're anything but free.

Here's the overview of the broadcast licensing terms:

http://www.streamingmedia.com/article.asp?id=10900

more data about licensing can also be found in the Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC