The Mpeg 4 Book

In this book, two leaders of the MPEG-4 standards community offer an in-depth, targeted guide to the MPEG-4 standard and its use in real, cutting-edge applications. The authors demonstrate how MPEG-4 addresses the rapidly evolving needs of telecommunications, broadcast, interactive, and converged applications more successfully than any previous standard.

The Practical Guide to MPEG 4 offers an up to date introduction to this important interactive and multimedia compression standard (including MPEG-4 Part 10), with real examples and information as to how and where this new technology should be used. All aspects of MPEG-4 that are relevant in today's technical landscape are described in this book, including video and audio creation, production, distribution, reception and consumption environment. This book explains everything you really need to know in jargon-free language: interactive systems, content management, deployment, licensing and business models.

A complete, professional 'bible' on all aspects of audio and video compression using MPEG technology, including the MPEG-4 standard and, in this second edition, H-264. The clarity of explanation and depth of technical detail combine to make this book an essential and definitive reference work. THE MPEG HANDBOOK is both a theoretical and practical treatment of the subject. Fundamental knowledge is provided alongside practical guidance on how to avoid pitfalls and poor quality. The often-neglected issues of reconstructing the signal timebase at the decoder and of synchronizing the signals in a multiplex are treated fully here. Previously titled MPEG-2, the book is frequently revised to cover the latest applications of the technology.

Following on from the successful MPEG-2 standard, MPEG-4 Visual is enabling a new wave of multimedia applications from Internet video streaming to mobile video conferencing. The new H.264 ‘Advanced Video Coding’ standard promises impressive compression performance and is gaining support from developers and manufacturers. The first book to cover H.264 in technical detail, this unique resource takes an application-based approach to the two standards and the coding concepts that underpin them. Presents a practical, step-by-step, guide to the MPEG-4 Visual and H.264 standards for video compression. Introduces the basic concepts of digital video and covers essential background material required for an understanding of both standards. Provides side-by-side performance comparisons of MPEG-4 Visual and H.264 and advice on how to approach and interpret them to ensure conformance. Examines the way that the standards have been shaped and developed, discussing the composition and procedures of the VCEG and MPEG standardisation groups. Focussing on compression tools and profiles for practical multimedia applications, this book ‘decodes’ the standards, enabling developers, researchers, engineers and students to rapidly get to grips with both H.264 and MPEG-4 Visual. Dr Iain Richardson leads the Image Communication Technology research group at the Robert Gordon University in Scotland and is the author of over 40 research papers and two previous books on video compression technology.

MPEG-4 is the multimedia standard for combining interactivity, natural and synthetic digital video, audio and computer-graphics. Typical applications are: internet, video conferencing, mobile videophones, multimedia cooperative work, teleteaching and games. With MPEG-4 the next step from block-based video (ISO/IEC MPEG-1, MPEG-2, CCITT H.261, ITU-T H.263) to arbitrarily-shaped visual objects is taken. This significant step demands a new methodology for system analysis and design to meet the considerably higher flexibility of MPEG-4. Motion estimation is a central part of MPEG-1/2/4 and H.261/H.263 video compression standards and has attracted much attention in research and industry, for the following reasons: it is computationally the most demanding algorithm of a video encoder (about 60-80% of the total computation time), it has a high impact on the visual quality of a video encoder, and it is not standardized, thus being open to competition. Algorithms, Complexity Analysis, and VLSI Architectures for MPEG-4 Motion Estimation covers in detail every single step in the design of a MPEG-1/2/4 or H.261/H.263 compliant video encoder: Fast motion estimation algorithms Complexity analysis tools Detailed complexity analysis of a software implementation of MPEG-4 video Complexity and visual quality analysis of fast motion estimation algorithms within MPEG-4 Design space on motion estimation VLSI architectures Detailed VLSI design examples of (1) a high throughput and (2) a low-power MPEG-4 motion estimator. Algorithms, Complexity Analysis and VLSI Architectures for MPEG-4 Motion Estimation is an important introduction to numerous algorithmic, architectural and system design aspects of the multimedia standard MPEG-4. As such, all researchers, students and practitioners working in image processing, video coding or system and VLSI design will find this book of interest.

The Practical Guide to MPEG 4 offers an up to date introduction to this important interactive and multimedia compression standard (including MPEG-4 Part 10), with real examples and information as to how and where this new technology should be used. All aspects of MPEG-4 that are relevant in today's technical landscape are described in this book, including video and audio creation, production, distribution, reception and consumption environment. This book explains everything you really need to know in jargon-free language: interactive systems, content management, deployment, licensing and business models.

The Practical Guide to MPEG 4 offers an up to date introduction to this important interactive and multimedia compression standard (including MPEG-4 Part 10), with real examples and information as to how and where this new technology should be used. All aspects of MPEG-4 that are relevant in today's technical landscape are described in this book, including video and audio creation, production, distribution, reception and consumption environment. This book explains everything you really need to know in jargon-free language: interactive systems, content management, deployment, licensing and business models.

Understand the MPEG-21 Multimedia Framework, the standard for the creation, delivery and consumption of multimedia. This text is the comprehensive guide to MPEG-21, the technology that provides an open framework for multimedia applications. Whereas previous MPEG standards defined compression techniques, MPEG-21 offers methods for the search, access, storage and Rights protection of content. The MPEG-21 Book offers a complete introduction to standardisation, before proceeding to discuss the vision behind MPEG-21, what ‘Digital Items’ are, how they are adapted and how their contents can be protected. The book provides coverage of the individual parts of the standard to an advanced level, with chapters dedicated to each of the core technologies. The authors describe not only the present situation, but also emerging developments and the relation of MPEG-21 to the other MPEG standards, giving essential insights into the future of MPEG and its impact on multimedia. The MPEG-21 Book: Provides an accessible explanation of the MPEG-21 standards and specifications. Presents a comprehensive overview of the technical issues that MPEG-21 covers, including the foundational Digital Item Declaration, Digital Item Identification, Digital Item Adaptation, and Digital Item Processing. Offers in-depth and up-to-date coverage of Rights Expression Language and Rights Data Dictionary. Provides first detailed treatments of Event Reporting and IPMP Components. Reviews the new MPEG technologies Multimedia Middleware, Multimedia Application Formats (MAFs) and Digital Item Streaming. The MPEG-21 Book will provide an essential resource to researchers, engineers, Internet designers, systems designers, and content providers, creators and distributors in the entertainment and broadcasting industries. Students in communications technology, media technology and multimedia signal processing will also find it an invaluable guide to this cutting-edge technology.