TABLE OF CONTENTS In order to better understand the implications of some of the items in the standard, this chapter will provide a bit of additional technical background. The material presented here cannot be considered to be complete, however. The selection of topics is based on many discussions and conversations about MPEG-4 with business-oriented professionals throughout recent years.
Digitizing analog video signals expands physical bandwidth requirements. Physical transmission bandwidth or storage capacity is a natural resource that is scarce and thus expensive. This is where compression of digital data comes into play to make transmission and storage of digital data economically feasible (Watkinson, 2000a [1], 2000b [2]).
Compression techniques have already been used during the age of analog audio and video as a way to achieve bandwidth reduction and to save cost and natural resources. For example, it takes about 10 times as much data for the digital represtentation of a linear- light progressive scan RGB (Red-Green-Blue) picture, when compared to the representation of the same visual impression as a gamma-corrected interlaced composite video. This fact can also be expressed in that a linear-light progressive scan RGB picture can be represented by the gamma-coded interlaced composite video with a compression factor of 10:1. While the first format is delivered natively by a camera during the course of a movie production, the second is used in television and other forms of entertainment video.
Composite video systems such as the analog domain TV standards PAL,...
