TABLE OF CONTENTS The field of video transport is constantly evolving. As new technologies emerge, they are put to work in transporting video signals. This has been true for radio, coaxial cable, microwave, satellite, and optical fiber, and will also be true for the Internet Protocol, or IP. This latest step in the path of evolution may be the most important yet, because IP allows so many different types of video, audio, and data formats to be transported economically to any corner of the globe.
Several recent technology trends have combined to make video transport over IP networks useful for a wide variety of applications today.
Transition to Digital Video: Video production has almost completely migrated from analog to digital technology during the past 20 years, and today even reaches into the home with digital camcorders, digital television displays, and digital broadcasts from terrestrial, satellite, and cable television providers. One result of this change is that video signals no longer need to be transported on specialized analog networks but can now take advantage of the wide range of digital technologies that are available.
Advances in Video Compression: Compression technology has rapidly evolved from the first MPEG-1 standard in 1991 to today's Advanced Video Codec for MPEG-4 and the latest Windows Media codec, both of which have been made public in the past two years. Compression means that acceptable video signals can be sent over networks with limited capacity, including those that serve many households and most businesses around the world.
