The MXF Book
Written by a top team of industry professionals, this must-have guide introduces and explains the MXF standard, helps engineers write MXF applications, and explains the reasons behind many details of the specification documents.
TABLE OF CONTENTS The MXF Book
Chapter 1: Introduction and Scene Setting
Jim Wilkinson
This chapter will start with the ground-breaking work of the EBU/SMPTE Task Force that originally recognized the need for a standardized file format for TV program production and program exchange, since there was nothing suitable at the time (around 1996). Most file formats in use at the start of the Task Force work were either raw essence streams or proprietary formats.
Where Did It All Begin?
The EBU/SMPTE Task Force (with the full title of EBU/SMPTE Task Force for Harmonized Standards for the Exchange of Programme Material as Bitstreams ) started as an informal meeting of EBU and SMPTE members at IBC in Amsterdam in September, 1996. The first formal meeting took place in November, 1996, at the EBU headquarters in Geneva. Meetings were then held at regular and frequent intervals until the summer of 1998.
The Task Force produced a first report of User Requirements in April, 1997, then a Final Report in September, 1998. These reports are available via the SMPTE web site on the page: http://www.smpte. org/engineering committees .
The work of the Task Force was used to rearrange the SMPTE committee structure, and much of the work in SMPTE is now geared toward implementing the ideas described in the Task Force Final Report. In particular, SMPTE developed the Content Package and the Unique Material Identifier (UMID), both of which are cornerstones of the MXF specification.
The Mission
The mission of the Task Force was to study the new technologies relating to networking and...
Copyright Elsevier Inc. 2006 under license agreement with Books24x7
