MPEG Technology and its Industrial Role Didier Le Gall, Ph.D ITSCJ November 8 th , 2008

1. MPEG Technology and its Industrial Role Didier Le Gall, Ph.DITSCJ November 8th, 2008

2. A BIT OF HISTORY

3. Looking Back • 1985 • Phone company believed optical fiber would allow the transmission of 4 channels of uncompressed SD video. • NHK started effort at analog HD standard (MUSE) • Laser disc is popular • Camcorder: 8mm or VHS-C ? • CD Digital Audio is a hot new medium • 16 bits PCM audio @44.1 kHz • Audiophiles are not sure they can live with 16 bits

4. Fast Forward 10 years • 1995 • DirecTV starts broadcasting in the US • 200+ channels of MPEG2 compressed video @4.5 Mbps • VCD is surprising success in China • Leverages CD-DA to deliver full motion video @1.5 Mbps to 100 Million people. • US prepares to deploy MPEG-2 for terrestrial HD Broadcast @ 20Mbps • Digital Camcorder DV25 • Only uses Intra compression @25 Mbps

5. What happened? • Digital Video Compression • Rather than Analog • Rather than uncompressed • Because Bandwidth is scarce • In transmission • In storage • In management (switching/ networking) • Compression allowed the use of existing infrastructure in new ways.

6. How did it happen ?

7. MPEG • An Open (Visionary) Organization • A Sound Technical Methodology

8. Open Organization • Inclusive of, but not limited to: • Telecom • Consumer • Broadcast • IT • Thinking out of the box • Delay, Random Access, Formats, … • Generic coding

9. A Sound Technical Methodology • Extensive use of computer simulations • Good representative test sequences • Core experiments • A Value System • Not two solutions to the same problem • A sense of tradeoffs: no dramatic increase in complexity for a small gain • Rely on Team work • No company is bigger than the standard

10. Core experiments • Non Core • Proposer does his work alone with ad hoc trade-offs and publishes results that show inevitably that the new idea is fantastic. [some example] • Core • General description of experiment and external conditions are agreed upon. All experimenters will implement independently the same idea in a predictable environment. Discrepancies are “bugs”.

11. From MPEG1 to MPEG2 • Already by 1989 the results of MPEG-1 were surprisingly good. • While MPEG-1 was targeting Video on CD-ROM at “about” 1.5Mbps, it was clear that the technology was suitable to coding broadcast channels for distribution over digital networks. • This was even suitable for HD… • However, broadcast channels have interlaced content and in 60Hz countries 3:2 pulldown.

12. MPEG-2 • Capability of dealing with Interlaced video • Field coding, Macrobloc Adaptive Field/frame encoding • Capability of dealing with content from the motion picture industry • 3:2 pull down • Pan and scan • Color space signaling And MPEG-2 Transport….

13. Implementation in 1994 • In 1994 MPEG-2 was stretching the technology in terms of cost for consumer electronics. • A decoder LSI would retail at about $30 • The 2MB DRAM memory needed would add an extra $50 to the BOM. • Retail price of MPEG-2 decode $300-500 • It is a sound principle to have a new standard challenge the implementers … it did at the beginning.

14. Standard and Syntax • The MPEG video standards specify only a decoder syntax. • How to best use the syntax at the encoder is left at the creativity of implementer. • Standardization is about interoperability and economy of scale … Not about freezing time.

15. Quality up – Cost down • In the 1995-2001 time frame the compression efficiency of MPEG-2 in its professional implementation improved by 2-3x. • At the same time Moore’s law allows: • Ever cheaper decoders • Ever more complex encoder • Multipass – Look ahead • Eventually the syntax becomes the limitation

16. IMPLICATIONS APPLICATIONS

17. Now 2008 • MPEG-2 is a 15 years old International Standard • Started a new industry: Digital TV, STB, DVD • One of the most successful standard ever • Moore’s Law has been continuously valid over this 15 years period: Cost or Performance improved by 150x • 16 Mbits DRAM went from $50 to $0.3 • MPEG-2 decoder completely commoditized <$2 • MPEG-2 Set top boxes or DVD player as cheap as $25 • Industry has started replacing MPEG-2 by a more efficient compression technology H.264-AVC • Significant gain in compression efficiency with an affordable increase in complexity will again change the world.

18. Compression Breaktrough • H.264 AVC is a real Breakthrough • It will have a lasting effect on industry, just like the MPEG-2 standard it replaces • Baseline Profile is suitable to Video Telephony • Main/High Profile is targeted at all other application • Digital Storage Media • Portable (Cell Phone, Camera, PMP) • Broadcasting • H.264 is key to the transition of all content to HD

19. Solid State HD Video Recording • DV Tape replace by Flash Memory • Video compression is H.264 AVC • One hour high quality “Full HD” video on 4GB Flash • Hybrid Camera • 10M stills + 2 Mpixel video 1080 60i • Both high resolution stills and high definition video • Low Power enough for the Cell Phone

20. HD Cameras Shipping in Volume Korea China Japan US

21. Thank You