3 codecs and standards

Without compression and decompression, digital information delivery would be virtually impossible. In this chapter we will take a more detailed look at compression and decompression. It contains the information that you may possibly need to decide on a suitable compression and decompression scheme (codec) for your future multimedia productions.

We will also discuss the standards that may govern the future (multimedia) Web, including MPEG-4, SMIL and RM3D. We will explore to what extent these standards allow us to realize the optimal multimedia platform, that is one that embodies digital convergence in its full potential. Finally, we will investigate how these ideas may ultimately lead to a (multimedia) semantic web.

questions

3. codecs and standards

(*) What role do standards play in multimedia? Why are standards necessary for compression and delivery. Discuss the MPEG-4 standard and indicate how it is related to other (possible) standards.

concepts

What is a codec?
Give a brief overview of current multimedia standards.
What criteria must a (multimedia) semantic web satisfy?

technology

What is the data rate for respectively (compressed) voice, audio and video?
Explain how a codec functions.
Which considerations can you mention for choosing a compression method?
Give a brief description of: XML, MPEG-4, SMIL, RM3D.

[] readme preface 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 appendix checklist powerpoint resources director

eliens@cs.vu.nl

draft version 1 (16/5/2003)

3

codecs and standards

questions

3. codecs and standards

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