MPEG Splicing: Tutorial and Proposed SMPTE Standard

Commercial insertion, promo insertion, studio routing, camera switching, tape editing—each of these basic operations involves switching video and audio. We want to continue to perform these operations even as we move from using uncompressed video to using MPEG-2 compressed video, but these operations are far from trivial. This paper describes the MPEG bitstream constraints required to facilitate switching—or “splicing”—MPEG bitstreams. It also describes the refinements to these constraints being developed by the SMPTE Working Group on Switching and Synchronization which have led to an emerging SMPTE standard for “Splice Points for MPEG-2 Transport Streams”, which specifies bitstream constraints for both Seamless and Non-Seamless splicing. — It is ironic that while splicing is likely the simplest method of switching between MPEG-2 bitstreams, it is probably the most difficult to understand. This paper intends to alleviate the mystery of splicing by explaining the underlying principles clearly so that this simple yet effective technique may be put into wide use throughout the emerging digital television industry.

Published

1997-11

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/M00242

ISBN

978-1-61482-928-7