Balancing New and Old, Multi-Channel Encoders Delivering MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC Workflow Efficiencies

Compression encoding is in a state of transition, MPEG-2 is the dominant incumbent for standard definition whereas MPEG-4 AVC is the promising upstart, catering for both handheld and high definition applications. — MPEG-2 has been written off by many as being a standard that has been fully developed leaving no room for improvement. However, broadcasters have forced the issue of further MPEG-2 improvements to protect the significant infrastructure investment and seek more revenue from existing platforms. Technology advances have allowed new theoretical algorithms to be applied to MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC encoders resulting in a range of new and unfamiliar techniques being deployed. Look-ahead, adaptive pre-processing, rate-distortion optimisation, hierarchical B frames, sub pixel motion estimation, variable block size and high profile support are all terms used to justify the improvements implemented on the latest generation of encoders. But what do these terms mean, which compression standard do they apply to and, most importantly, what efficiencies can these techniques deliver? The first part of the paper will explain these techniques and outline the potential benefits. — The second part of this paper will compare and contrast the options for multi-stream encoding. Streaming is now becoming a serious issue for broadcasters seeing their audiences fragment in terms of viewing preferences and play-out platforms. Catering for live and offline content consumption on a range of devices use to imply further workflow steps. Cost conscious broadcasters are now looking to source encoders to produce multiple streams to improve workflow and reduce overheads.

Published

2009-10

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/M001324

ISBN

978-1-61482-943-0