Introduction MPEG standards are great communication tools and MPEG itself is – or tries to be – a good communicator, of course using all available media. This article is for those who want to be informed about MPEG, without having to digest one of its handy 500-page standards ? MPEG web site Almost everything that will be mentioned in this post can be found, not necessarily in an easy way, in the MPEG web page: press releases, MPEG column, video…

Introduction In Life inside MPEG I have described the breadth, complexity and interdependence of the  work program managed by the MPEG ecosystem that has fed the digital media industry for the last 30 years. I did not mention, however, the actual amount of work developed by MPEG experts during an MPEG meeting. Indeed, at every meeting, the majority of work items listed in the post undergo a review prompted by member submissions. At the Macau meeting in October 2018, there were…

Introduction In my earlier post 30 years of MPEG, and counting? I brought evidence of what MPEG has done in the last 30 years to create the broadcast, recording, web and mobile digital media world that we know. This document tries to make the picture more complete by looking at the current main activities and deliveries in the next few months/years. The MPEG work plan at a glance The figure below shows the main standards developed or under development by MPEG…

This post attempts to answer some of the most frequent questions received on the proposed ISO Data Compression Technologies Technical Committee (DCT TC). See here and here. If you have a question drop an email to leonardo@chiariglione.org. Q: What is the difference between MPEG and DCT? A: Organisation-wise MPEG is a Working Group (WG), reporting to a Subcommittee (SC), reporting to a Technical Committee (TC), reporting to the Technical Management Board (TMB). Another important difference is that a WG makes…

We can only guess the feelings of the troglodyte that drew animals on the walls of the Altamira cave, but we have a rough idea of the feelings of the Latin poet Martial towards those who proclaimed his own works as theirs. We know even more precisely the feelings of the Italian 16th century poet Ariosto when he proposed to Duke Alfonso d'Este of Ferrara to share the proceeds that he would obtain from the fines imposed on those who…

On the 30th anniversary of the first MPEG meeting I wrote a paper that extolled the virtues of MPEG in terms productivity - in absolute and relative terms - and of actual standard adoption. In this paper I would like to expose the vision that has driven MPEG since its early days that explains and promises to continue its success. Today it is hard to believe the state of television 30 years ago. Each country retained the freedom to define its…