Introduction For 30 years industry has been accustomed to rely on MPEG as the source of standards the industry needs. In 30 years MPEG has held a record 129 meetings, roughly spaced by 3 months. What happens if MPEG130 is not held? Can industry afford it? In this article I will try and answer this […]
MPEG was established as an experts group on 1988/01/22 in Copenhagen, a little more that 32 tears ago. At that time, content media were already very important: voice communication; vinyl, compact cassettes, compact discs for audio; radio, mostly on terrestrial Hertzian channels; and television on 4 physical media: terrestrial Hertzian channels, satellite, cable and package […]
Introduction The MPEG trajectory is not the trajectory of an Information Technology (IT) group. Today software plays a key role in MPEG standard development. However, MPEG it is not an IT group. For MPEG, software is a tool to achieve the goal of producing excellent standards. But software remains a tool. Clearly, because MPEG assembles […]
Introduction In past publications, I have often talked about how many times MPEG has changed its skin during its 3-decade long life. In this article I would like to add substance to this claim by giving a rather complete, albeit succinct, account. You can find a more detailed story at Riding the Media Bits. The […]
Having spent a considerable amount of my time in standardisation, I have developed my own definition of standard: “the documented agreement reached by a group of individuals who recognise the advantage of all doing certain things in an agreed way”. Indeed, I believe that, if we exclude some areas such as safety, in matters of […]
Introduction In a technology space moving at an accelerated pace like the one MPEG has the task to develop standards for, it is difficult to have a clear plan for the future (MPEG has a 5-year plan, though). Still, when MPEG was developing the Multimedia Linking Application Format (MLAF), it “discovered” that it had developed or […]
Introduction Quality pervades our life: we talk of quality of life and we choose things on the basis of declared or perceived quality. A standard is a product, and as such may also be judged, although not exclusively, in terms of its quality. MPEG standards are no exception and the quality of MPEG standards has […]
Introduction There are many definitions of standard. In the Webster’s you find a definition of standard as “Something that is established by authority, custom or general consent as a model or example to be followed”, an oldish definition that thinks that people must be directed to their good. In the Encyclopaedia Britannica you find “(A […]
Introduction In the week of the 13th of January, the Free University of Brussels has hosted the 129th MPEG meeting . Two days (11-12) were dedicated to some 15 ad hoc group meetings and 6 days (7-12)to meetings of JVET, the joint MPEG-SG 16 group tasked to develop the VVC standard. In this status report […]
MPEG will soon be 32. It has produced many important standards that have changed the industry and the lives of billions of people. What will MPEG be 5 years from now? MPEG is strong The MPEG scope is digital media: analysis, compression, transport and consumption of digital moving pictures and audio for broadcast, broadband, mobile […]