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…

Introduction In my post Compression – the technology for the digital age, I called data compression “the enabler of the evolving media-rich communication society that we value”. Indeed, data compression has freed the potential of digital technologies in facsimile, speech, photography, music, television, video on the web, on mobile, and more. MPEG has been the main contributor to the stellar performance of the digital media industries: content, services and devices - hardware and software. Something new is brewing in MPEG because…

The apex of Renaissance was around the middle of the 15th-16th centuries. Learned men freely communicated with the feeling of belonging to a whole that was shared by their minds and by definition borderless. No other man better symbolises the community of minds that hovered the geographical expression called Europe than Erasmus of Rotterdam. Then came Martin Luther and decades of religion wars. Other wars sought to establish ever stronger national identities. The common language itself - Latin - still…