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…
When I was a kid and was free from school, I used to help my mother in a market place close to our town where she run a bench. Our primary task was to sell wares (of course). The task second in importance was to make sure that the wares on display did not “inadvertently” end up in the pockets of some onlookers. We, the sellers, applied the caveat venditor (let the seller beware) principle and bewared. I happened to…
2018/05/10 Thirty years ago this day, in Ottawa, ON, some 29 experts from 6 countries attended the 1st meeting of the Moving Picture Experts Group, to become universally known as MPEG. Twenty-five days ago, in San Diego, CA, 20 times the MPEG experts of the 1st meeting attended the 122nd MPEG meeting. These 30 years have been an incredible ride. MPEG’s mission is to produce digital media standards and MPEG did it through without exemption. Here are some facts MPEG…
