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MPEG1 - Something to think about?
Hi All! How 'bout your opinions?
Today mpeg1 is used mostly as an intermediate video format, often used even by the $4k capture cards, but will the future see its revival as a final destination?
I think it's an interesting question now that the model for streaming web video may be changing. While it's too early to predict with any certainty, the technology of storing video content & then encoding it on the fly makes so much sense, that it's hard to imagine anyone storing content in each of the 3 or 4 major streaming formats a few years from now. I really do think this might catch on in a huge way...
You've got the casual home user intimidated by the notion of encoding and posting their own content for friends and family, & you've got business, with tons of reasons to jump on board...
First is the duplication of effort that seems the thrust of so much technology development, XML for example; once you've got the data, be it subscription info, an article, video, whatever, it's a waste each time someone else has to handle it. Second is the push towards automation that some analysts predict will cut staff by more then 50% in some types of business, for example Progressive Insurance & their automated web based rate quotes.
Third is the cost of streaming video itself; while on the fly encoding may not initially make it any cheaper, economies of scale could bring the price down. There are already companies that do automated encoding, but then you have to store the results on specifically tailored servers -- eliminating this could also drop prices. Fourth, if your neighbor is intimidated by the thought of putting that video up on the web for the grandparents to see, what about the biz world where the stakes are much higher? How many companies have held back because of the costs of developing in house talent, or because IT for whatever reason has frowned at the thought? How many have shelves of corporate video they've had produced already?
So, why does this make a bit of difference regarding the venerable MPEG1? Storage is becoming cheaper at a rapid pace, so the larger file sizes don't hurt nearly as badly, plus, which format besides uncompressed (which is still way too large) transcodes better?
Still, it's far from a shoe-in... MPEG 2 & 4 files can be encoded to different streaming formats, and with the average system horsepower expected to jump after XP's introduction, there should be less of a hardware barrier. Then there are the DV formats, will all their pro's and con's -- could they take over or will they be more likely to run along side as the corporate world repurposes existing video archives?
What about software? Could it turn proprietary, with companies requiring you to use their code as a condition of uploading video? What about Ulead, Adobe, & Sonic Foundry -- whatever route they go, will their customers have to follow? So far compression codecs have focused on size, not on their ability to be re-encoded, so the individual & editable frame hasn't gotten much attention -- if size and bandwidth are only concerns down the road (after final encoding on the fly), will work start on some new & improved MPEG1?
Will it even matter to most of us? I'm assuming that if things in some areas of video move back towards MPEG1, that'll show up in the software we use, and that's how or why it could mean something -- I could be thinking like Henry Hudson!
Well? What does everyone else think?
mike
Today mpeg1 is used mostly as an intermediate video format, often used even by the $4k capture cards, but will the future see its revival as a final destination?
I think it's an interesting question now that the model for streaming web video may be changing. While it's too early to predict with any certainty, the technology of storing video content & then encoding it on the fly makes so much sense, that it's hard to imagine anyone storing content in each of the 3 or 4 major streaming formats a few years from now. I really do think this might catch on in a huge way...
You've got the casual home user intimidated by the notion of encoding and posting their own content for friends and family, & you've got business, with tons of reasons to jump on board...
First is the duplication of effort that seems the thrust of so much technology development, XML for example; once you've got the data, be it subscription info, an article, video, whatever, it's a waste each time someone else has to handle it. Second is the push towards automation that some analysts predict will cut staff by more then 50% in some types of business, for example Progressive Insurance & their automated web based rate quotes.
Third is the cost of streaming video itself; while on the fly encoding may not initially make it any cheaper, economies of scale could bring the price down. There are already companies that do automated encoding, but then you have to store the results on specifically tailored servers -- eliminating this could also drop prices. Fourth, if your neighbor is intimidated by the thought of putting that video up on the web for the grandparents to see, what about the biz world where the stakes are much higher? How many companies have held back because of the costs of developing in house talent, or because IT for whatever reason has frowned at the thought? How many have shelves of corporate video they've had produced already?
So, why does this make a bit of difference regarding the venerable MPEG1? Storage is becoming cheaper at a rapid pace, so the larger file sizes don't hurt nearly as badly, plus, which format besides uncompressed (which is still way too large) transcodes better?
Still, it's far from a shoe-in... MPEG 2 & 4 files can be encoded to different streaming formats, and with the average system horsepower expected to jump after XP's introduction, there should be less of a hardware barrier. Then there are the DV formats, will all their pro's and con's -- could they take over or will they be more likely to run along side as the corporate world repurposes existing video archives?
What about software? Could it turn proprietary, with companies requiring you to use their code as a condition of uploading video? What about Ulead, Adobe, & Sonic Foundry -- whatever route they go, will their customers have to follow? So far compression codecs have focused on size, not on their ability to be re-encoded, so the individual & editable frame hasn't gotten much attention -- if size and bandwidth are only concerns down the road (after final encoding on the fly), will work start on some new & improved MPEG1?
Will it even matter to most of us? I'm assuming that if things in some areas of video move back towards MPEG1, that'll show up in the software we use, and that's how or why it could mean something -- I could be thinking like Henry Hudson!
Well? What does everyone else think?
mike
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