MPEG-4 will it be a success?

[LaBang]

since quicktime 6 preview was release today the issue of MPEG-4 came to mind. This is the open standard right? I hear that real media is going to drop their proprietary technology and support it.

Do you think that Mpeg-4 will be a success? Is it going to be THE adopted standard? or is microsoft going to keep their stuff proprietary?

 

[ElFenix]

MPEG should be a standard, microsoft just has a specific implentation of it, but any MPEG standard is like an IEEE standard.

 

[LaBang]

i don't understand. wma is mpeg4? but it can only be played on WMP, how is it an open standard?

 

[ElFenix]

is wma actually mpeg 4 or is it the model for mpeg 4? last i heard qt was the model for mpeg4.

 

[Ameesh]

MPEG and WMA are two different codecs they branched away from each other a while ago. The core concept for any video compression is the same so easy for people to spout off a bunch of nonsense but in the maturity of the formats now there are serval key differences in features and how they work, for instance being able to encode a DD5.1 audio stream or just a Stereo Signal into the file and using wavlet technology or not.

 

[LaBang]

QT is a player not a codec AFIK. apple used to have their proprietary stuff but soon it will be mpeg4. isn't mpeg4 created by some consortium that owns the rights?

anyways, all of this is too techincal and belongs in Highly Technical.

 

[morkinva]

Is Mpeg-4 actually Mpeg1 layer 4 like mp3 is mpeg1 layer 3?

 

[XZeroII]

MPEG-4 has been around for awhile. It is an older codec that was hacked and turned into DIVX. Microsoft then created a new codec based off of MPEG-4 and called it Windows Media and it is not proprietarty since other players can play it. Quicktime is proprietary since you need Quitime view to play it. Windows Media will most likely become the standard because it's much better than the competition and it has MS behind it. It has been lacking though because of a lack of a proper encoder. You can download the Windows Media SDK and create your own player if you want.

 

[zephyrprime]

Is Mpeg-4 actually Mpeg1 layer 4 like mp3 is mpeg1 layer 3?

That whole layer stuff is annoying. I guess layer 1 is video and layer 2 is audio and layer 3 is the new audio version. Remember .mp2 audio files? I do. They were never popular but mp3 was for some reason. Anyway, I would guess that mpeg-4 is mpeg-4 layers 1 & 2 but I could easily be wrong.

 

[LaBang]

you guys missed something. there is a new quicktime that is coming out that is different than the old. quicktime 6

it seems to have a lot of "open" technologies in it. someone said that you can play WM files on other players. Is that true? I can't on my Mac.

 

[Gunbuster]

Under the new scheme, a "use fee" will be charged to service providers based on the time or duration of MPEG-4 video stream playback, industry sources said. Some licensors are concerned about the terms and price of that model, the sources said.

 

[vi edit]

Dvorak had a column about this. I think it's something along the lines of $.02 cents per hour of encoded video.

Sounds like a huge accounting hastle to me.

 

[XZeroII]

Originally posted by: LaBang
you guys missed something. there is a new quicktime that is coming out that is different than the old. quicktime 6

it seems to have a lot of "open" technologies in it. someone said that you can play WM files on other players. Is that true? I can't on my Mac.

You can play WMA on portable players and I believe WinAMP also plays them, so I would imagine that other players could play the videos as well.

 

[Nefrodite]

Originally posted by: zephyrprime

Is Mpeg-4 actually Mpeg1 layer 4 like mp3 is mpeg1 layer 3?

That whole layer stuff is annoying. I guess layer 1 is video and layer 2 is audio and layer 3 is the new audio version. Remember .mp2 audio files? I do. They were never popular but mp3 was for some reason. Anyway, I would guess that mpeg-4 is mpeg-4 layers 1 & 2 but I could easily be wrong.

mp2 was pretty good quality wise, at twice the bitrate of mp3 though thats why it didn't take off.

 

[kami]

I'm not sure if MPEG-4 will be used in the future for stuff like HD-DVD or any other high-definition source. At this point I think they are still favoring high resolution, ultra-high bitrate MPEG2 video.

 

[Nefrodite]

with higher and higher capacity discs coming out, whats the point really? to my knowledge mpeg 4 isn't exactly videophile quality, there are some pretty ugly compression artifacts. i wouldn't pay for it maybe it'll be used in pvr's or something, i dunno.

 

[LaBang]

it will be used for streaming video and distribution over broadband.

 

[yakko]

Originally posted by: Nefrodite
with higher and higher capacity discs coming out, whats the point really? to my knowledge mpeg 4 isn't exactly videophile quality, there are some pretty ugly compression artifacts. i wouldn't pay for it maybe it'll be used in pvr's or something, i dunno.

With the original MPEG-4 codec Microsoft released in the beta version of WMP 6.4 I have seen some awesome quality videos. I still have some. They will not play in Windows XP which is why I will always keep a Windows 98 box around for them.

 

[LaBang]

this thread is now in Highly Technical. please post there if you are informed.