[opendtv] Re: 20060117 Mark's (Almost) Monday Memo
- From: "John Shutt" <shuttj@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 08:23:55 -0500
Is there a Moore's Law regarding codec efficiency, or is there a theoretical
limit? I mean it seems to be impossible to represent an entire 1920x1080
frame with a single bit (unless the entire screen is monotone), so there
must be a theoretical limit as to how much you can compress an image and
still have it be a practical display.
If so, then how far away from that theoretical limit is MPEG4/AVC? Is
MPEG4/AVC to the point that it really could be a standard that could last
for 20 years?
Personally, I have no quarrel with Europe's "problem" about obsolete MPEG2
receivers. They rolled out digital using very inexpensive boxes, and can
slowly starve them of bits to make room for AVC simulcasts in HD. Just as
DVB-T allows an almost continuous sliding scale of bitrates vs. robustness,
there is an inherent sliding scale of SD quality vs. HD quality and/or
number of HD services.
Only those who need HD will have to replace their tuners, and in many cases
the tuner will be built into the display or else what is another $300US on
top of a $2,000US HD display?
Australia got the worst of it by allowing SD only boxes to be sold, but
still demanding that MPEG2 HD also be used. Perhaps their HD penetration is
so low that they could allow an HD switch to MPEG4 and compensate those few
HD adopters. Then they would be back in harmony with the Old Country.
John
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Miller" <bob@xxxxxxxxxx>
> The UK is starting to talk about the MPEG4 problem now.
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