Comments on Turning it up to eleven

Could you specify the "much more advanced video formats" in MPEG-2? My understanding was that the video encoding differences amounted to interlacing support.


Posted by Stuart A at December 6, 2008 01:22 AM

I dunno, Michael. You might have it all wrong and what they mean is one of these ...
cute little things which I think would make a welcome addition to my Xmas stocking if someone would be generous enough to give me one.


Posted by Bod at December 6, 2008 05:24 AM

Ugh. Sorry team. Redundant post.

Mouse-button happy again.


Posted by Bod at December 6, 2008 05:26 AM

Try translating your entire post into Chinese and then explaining it to a team of marketers. That should give you some idea of how those signs got made.


Posted by Andrew L at December 6, 2008 08:58 AM

Stuart: The compression system was also refined and improved considerably. Basically MPEG-1 was designed for low resolution VHS quality images (352x240 or 352x288). It does theoretically support much higher resolutions than this, but the required bit-rate increases so rapidly as you increase the resolution that it is not practical for higher resolutions. MPEG-2 scales much better (right up to HDTV resolutions) which is why it became a standard for all kinds of uses, whereas MPEG-1 was only used for a couple of niches (VCDs and early digital satellite TV) that have been largely superceded.

That said, I take your point. MPEG-2 video isn't really that more advanced, as it is a very similar codec to MPEG-1 and the transition was much more evolutionary than the later transition to MPEG-4. What I probably should have said is "more useful". MPEG-1 video had shrtcomings that led it to be rapidly superceded. MPEG-1 audio was good enough for the tasks that most people wanted to use it for, and was therefore not rapidly superceded.


Posted by Michael Jennings at December 6, 2008 11:27 AM

Good clear explanation and should especially be read by those who think MP3 is good and pure and open while AAC is evil and proprietary to Apple.

In fact the reverse is the case, as you have to pay 2% royalties on music distributed in the form of MP3 while AAC is royalty-free.

Incidentally, AAC is playable on at least the following:


Microsoft Zune
Sandisk Sansa e200R
Sony PlayStation Portable
Sony Walkman S-Series players
Sony Ericsson phones
Nokia phones
Palm OS PDAs
Microsoft Xbox 360
Sony PlayStation
Apple iPod/iPhone


Posted by Bruce Hoult at December 6, 2008 10:26 PM

I don't know, a store selling mp3 music, mp4 movies, and mp5 submachine guns would be pretty sweet. I'm not sure whether it'd be better than Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, but it'd be pretty close.


Posted by Alsadius at December 6, 2008 11:04 PM

.mp4 is a common extension for MPEG-4 audio or video files.


Posted by Adam Maas at December 6, 2008 11:11 PM

The mp5 might be a misspelled mb5.

Cheers


Posted by J.M. Heinrichs at December 8, 2008 03:01 AM

MP5's are fine.

However, my Guatemala loved their H&K - M3s

The M3 is heavy, they admitted that, tough going to carry on long marches (they did not have many helecopters and had to hunt the cong on foot - which at least meant they kept the ground they took as there was no flying away from it, it was kill or be killed no exit possible).

However, the M3 (they claimed) was very accurate and reliable - and could kill cong at virtually any range.


Posted by Paul Marks at December 12, 2008 09:52 PM
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