pctechguide.com

M-JPEG

JPEG is a well-known standard for compressing stills. Unlike MPEG, M-JPEG compresses and stores every frame rather than only the differences between one frame and the next. Thus it requires more space than MPEG, but it is more efficient when rapid scene changes are involved, and easier to edit. It is capable of a variety of compression ratios, typically between 2:1 and 12:1. At 5:1 or lower, its deemed broadcast quality. Higher than that, up to about 12:1, is more than acceptable for semi-professional or consumer purposes.

The M-JPEG codec works best when contained in microcode on a video capture card chip. When implemented in hardware in this way the PC’s main processor is left free to concentrate on other tasks, such as maintaining the required hard disk data transfer rates. The algorithm can also be worked into a software codec, which allows video to be seamlessly edited in applications such as Adobe Premiere.

Despite its role as the workhorse of the digital video universe, the future is looking uncertain for M-JPEG. The new DV format has spread like wildfire through the professional and mid-range video market. It’s totally digital, offers better picture quality than analogue-to-digital conversion can ever hope to achieve and has industry heavyweights Sony and Panasonic behind it. More importantly, it’s custom-designed to bring real-time, high-quality video editing to the desktop PC.

Filed Under: Digital Video

Latest Articles

Barcelona, AMD’s native Quad Core CPU

Late 2007 saw the release of AMD's new native Quad-Core Opteron processors. Designed initially for servers and workstations and codenamed 'Barcelona', the early versions ran at clock frequencies of up to 2Ghz, with faster varieties to follow. In common with contemporary releases from … [Read More...]

Digital Video Television

Digital TV For years, the broadcasting and computer industries have proclaimed that "convergence" was just around the corner. Both have had different things in mind, of course, and each has claimed to be the driving force behind the must-have … [Read More...]

xD Picture Card , the Fuji and Olympus memory card

The full title of the xD card, the xD-Picture Card, gives away its target market, it being squarely aimed at the digital camera market. And if that wasn\'t enough, the fact that it was developed by Fuji and Olympus, two camera firms, gives the game away completely. The xD card is … [Read More...]

Guides

Recent Posts