Quality and compression: The proposed SMPTE video compression standard VC-1

As PCs and other digital devices play an increased role in manipulating, delivering, and managing digital video, in both home and professional broadcast environments, the distinction between consumer electronics and computers begins to blur. Consumers want to use their PCs to easily enjoy, manage, and share digital media across different devices, from cable set-top boxes to DVD players to laptops and television sets. Home networks are becoming increasingly "media-savvy," facilitating movement of digital content to/from the living room and den. Broadcasters and content publishers want to deliver the experience that consumers demand and must compress the content-be it standard-definition or high-definition video-for digital broadcast, disk, or download, with as little signal loss and degradation as possible. Overall, there is an increasing need for higher quality video and audio at lower and lower bit rates for an increasing range of devices and applications. This paper will describe the underlying technology and concepts embodied in VC-1, the proposed SMPTE standard based on the Windows Media Video 9 advanced video codec.