MPEG-4 & Windows Media
Dr. Jordi Ribas-Corbera
Lead Program Manager, Codecs
Digital Media Division
Microsoft Corp
JordiR@microsoft.com
Overview
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Digital Media Introduction
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Windows Media Technologies and MPEG-4
MPEG-4 status in industry
Benefits of MPEG-4
Microsoft efforts in MPEG-4
Challenges facing MPEG-4
Microsoft’s position on MPEG-4
Summary
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Digital Media World
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Many devices
Wired or wireless
Access from
anywhere
Software
Integration
Personalized
delivery
Rich Services
3
Windows Media Tech
Live Content
License
Server
Download & Play
Streaming
Live Feed
UNICAST,
MULTICAST
On-demand
Content
Windows Media
Encoder
Stored
Content
Authoring
Windows Media
Services Server
Windows Media
Player
Streaming from a
WM Server
(or Web Server)
PC, Hand-held, STB
Distribution
Playback
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Windows Media Tech and
MPEG4
WMT
Windows
Media
Player
Windows
Media
Encoder
Windows
Media
Rights
Manager
Windows
Media
Format
(ASF +
Codecs +
DRM)
Windows
Media
SDK
Windows
Media
Embedded
PAK
Windows
Media
Services
WM Format CODECS:
Windows Media Video
Windows Media Audio
ISO MPEG-4 Video
Windows Media Screen
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MPEG-4 Status in Industry
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Several companies are implementing
different parts of MPEG-4 in their products
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First successful interoperable products
(developed independently) using MPEG-4
Video
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Apple, Envivio.com, E-vue, Fraunhofer, Ivast,
Matsushita, Microsoft, Philips, Sharp, Toshiba, …
Sharp’s Internet ViewCam and Microsoft’s
Windows Media Player, in 1999
NTT DoCoMo “Eggy” wireless terminal and
Microsoft’s Windows Media Encoder and Player,
in 2000
Some tools for creating and authoring
MPEG-4 format emerging
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Benefits of MPEG-4
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Standards are helpful for interoperability
Follows successful MPEG-1 and MPEG-2
efforts
Improved quality over previous MPEG
standards
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Larger set of target applications over previous
MPEG standards
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E.g., MPEG-4 Video (version 1) saves 15-25% of bit
rate over MPEG-2 -- according to MPEG-4 tests
From very low to very high bit rates
Multiple codecs for different media (voice, still
image, etc.)
Several companies are already implementing
parts of the standard
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Microsoft Efforts in MPEG-4
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Actively participant since 1995 to help develop MPEG-4
 100+ contributions  focused on Video coding
 Contributed C++ official version of Verification Model
(VM) Video software (enc/dec) to ISO
 Current MPEG Video Chairman is from Microsoft
Created essential IP used in standard
 Participating in MPEG-4 Video Patent Pool (currently
there are 19 companies in M4VisualPHG)
Helped make MPEG-4 popular in industry
 Supported MPEG-4 Video codec in Windows Media
Technologies
 Partnered with companies using MPEG-4 Video
 Interoperating with products / services from NTT DoCoMo,
Sharp, …
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 Demo
Challenges Facing MPEG-4
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Huge standard  limits interoperability
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MPEG-4 video quality not competitive with state of the
art in compression
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E.g., object-based coding, sprites, SHNC, FAPs, Bifs, …
MPEG-4 lacks complete solution for end-to-end delivery
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Other emerging Standards such as ITU-T H.26L claim better performance
 E.g., see Q15-H-21 in ftp://standard.pictel.com/video-site/9908_Ber, 1999.
Popular internet codecs already providing better quality
 E.g., Real Video 8 and Windows Media Video 8
New video codec effort starting in MPEG
Some features are unproven commercially as of now
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Video with ~20 profiles (simple, core, main, still texture, streaming,
advanced simple, etc.), Graphics (SHNC, FAPs), Audio, Speech,
Systems (File Format, Bifs, DMIF)
Many versions: V1, V2, V3, V4 …
MPEG-4 is a large set of tools that companies pick and choose
No Digital Rights Management, Screen codec, Networking
protocols/Server (with system layer)
Licensing of MPEG-4 not yet clear
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Microsoft’s Position on
MPEG-4
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Microsoft continues support of MPEG-4 video
for interoperability
Microsoft continues to innovate with
Windows Media
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Customers demand the best quality
 State-of-the-art Windows Media Video and
Audio codecs
Complete end-to-end solutions
 Digital Rights Management
 High-performance streaming protocols/server
 Specialized codecs such as Windows Media
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Screen
Summary
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Microsoft provides support for MPEG-4
video today for interoperability
MPEG-4 is a broad standard and likely
not all components will achieve
commercial viability
Other technologies are also needed to
meet customers requirements
Customers can choose interoperability
or better quality / feature set with
Windows Media
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Q&A
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For more information
 http://microsoft.com/windowsmedia
 http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsmedia
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