Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
first released in 1993. In that period, many proprietary coding methods were de-
veloped outside the conventional standardization organizations. In spite of this
situation, H.263 [5] and MPEG-4 [6] were still used in many applications. H.263
was recommended for the transmission of VGA (Video Graphic Array) video
from tens of Kbit/s to several Mbit/s in 1995. MPEG-4 was a successor of H.263
and was completed its standardization in 1999. MPEG-4 was utilized for 3G mo-
bile video phones with 64 kbit/s, portable video players with up to 2-3 Mbit/s, as
well as the animation function of digital still camera, etc.
In the 2000s, the development of video coding technology progressed rapidly
due to an increase in processing speed of devices, user demand for higher quality
and an abundance of video services. AVC/H.264 [7, 8] is the standard which was
developed based on the coding techniques examined under the H.26L project in
ITU-T/SG16/Q.6 known as VCEG (Video Coding Experts Group). A collabora-
tive team known as the JVT (Joint Video Team) was formed between MPEG and
VCEG in 2001. AVC/H.264 which achieved twice as much compression ratio of
MPEG-2 was standardized in 2003. The AVC/H.264 standard was then adopted as
the coding method for mobile TV broadcasting called One-seg in Japan and for
Blu-ray with HD resolution, and continues to extend the scope of its applications.
1980 1985
1990
1995
2000
2004
1989
1997
2001
Dedicated
line
Wired
ISDN
Mobile
H.261/FH test
TV phone
3G
mobile
Videoconference
de facto
H.261
H.261
Videoconference
MPEG-4
SD-DTV (Japan)
Dawn of digital video codec
Dawn of digital video codec
CS
HD-DTV (Japan)
1995
1990
1992
1994
1997
Broadcasting
Broadcasting
2003
Terrestrial
(Japan)
Digicipher
1982 MUSE
2000
BS (Japan)
SDTV
HDTV
1960
䌾
Analog Color TV
1998
Terrestrial
(USA)
MPEG-2
World
World-
first
first
MPEG HD
SNG
MPEG HD
(NHK, Mitsubishi)
(NHK, Mitsubishi)
MPEG-2
1996
HD LCD
Package
VideoCD
DVD
player
DVHS
DVD
recorder
1990
H.261
1993
MPEG-1
MPEG-1
MPEG-2
MPEG-2
1994
MPEG-2
1999
MPEG- 4
2003
Standardization
Standardization
AVC/H.264
Fig. 1
History of Video Technology (From Visual Communication to Digital Broadcasting)
2.1.2 After AVC/H.264
AVC/H.264 continued to be improved for high quality video after the recommen-
dation in 2003. Baseline Profile including 4x4 transform was standardized in 2003
