Image Processing Reference
In-Depth Information
The H.264 codec is being adopted widely as the natural format for delivering high-
definition TV (HDTV) content on DVD and allows us to store even longer definition pro-
grams on the existing 5-GB and 9-GB disks.
2.8.11
Religion
All of the major religions have a presence on the Internet. There are Web sites that describe
their philosophy, theology, and origins. Video compression provides a way to involve
members of the community who may not be physically able to attend ceremonies. They
may even be able to participate through a streamed-video broadcast. This may well be
within the financial reach of medium to large churches, and as costs are reduced, even
small communities may be able to deploy this kind of service. There are great social ben-
efits to be gained from community-based use of video-compression systems. Such appli-
cations could be built around video-conferencing technologies quite inexpensively.
2.8.12
Commerce
Quite unexpectedly, the shopping channel has become one of the more popular television
formats. This seems to provide an oddly compelling kind of viewing. Production values
are very low cost, and yet people tune in regularly to watch. Broadcasting these channels
at 4.5 megabits per second (
Mbps
) on a satellite link may ultimately prove to be too expen-
sive. As
broadband
technology improves its reach to consumers, these channels could be
delivered at much lower bit rates through a networked infrastructure.
A variation of this that can be combined with a video-conferencing system is the
business-to-business application. Sales pitches; demos; and all manner of commercial
meetings, seminars, and presentations could take place courtesy of fast and efficient video
compression.
2.8.13
Security and Surveillance
Modern society requires that a great deal of our travel and day-to-day activity take place
under surveillance. A commuter traveling from home to a railway station by car, then by
train, and then on an inner-city rapid-transit system may well be captured by as many as
200 cameras between home and the office desk. That is a lot of video, which until recently
has been recorded on
VHS
tapes, sometimes at very low resolution, at reduced frame rates,
and presented four at once in quarter-frame panes in order to save tape.
Newer systems are being introduced that use video compression to preserve video
quality, increase frame rates, and automate the storage of the video on centralized reposi-
tories. By using digital video, the searching and facial-recognition systems can be con-
nected to the repository. Suspects can be followed from one camera to another by
synchronizing the streams and playing them back together.
This is a good thing if it helps to trace and then arrest a felon. Our legislators have to
draw a very careful line between using this technology for the good of society as a whole
and infringing on our rights to go about our daily lives without intervention by the state.
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