Where Shall We Go Next? - A Practical Guide to Video and Audio Compression - page 636

Table 39-1 Compression-Related Technology Timeline (Continued)

Year Milestone

2003 MPEG-4 High Efficiency AAC (HE-AAC). This operates at about 24 Kbps

delivering stereo at 48 Kbps.
H.264 final draft released and the licensing issues come to the fore.
BBC News Interactive TV group demonstrates MPEG-4 Part 2 video embedded in
a BIFS package built using Envivio tools.
The Popwire Technology company showed their Compression Master product
encoding in H.264 format at IBC.
Microsoft WM9 very prominently displayed at IBC.
In Japan, 3.15 million HDTV sets are sold.

2004 H.264 is very predominant at NAB and many companies are showing related

products.
Also at NAB, Apple demonstrates QuickTime playing back H.264 video at full HD
(1080p) resolution.
Envivio demonstrate complex EPG and VOD systems and very good compression
ratios via their H.264 hardware encoders.
DVB-H introduced.
DVB approves H.264/AVC and HE-AAC for inclusion in the standard for
delivery systems in Europe. This paves the way for HDTV with surround sound.
VOOM launches with an H.264-based multi-channel TV service with a mix of SD
and HD content.
IBM and others launch the open Digital Media Framework.
Astra trials Euro 1080 HDTV broadcasts.

2005 Standards working groups are looking at MPEG-4 Lossless Audio Coding (ALS)

that is expected to be delivered during this year. This would be equivalent to CD
audio but at a reduced bit rate of 325 Kbps per channel.
H.264 begins to look like the dominant new codec and a worthy successor to
MPEG-2. Improvements in H.264 during and after its rollout indicate a potential
for a 10 fold increase in channels within the available spectrum.
Support for VC-1 begins to wane.
There is speculation that HD display capabilities might be provided in gaming
consoles as early as this.
Regular transmission of DVB-H services is expected to begin.
Moore's law breaks down and computer manufacturers seek alternative ways to
improve systems performance by modifying computer architectures now that it
becomes more difficult to reduce transistor sizes further. Some comfort is derived
from performance improvements demonstrated by the IBM Power 5 architecture
and the Cell processor developed for the Sony Play Station Portable (PSP). These
performance gains are the result of smarter design rather than further
miniaturisation.