The need for compressed and coded representation and transmission of multimedia data has not rescinded as computer processing power, storage, and network bandwidth have increased. They have merely served to increase the demand for greater quality and increased functionality from all elements in the multimedia delivery and consumption chain, from content creators through to end users. For example, whereas we once had VHS-like resolution of digital video, we now have high-definition 1080p, and whereas a user once had just a few digital media files, they now have hundreds or thousands, which require some kind of metadata just for the required file to be found on the user’s storage medium in a reasonable amount of time, let alone for any other functionality such as creating playlists. Consequently, the number of multimedia applications and services penetrating home, education, and work has increased exponentially in recent years, and the emergence of multimedia standards has similarly proliferated.

This book provides a comprehensive examination of the use of MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MPEG-7, MPEG-21, and MPEG-A standards, providing a detailed reference to their application.

In this book, the authors address five leading MPEG standards: MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MPEG-7, MPEG-21, and MPEG-A, focusing not only on the standards themselves, but specifically upon their application (e.g. for broadcasting media, personalised advertising and news, multimedia collaboration, digital rights management, resource adaptation, digital home systems, and so on); including MPEG cross-breed applications. In the evolving digital multimedia landscape, this book provides comprehensive coverage of the key MPEG standards used for generation and storage, distribution and dissemination, and delivery of multimedia data to various platforms within a wide variety of application domains. It considers how these MPEG standards may be used, the context of their use, and how supporting and complementary technologies and the standards interact and add value to each other.

Key Features:

• Integrates the application of five popular MPEG standards (MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MPEG-7, MPEG-21, and MPEG-A) into one single volume, including MPEG cross-breed applications
• Up-to-date coverage of the field based on the latest versions of the five MPEG standards
• Opening chapter provides overviews of each of the five MPEG standards
• Contributions from leading MPEG experts worldwide
• Includes an accompanying website with supporting material (www.wiley.com/go/angelides_mpeg)

This book provides an invaluable reference for researchers, practitioners, CTOs, design engineers, and developers. Postgraduate students taking MSc, MRes, MPhil and PhD courses in computer science and engineering, IT consultants, and system developers in the telecoms, broadcasting and publishing sectors will also find this book of interest.