September - 2003 issue > Cover Feature

By Ganesh Rajan

DIGITAL MEDIA HAS UNDERGONE A REVOLUTION IN the last few years. From being the purview of a chosen few, it has now become the playfield of many. Consequently, certain segments of technology have become quite pervasive, even down to the consumer level. On other fronts, certain markets have yet to take off. Truly now, the application spaces for digital media are vast.

Video-on-demand (VOD) has been the catchphrase for digital broadcast. However, the true VOD services have been available only over selected areas of this country. These have been traditionally audio-video content but will now have to move towards a more generic audio-visual content. The ever-burgeoning IP networks have changed the contribution and distribution models and now provide stiff competition to the traditional broadcast networks. “Video over IP” is the current general buzz. It may now be more possible to get closer to the dream of “desired content, anywhere and anytime”.

Digital media presently has a strong foothold within the home. The proliferation of digital cameras has changed the way media is dealt with at home. More homes are now armed with a personal computer and a printer – the scenario of home-brewed multimedia running rampant is more the reality than before. Given the recent introductions of digital SLR cameras, the need for better image, video and audio compression technologies (and implementations) becomes rather imperative.

Digital Broadcast
A new digital video standard (Advanced Video Coding, H.264, MPEG-4 Part 10) is in the process of final completion. As compared to the other international standards, it brings in more compression efficiency. In other words, for the same bandwidth usage, one is able to get a better visual quality. For the same storage capacity, one is able to store more content, perhaps, at even better quality. However, the implementation complexities of the encoder and decoder are quite large as compared to the previous standards. Various attempts at complexity reduction for ASIC as well as software implementations are in the works. It is expected that these new encoders will begin seeing deployment towards the middle of next year, providing some impetus to the broadcast industry towards providing better pictures to the home.

IP-enabled networks (wired and, to some extent, wireless) add to the transport alternatives. In parts of Asia and Latin America, IP networks are the fastest growing networks of choice for the delivery of media.

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