Steven Curtin wrote:
>
> Hi-
> I just saw a rather puzzling announcement in the latest issue of New Media
> that (p.28) maybe someone here can comment on:
>
> ------------------------------------------------
> QuickTime Tapped for MPEG4:
>
> ISO has determined that QuickTime 3.0 will be the basis for the upcoming
> MPEG 4 version 2, a boost for QuickTime and a blow to Microsoft's NetShow.
> However, the initial specification won't be out until the beginning of
> 1999, and it'll be an additional year before it's finalized.
> -------------------------------------------------
There's a number of confused issues here. The QuickTime file
structure, which has nothing to do with the particular codecs
in QT and thus is no different in QT 3 than in previous QT
versions, is indeed the basis of the so-called MPEG-4 Intermedia
Format. IMF will be used as the "official" format for storing
data on DVDs and so forth, and handling them before the media
are streamed using the MPEG streaming formats. IMF is not
finished, and will likely change before it's done.
There is no connection between QT codecs or capabilities and
the MPEG-4 codecs. Only the file format is being used.
As stated, the IMF is part of MPEG-4 version 2. It's version 2
which is being finalized in late 1999/early 2000. MPEG-4
version 2 will be completely backward compatibility with
version 1, and add some or all of the following things:
-- environmental auralization (automatic calculation of
acoustic parameters from room descriptions)
-- synthetic body animation to go with the synthetic
face animation in V1
-- 3-D mesh compression
-- error-robust natural audio
-- low-complexity natural video
-- Java APIs for controlling the media scene programmatically
Version 1 is on the same track it's always been (released in
Oct, stamped in Dec of this year), and includes all the tools we
usually talk about here.
Best to all,
-- Eric
-- +-----------------+ | Eric Scheirer |A-7b5 D7b9|G-7 C7|Cb C-7b5 F7#9|Bb |B-7 E7| |eds@media.mit.edu| < http://sound.media.mit.edu/~eds > | 617 253 0112 |A A/G# F#-7 F#-/E|Eb-7b5 D7b5|Db|C7b5 B7b5|Bb| +-----------------+
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