Video compression for digital television applications

Abstract

Developments in video compression and VLSI technologies are producing revolutionary changes in the television industry. Television signals worldwide are beginning to be compressed, encoded and transmitted using digital means. Using digital compression, encoding and transmission techniques has the advantage of better bandwidth utilization, flexibility and ease of integration with other digital data, and an overall higher quality of video at the receiver. The purpose of this paper is two-fold. Firstly, an introduction to video compression in the context of emerging digital television standards is provided. The important role played by International Standards, specifically MPEG, in the development of digital television systems is discussed. Secondly, current trends in the use of compression in the development of digital television for deployment in the United States and Europe, and the participation of Philips in these new applications, are discussed.