SMPTE VC-1 Standard
Prerequisites

Course Description

Learning Objectives

Who Should Attend

Course Outline


Prerequisites
Familiarity with analog and digital video would be helpful.
Although video compression is mathematically based, it is not assumed that attendees are familiar with higher level math: modern algebra, fractals, wavelets, etc.
Course Description
VC-1 is in between a “rubber stamp” and a real open standard.

VC-1 is the informal name of the draft SMPTE standard describing a video codec based on Microsoft Windows Media Video version 9. It is an evolution of the conventional DCT-based video codec design also found in H.261, H.263, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 Part 2 and AVC (MPEG-4 Part 10/H.264).

Microsoft® Windows Media 9 Series is a set of technologies that enables rich digital media experiences across many types of networks and devices. According to Microsoft, these technologies are widely used in the industry for media delivery over the internet and other media, and are also applied to broadcast, high definition (HD) DVDs, and digital projection in theaters.

At the core of these technologies is a state-of-the-art video codec called Windows Media Video 9 (WMV-9), which provides competitive video quality for reasonable computational complexity. WMV-9 has been submitted to and is currently being considered for standardization by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE).

Learning Objectives
At the end of this course, students will be able to accomplish the following:
1. Understand the advantages of using digital image and video compression algorithms in various digital imaging related products.
2. Have a clear picture of the engineering of a compression system.
3. Compare the MPEG-2 algorithm with other approaches to video compression.
4. Study the technical details of the MPEG and MPEG-like algorithms.
5. Understand requirements for: broadcast/DTV, streaming, and downloading.
6. Make competent decisions regarding opportunities to incorporate technical advances into the product.
7. Understand the performance limitations of various compression solutions.
8. Consider opportunities and obstacles
Who Should Attend

The course is designed for scientists, engineers and technical managers involved in design specification, implementation, management, or utilization of video compression systems and others who wish to acquire knowledge of the video compression technology field. The material should also be of keen interest to scientists, engineers and managers working in the following roles: strategic planners, business development and marketing professionals, value-added developers and integrators, content owners/providers, etc.

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Course Outline

The course outline depends on the course structure. For ex.:
- Self contained 3-day course, or
- One day course after: MPEG-2 or AVC or DTV course.

The course outline below is for the 3-day course “AVS and SMPTE VC-1 Standards”.

DAY I DAY II DAY III
INTRODUCTION
Description of course structure and content
Course objectives
Standards overview

ANALOG TV: Basic concepts
DIGITAL TV: Component vs. Composite

THEORETICAL BASE FOR COMPRESSION/DECOMPRESSION
Need for data compression
Information theory concepts
Visual Psychophysics
Predictive coding
- Motion estimation
Transform coding
Sub-band coding
Vector quantization, etc.

xPEG Standards
JPEG STANDARD

MPEG-1 STANDARD
Functional block diagrams
Syntax and semantics
Video compression
Audio compression
System layer

Q/A: Major Artifacts Associated with VC
Subjective evaluations of digitally compressed video

MPEG-2 STANDARD
Video compression
Comparison with MPEG-1
MPEG-2: System layer
Program and transport streams

AVS (Chinese Standard)

Introduction to VC-1
Theoretical Base: tools, concepts, principles
Summary - MPEAG-1-2 bases
4x8 and 8x4 transforms

VC-1 Overview

VC-1 Compression tools
Prediction:
Prediction of Intra Macroblocks
Prediction of Inter Macroblocks
Transform and Quantization
Reconstruction filter
Interlaced Video
ENTROPY CODING

MPEG-2, AVS, VC-1 comparison
Applications
New DVD formats

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