Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
Focus
MPEG-4 and the New, 'Flat' World
9/29/2004
With MPEG-4, you can expect to access and display multimedia information from myriad live sources while the information is also accessed remotely—no matter what type of connectivity is in use.
We laugh when we look back at the notion of a “flat” world—the
world as it was perceived before Columbus proved it otherwise. But today, even
faced with all the wonders of the Internet and other powerful networks, we often
find ourselves cursing a world that isn’t flat. Flat, to us, would be
a world where all network “receive” locations have the same level
of transport speed and the same means of connectivity. In short, flat would
be great.
Why Isn’t Our New World ‘Flat’?
As with the Internet, it’s impossible to make a ubiquitous network infrastructure totally flat. That’s because, generally, not all receive locations have the same level of transport speed or the same means of connectivity.
Today, high-definition still images, motion images, and audio are typically sent over separate channels and with different coding schemes. For example, today’s codec may utilize one form of compression for motion video, while another compression algorithm for still images is being interspersed when space is available. The protocols are generally proprietary and fixed in data rate between the sender and all receivers. This means that the user is stuck with proprietary technology at each end.
Yet, the receiving end of the stream must be able to dictate the connection in different ways. That means that if the receiver is a codec providing images to a video projector in a lecture hall, a large amount of bandwidth is required—even while a student taking part at home with a lower-speed connection can see the same image (albeit with fewer pixels). To put it more plainly, the receiving codec makes a connection only at the codec’s desired baud rate. Previously, to make our simultaneous lecture hall/home study scenario possible would have required data-rate conversion and multiple encoding devices, with one device per transmitted data rate/protocol. But that was before MPEG-4.
MPEG-4 to the Rescue
MPEG-4 offers the ability to provide various data rates to match the receiving codec demands, and the ability to display. It allows each receiving device to make use of different speeds based on the size and quality of the image to be presented, and bandwidth available. No additional equipment is required in the transmission path; rather, the decoder utilizes the bandwidth available and needed, based on the receiving device’s capabilities. To illustrate, the difference might be tantamount to seeing images full-screen on a laptop (XGA), versus seeing them on the color screen of a cell phone (sub VGA).
What d'es this advance mean to campus technologists, faculty, and students? What makes MPEG-4 such an important element in multimedia delivery? Simply this: Using this form of streaming, the instructor can access and display multimedia information from servers and other live sources at the room’s control center, while simultaneously, the multimedia information can be made available to persons in remote locations, irrespective of the type of connectivity in use.
Recommended Reading
- Sun, Stanford Working To Archive History
In May in San Francisco, experts from leading universities, libraries, and research institutions around the world met as part of an ongoing effort to address a pressing issue: archiving the world's history, right up to today.
- The Quilt Coalition Rolls Out XO Communications for High-Capacity Network Services
The Quilt, a coalition of 28 regional network organizations, has added XO Communications Services to its authorized vendor list. The Quilt represents 200 universities and thousands of other educational institutions across the United States. With this new relationship, Quilt members can purchase XO's high-speed IP transit and network transport services at competitive rates.
- Wimba Classroom 5.2 Expands Classroom Capture Support, Adds MP3 Downloads
At the NECC 2008 conference in Texas this week, Wimba launched a new version of Wimba Classroom, the virtual classroom component of the company's Collaboration Suite. The new 5.2 release expands options for classroom capture and adds a variety of other functional and ease of use features.
- Automation Chimera: Education Is Not Management
The lure of automating workflow online so human intervention is minimized is continually reinforced in the minds of higher education administrators by examples of automated campus systems such as financials, student information systems, and other enterprise systems. But what's good for management is not always good for learning.
- Cognos Releases BI Software for Linux-based IBM System z Mainframe
Cognos, which IBM acquired in January, has released an update to its business intelligence software that will run on the Linux operating system on IBM System z mainframes. IBM Cognos 8 BI was being developed by the two companies prior to the acquisition, but assimilation of Cognos into IBM accelerated development.
- Facebook and Collegiality: A Serendipitous Social Niche
Facebook is a way to greet a colleague as if she or he is on your own campus: a wave at a distance, a hello at the corner burrito place, a honk as you both leave the campus parking lot. Informal collegiality has been extended over the miles.
