Part 1 – Market Situation and Applications – THG.RU

Introduction – The World is Turning Digital

The trend for the next few years is recognizable now: digital media is constantly becoming more and more important. The vision of a perfect blend of telecommunication technology, consumer electronics and the PC will soon be a reality. What’s already become commonplace in many companies will soon reach private households: digital entertainment and information at-your-fingertips for everyone, whereby digital video isn’t restricted simply to the transmission of television channels. Digital technology has helped to overcome the barriers between the different media, whether we’re talking about a computer or television, a video recorder or a hi-fi system. In addition, it is possible for various devices to communicate with each other via digital interfaces without any loss in quality during the transmission.

The following guide will help you to gain a general overview of the current technologies, standards and applications that are available for digital video. Part 1 takes a look at specific application fields for home users and evaluates the market situation. Part 2 is concerned with companies. Part 3 is intended for technically-minded PC users looking for information about digital video formats and compression techniques. Part 4 contains a purchase guide with specific examples, according to application areas and prices. The last part of the guide takes a look at future developments and the use of digital video technology.

The Existing Infrastructure

Videos not only use up the resources of a computer, they also demand a high bandwidth for data transmission. With regard to these two points, the situation has improved in the last few years for companies. Prices for storage space have dropped and Intranet solutions have now reached a technical state that allows videos to be transmitted with acceptable quality.

With regard to an Internet connection, the situation for home users isn’t so rosy. Modems that have transmission rates up to a maximum of 56 kbps are most widespread. Only a few end users can savor a broad bandwidth technology. The installation of a fibre-glass cable in a household or a connection through a cable network are still relatively expensive affairs.

The established broad bandwidth cable network, which uses copper coaxial cables, is ideal for digital television. However, for a high speed Internet connection, some cable networks lack the necessary return line (upstream) which means that a transmission is in one direction only (unidirectional). Therefore, not every cable network provider enables you to use the Internet. Another transmission medium is the power grid. As with cable television, only few providers exist for this network. It remains to be seen whether these media will emerge in a leading role.

The real state-of-the-art solution is Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), also known as ADSL. The prefix “A” just stands for asymmetric which describes the transmission mode. DSL (or ADSL) uses existing telephone lines and therefore eliminates the need for new wiring. The advantage of ADSL: download rates are increased by a factor of 120 (approx. 8 Mbit/s) compared with rates possible with a 56k modem.

Market Situation

A growing number of companies communicate with each other via video conferences in order to save time and money that would otherwise be incurred by traveling employees. Video servers, whose databases can be used in virtually every business field, are also becoming increasingly important. For example, companies use them for further education of their employees (tele learning). Hospitals use videos in connection with patients’ records, insurance companies use them to evaluate damages and companies in the sex industry have extended their product palettes using video servers. These companies are sending their system administrators and IT employees to training courses for digital video technology in flocks.

As far as private users are concerned, only real freaks or so-called ‘video-age senior citizens’ use the new media. What many don’t know is that the technical requirements needed for digital video processing are often readily available when you buy a new PC. Despite this, the number of video enthusiasts remains small. A lot has been done in recent times to improve the usability of corresponding software, and the prices for the equipment have fallen to a level that makes it attractive to the broad public. The home user market has gradually started to grow, however the spectrum of hardware for digital video is still small. Before we report on the situation on the business market, we’d like to introduce you to a few products.

Applications for Digital Video

The following sections take a global look at application fields for digital video. This includes the reception of TV programs via the Internet, digital television on the TV at home using a set top box, video processing on the PC and video conferencing via the Internet or a dial-up network.

Video Processing for Home Users – Part 1

Video processing on the PC at home is a relatively new development and has only become realistic in the past two years. A significant requirement for successful video processing on the PC is high-performance hardware. This includes a hard disk drive with sufficient space (not under 10 GB) as well as enough system memory (at least 128 MB RAM). The analog or digital video signal is input to the PC via an interface board. In this way, video with differing qualities can be digitized and then processed on the PC. A standard video recorder with S-VHS or VHS recording capability can be used for video output. However, a more elegant solution is the conversion of the video clip to MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 format. One the one hand, the lossy conversion of an analog video signal is eliminated, and on the other, MPEG compressed videos can be saved on a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM.

The spectrum of products in the important sub $400 segment is fairly thin and is concentrated on vendors such as Fast, Iomega and Pinnacle for interface boards. For those who don’t require extensive editing functionality or post-video audio processing, the purchase of a hardware MPEG encoder is the best solution. An MPEG encoder is used to create compressed MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 format video files in real-time. This makes it possible to record video signals from any source onto the hard disk drive of a PC and then to banish them onto a CD-R or CD-RW using any inexpensive CD writer. A standard CD-R (650 MB) can hold up to approximately 65 minutes of MPEG-1 video. CD-R’s aren’t suitable for MPEG-2 files; roughly 15 minutes would fit onto them. Unfortunately, this means that you’ll have to wait until a standard-compliant DVD writer is available for these.

Video Processing for Home Users – Part 2

The most inexpensive MPEG-1 encoder that produces relatively high quality videos is currently on offer is the Studio MP10 from Pinnacle. It costs about $350 and is connected externally to the PC via the parallel interface.

This encoder virtually attains VHS video quality with a data rate just under 2,000 kbps. The quality of videos in MPEG-1 format is adequate for most applications. The only downside compared with MPEG-2 is the limited maximum resolution of 352 x 240 pixels. More aspiring home users and video freaks with a high-performance PC should instead look at more suitable video editing boards with a digital interface. Models such as the Fast DV Master Pro – which however, costs about $2,900 – or the Pinnacle DV300 have an IEEE-1394 interface which allows you to connect a digital video camera (acceptable models cost over $1,200) via a ‘FireWire’. In comparison with video editing boards with analog inputs, such as Fast’s AV Master, the transmission of audio and video data to the PC is practically without losses. The possibilities available to home users are summarized in the following table.

Digital Cameras

This encoder virtually attains VHS video quality with a data rate just under 2,000 kbps. The quality of videos in MPEG-1 format is adequate for most applications. The only downside compared with MPEG-2 is the limited maximum resolution of 352 x 240 pixels. More aspiring home users and video freaks with a high-performance PC should instead look at more suitable video editing boards with a digital interface. Models such as the Fast DV Master Pro – which however, costs about $2,900 – or the Pinnacle DV300 have an IEEE-1394 interface which allows you to connect a digital video camera (acceptable models cost over $1,200) via a ‘FireWire’. In comparison with video editing boards with analog inputs, such as Fast’s AV Master, the transmission of audio and video data to the PC is practically without losses. The possibilities available to home users are summarized in the following table.

A large number of inexpensive video cameras with digital recording (mini DV format) are on offer, especially for the consumer market. The magical price barrier for introductory models is around $1,200. In this field, the trend is strongly towards digital technology. In comparison, cameras with analog technology are on offer in the price range under $500. The advantages of models with digital technology are quite clear: the size and weight of the camera are radically reduced through the use of compact digital components. In addition, it is possible to connect the camera to a PC via the digital IEEE-1394 interface (FireWire). The market leader for digital video cameras is Sony, who simultaneously offers a broad palette of models in all price ranges. Digital video recorders are expensive, costing about $2,900 and they are mainly intended for professional video studios.

Digital Television/Set Top Boxes – Part 1

Television transmissions received via a terrestrial antenna are fairly vulnerable to interference. The situation is somewhat better with cable television, as the entire cable network is adequately shielded. Digital transmission technology makes it possible to compensate for interference using error-correction algorithms to eliminate image display and audio losses, provided the signal level doesn’t exceed a critical limit. Digital television can claim a further big advantage with respect to the required bandwidth: due to high compression rates, it is possible to transmit up to 8 different TV channels in superior quality using the bandwidth of a single analog channel.

A set top box can be used to receive digital television transmissions via cable or satellite.

Digital Television/Set Top Boxes – Part 2

Different means are available to receive digital television. Regardless of your choice, a set top box is necessary to receive it. The box is used to reconvert digital signals into analog images and sounds and to transmit these to a television, PC or another device. The type of set top box required varies according to the transmission type. There are devices for cable reception and satellite reception on the market which cost between $300 and $500. However, a box designed for digital cable reception can not receive digital satellite television (and vice versa). Currently the market is still dominated by set top boxes developed for direct broadcast satellites (DBS). HBO in the US and BSkyB in Britain offer part services via digital satellites already. US Cable networks like DirecTV or EchoStar will soon push cable set box boxes too. Models designed for terrestrial reception are under development in the US, Britain is already right on track for Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT).

Digital TV images or data services can be received using Digital Video Broadcasting, whereby the reception quality is much better than that of analog television. Something else to pay attention to is the cost of use which is comprised of a monthly basic charge according to a set rate and a charge which is possibly dependent on the actual use (pay per view). Conservative estimates project that television transmission will be exclusively digital (and no longer analog) by the year 2008. The market share of digital user devices is then expected to be 95%.

Read Part 2 to find out how the market has developed for companies.