IP: Microsoft lobs proprietary codec into MPEG-centric DVD market

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> To: OpenDTV Mail List <openDTV () topica com>
> From: Craig Birkmaier <craig () pcube com>
>
> Microsoft lobs proprietary codec into MPEG-centric DVD market
> December 18, 2001 12:00am
> Source: CMP Media Inc.
>
> ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING TIMES: New York - The consumer business has
> been bracing for an assault, and last week it got one. Microsoft
> Corp. lobbed a proprietary encoding technique into the competition
> for next-generation DVD players, roiling an industry that has
> coalesced around MPEG standards for that job.
>
> At the Internet World conference here, Microsoft previewed a
> technology, code-named Corona, that can encode high-definition video
> at 24 frames per second, at a compression ratio superior to MPEG-2.
> The PC software giant has recruited a number of backers among
> Hollywood studios looking for a new way to encode content and achieve
> more-robust copy protection for upcoming high-definition (HD) DVD
> systems.
>
> The company said this new version of Windows Media, set for release
> next year, will enable high-quality movie streaming over the Web.
> Besides packing HD video on a DVD, it will offer disk and player
> makers an alternative to costly blue-laser technology in HD-DVD
> machines.
>
> A DVD Forum working group, meeting this week in Japan, will
> scrutinize the technology and several other codecs as it explores
> encoding schemes for the coming HD-DVD specification.
>
> Unnerved Japanese consumer electronics vendors are calling Corona a
> Trojan horse attempt to overtake the HD-DVD design, which was
> expected to be built around the blue-laser technology in which
> they've invested for years. While a blue laser could use MPEG-2
> encoding to cram 9 Gbytes of high-definition content onto a two-layer
> DVD, Corona has the same capacity without a shift to blue-laser
> technology.
>
> Corona's Windows Media Professional codec can play a 24-bit,
> 5.1-channel surround-sound file over an Internet Protocol connection
> at a 96-kHz sampling rate. A new Fast Stream feature eliminates the
> buffering of streaming audio and video files on a broadband
> connection, giving users what Microsoft called an "instant-on"
> experience and enabling them to channel surf between Web streams.
>
> A new video codec would boost performance 20 percent over
> current-generation versions, and would allow playback of
> high-definition 720 x 1,280-pixel progressive-scan video at 24
> frames/s, said Will Poole, vice president of Microsoft's Windows
> Digital Media Division. With Corona's coding efficiency, "studios
> could put all the Godfather movies or a musician's entire discography
> on a single CD," Poole said.
>
> Industry observers raised some flags over Microsoft's approach,
> however. A movie executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said
> some DVD Forum members would like to see MPEG-2 continue for
> encoding, and noted that a complete switch to blue-laser technology
> would involve a "very costly" overhaul of disk manufacturing,
> resulting in more expensive disks.
>
> Encoding improvements
>
> "Our view is that encoding improvements [in existing technology]
> could deliver an HD-DVD visual experience on a DVD-9," or a
> dual-layer DVD disk with a 9-Gbyte capacity, the executive said.
> "We've been encouraging Microsoft and a few others [including MPEG-4
> codec players] to attain these encoding goals."
>
> The target bit rate for offering HD-DVD content on a DVD-9 disk is
> about 7 Mbits/s. Corona is said to be capable of providing HD-quality
> video at a bit rate between 3.5 and 9 Mbits/s.
>
> Jonathan Usher, group manager of the Windows Digital Media Division,
> claimed Microsoft has "massive support for Corona from content
> owners." That's because Corona is "the only one" offering what Usher
> called "a magic combination" of efficient coding; security, in the
> form of digital rights management; and reach: 350 million Windows
> Media Player users.
>
> Despite some obvious advantages, several sources in studios and the
> consumer industry remained suspicious. Some termed Corona, especially
> applied to the DVD platform, "Microsoft's latest bid" to establish a
> beachhead in the consumer electronics market. "The question you'd
> have to ask yourself is whether you want to lock yourself into one
> solution offered by Microsoft-whether a coding scheme or a digital
> management system-forever," a source said.
>
> Rob Koenen, president of the MPEG-4 Industry Forum, said that
> different profiles of MPEG-4 can provide 1,920 x 1,080-pixel
> resolution for both progressive and interlaced video at up to 60
> frames/s. The Advanced Coding Efficiency and Main profiles "are both
> geared toward HD applications," he said, and the forum's decision to
> incorporate the H.26L video compression algorithm into the spec will
> greatly improve coding efficiency.
>
> Several studios have reportedly released some of their content to
> Microsoft to see how well Corona can encode it."That's not to say
> that we've decided on Corona," said one studio source.
>
> Other codecs under review for HD-DVD include several newly improved
> MPEG-4 encoders, wavelet-based encoding schemes and discrete cosine
> transform-based codecs such as H.26L.
>
> "The hold-up for HD-DVD is not so much the blue laser, but the lack
> of copy protection systems," said Michelle Abraham, senior analyst
> for multimedia at Cahners' In-Stat Group (Scottsdale, Ariz.). She
> expressed doubts that the HD-DVD spec can be standardized before 2005.
>
> In the meantime, global DVD player sales are booming. Not counting
> game consoles that offer software-based DVD playback, 29 million
> units of DVD players will have shipped this year, Abraham said.
> Player sales will continue to grow, to 41 million units in 2002 and
> 52 million units in 2003, she projected.
>
> One of the biggest obstacles Corona faces is copy protection, a deal
> breaker for Hollywood studios reluctant to target first-run content
> for delivery to PCs. Acknowledging that there is no such thing as a
> fool-proof encryption scheme, security experts said the industry
> needs technologies that not only prevent copyrighted material from
> theft, but also detect burglars and respond to alarms. "We are not
> just concerned about the quality of copy protection systems," said
> Alan Bell, senior vice president, technology, at Warner Bros.
> (Burbank, Calif.). "We are also concerned with the response time it
> takes to revoke the access rights once the copy protection system is
> broken."
>
> Smoldering debate
>
> The advent of Corona has meanwhile ignited a long-smoldering debate
> in the consumer industry about whether proprietary solutions should
> have a place in digital consumer products.
>
> Yet in targeting the DVD platform, Microsoft might accidentally fall
> into the hardware-based business models that have trapped the
> consumer industry for years, some observers said. Once a codec is
> tied to a consumer platform, "You need to freeze the standard," said
> MPEG-4 Forum's Koenen. "You can't upgrade your software every month
> for DVD players," as you can for PCs. In contrast, MPEG-4 could
> provide system vendors an evolutionary path for the next generation
> of codecs that many companies will explore and enhance.
>
> "The interest in MPEG-4 support exists all over Japan, and H.26L has
> been talked about a lot," said Tim Vehling, senior director of
> marketing for consumer products at LSI Logic Corp. "Corona has been
> discussed as well."
>
> Licensing issues may add risk to those embracing Corona. Despite a
> widespread assumption that Microsoft will be doling out Corona free
> of charge, some technology executives at studios suspected that 80
> percent of Microsoft's underlying Windows Media video codec may be
> based on MPEG-4 technologies. Although Microsoft is one of the 19
> essential patent holders for MPEG-4 video codec, an executive said,
> "Windows Media could well be violating MPEG-4 patents."
>
> http://www.eetimes.com/
>
> Copyright c 2001 CMP Media LLC
>
> By Junko Yoshida and Rick Merritt
>
> <<ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING TIMES -- 12-17-01, p. PG1>>
>
> << Copyright ©2001 CMP Media Inc. >>
>
> ==^================================================================
> This email was sent to: farber () cis upenn edu
>
> EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bz8QYL.bAeipm
> Or send an email to: OpenDTV-unsubscribe () topica com
>
> T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail!
> http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register
> ==^================================================================

For archives see:
http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/