Edit in MPEG-2, the fourth wave...............................
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edit in MPEG-2?
Now comes the fourth wave, a series of products from C-Cube Microsystems designed to convince professionals, prosumers, and consumers to edit in MPEG-2-a questionable proposition, because MPEG-2 delivers comparatively high quality at relatively low data rates, but uses interframe and intraframe compression, which typically produces more artifacts than intraframe-only technologies like Motion-JPEG.
This interframe compression also makes it tough for video editors like Adobe Premiere and Ulead's MediaStudio to work with complete frame accuracy. For this reason, while MPEG-2 is a great distribution format-the basis of DVD-Video-it's never been a great development format.
C-Cube's response is that MPEG-2 is the broadcast format for digital TV, so MPEG-2 editing will catch on in the broadcast space, while the file size savings will appeal to prosumers and consumers. After all, if MPEG-2 is four times more compact than Motion-JPEG, then you can do four times the work in the same disk space, and use lower-performance hard disk drives, to boot.
Plus, C-Cube insists the quality of its MPEG-2 solution is as good as Motion-JPEG, so there's no downside. And instead of the traditional push-and-shove strategy, C-Cube is using a kinder, gentler, spoonful-of-sugar strategy. In non-Mary Poppins speak, C-Cube's family of chips gives me something that I really, really want, something worth buying even if MPEG-2 editing is a bust. If they're right about the MPEG-2 quality, so much the better. For example, in the professional/ prosumer space, C-Cube is shipping the DVxpress-MX chipset at a price point that enables $1,000- to $2,000-priced cards. It's also the first chip to accept and interchange both DV and MPEG-2 video formats, enabling, for example, real-time capture of DV video and conversion into MPEG-2.
On its face-if you don't believe in MPEG-2 editing or deliver your content in MPEG-2 video-format interchangeability is a big yawner, and these products make little sense. However, C-Cube has thrown in a couple of very impressive spoonfuls of sugar. First, the DVxpress is one of the first chips to handle both DVCPro from Panasonic and DVCam from Sony. Even better, the DVxpress is a dual-stream codec that enables real-time rendering of transitions and other special effects-the Holy Grail of most prosumer DV videographers. This feature alone will enable boards built around the DVxpress to take the DV market by storm, where their owners will no doubt experiment with MPEG-2 and use it if C-Cube's quality claims bear fruit.
In the consumer space, C-Cube's recently announced DVxplore chip delivers DV/MPEG-2 interoperability at the sub-$300 price point, albeit without dual-stream, DV capabilities. So products based on these boards will accept input from all traditional analog and DV cameras, edit in DV or MPEG-2, and output back to the camera in DV format for transfer to VHS tape or in MPEG-2 for digital distribution.
MPEG-2 editing will be frame-accurate, with support from Ulead out of the chute. And, combined with a TV tuner, the chip lets you record "Frasier" while you're working out at the gym and play it back at broadcast quality. Of course, the DVxplore will also decode DVD-Video, allowing it to perform triple duty as a DVD decoder.
Most impressively, DVxplore marks the debut of "no apologies" digital video-broadcast-quality clips you can show around without apologizing for artifacts. And though it won't propel my book to Clancy-like sales numbers, it may make the fourth wave of digital video the first to hit the beach.
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