Video, Imaging, Audio Codecs and Other Software

Video, imaging and audio codecs (compressor/decompressors) have become a part of everyday life. Among routine applications of the compression technology by individuals and enterprises are streaming video on computers, the signal received by satellite receivers or DVD player, compressed video to train employees at their desks, video conference calls, Cell phone video being done.

Floreat provides OEMs and ODMs with optimized video, imaging and audio codecs that are used for a range of multimedia applications on both client and server sides.

Video:      MPEG4, H.263, H.264
Imaging:  JPEG, JPEG2000
Audio:      MP3, AAC, AMR, Wideband AMR

In order to reduce time-to-market, Floreat also supports its customers with middleware software, a configurable framework that permits OEMs of wireless and handheld devices to more easily integrate the codecs into their existing platforms.

Processors

We offer codecs that have been optimized on ARM, C55x, OMAP, XScale processors; other processor implementations are available on request. The low-power demands of these processors makes our software particularly suited to mobile applications.

Applications

Among the many uses of our software, it is optimized for and embedded in ARM based platforms of

1)  MPEG4/Div X video players and recorders for Camcorders and Media Players
2)  MP3/AAC audio players and recorders
3)  Multiple node Videoconferencing

Video, Imaging, Audio Codecs and Other Software printable pdf version

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Glossary

Video codecs operate similarly to the software that is commonly used to compress computer files for easier transmission or storage. The biggest difference, however, is the higher speed at which a video codec must operate. Ten years ago, when the first video codec standards started to emerge, all the work of compressing and decompressing the video signal had to be done within specialized chips since the CPUs then were unable to perform the necessary calculations fast enough. With today's speedy processors, most video decompression can occur on the handheld PDAs without the need for special video cards or extra video-specific processors.

Every video codec works in essentially the same manner: They take an incoming video stream, compress the signal by deleting extraneous or duplicate information, and transmit it. At the receiving end, the codec decompresses the signal and displays it on the monitor or television. The primary separation between all codecs is how tight or how fast they can compress the stream. Tight compression results in a smaller amount of bandwidth being used for transmission or storage but may require more processing horsepower than is available in a given amount of time, resulting in the inability to compress the signal in real time. Faster compressors may take shortcuts to get to the end result, leaving a video signal that does not retain all the original quality and clarity or isn't compressed as tightly. The trick is to find the balance between small files and real-time compression that gives the best quality. Video codecs are typically classified as lossy or lossless. Typically, lossy means a visible loss of quality, whereas lossless defines an image with imperceptible loss. Most video codecs are lossy to some extent but some amount of loss is acceptable without degrading the experience.

The most recognizable form of video codec is the MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) and refers to the committee that developed the successful standards known as MPEG-1 (1992) and MPEG-2 (1994), and the MPEG-4 standard (Version 1 in 1998, and version 2 in 1999).

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MPEG-1 was designed as a motion-based extension to the JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) still-image format, which was gaining wide popularity in the desktop publishing world. MPEG-1 can also trace its roots back to the H.261 video standard used for teleconferencing. The MPEG1 bitstream is broken into three main pieces: system, video and audio. System covers the bitstream itself and its format. The video and audio sections are the compressed streams.

The macroblock, which is a collection of pixels or PELs (picture elements), is one of the differences between MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 (ISO 13818). The size of the macroblock in an MPEG-2 is variable and can include more information than in MPEG-1. This provides the variable bit rate common in MPEG-2 streams. The stream maintains a maximum bit rate, which can actually be lower because of the video being encoded. The encoder thereby can simplify the stream and the number of macroblocks if large areas of the image are not changing much. MPEG2 also has support for better audio. MPEG-1 supports only stereo audio synchronized within the stream. MPEG-2 separates the audio, allowing for anything from stereo to multiple channel surround sound to be included with the stream. On the video-quality side, MPEG2 introduced the ability to encode 10-bit color information, along with handling interlaced video signals. The MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 standards have enabled the production of widely adopted commercial products, such as Video CD, MP3, digital audio broadcasting (DAB), DVD, digital television (DVB and ATSC), and many video-on-demand trials and commercial services.

MPEG-4is the first real multimedia representation standard, allowing interactivity and a combination of natural and synthetic material; coded in the form of objects (it models audiovisual data as a composition of these objects). MPEG4 is a low bandwidth, high quality video, and uses limited storage space, MPEG4 provides the standardized technological elements enabling the integration of the production, distribution and content access paradigms of the fields of interactive multimedia, mobile multimedia, interactive graphics and enhanced digital television, PVR, PDA/ camcorders.

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ITU-T H.263 recommendation specifies a coded representation that can be used for compressing the moving picture component of audio-visual services at low bit rates. The basic configuration of the video source coding algorithm is based on Recommendation H.261 and is a hybrid of inter-picture prediction to utilize temporal redundancy and transform coding of the remaining signal to reduce spatial redundancy. The source coder can operate on five standardized picture formats: sub-QCIF, QCIF, CIF, 4CIF and 16CIF. H.263 supports frame rates from 1 fps to 30 fps and data rates from 4 Kbps to 1 Mbps. Ideal for streaming video over IP, video surveillance, video conferencing, digital video recorders, PDA.

ITU-T H.264 Advanced Video Codec offers reduction in bit-rate over earlier technologies such as about 65% over MPEG-2 and about 45% over MPEG-4 due to high rate distortion efficiency. H.264 also offers streaming support, ability to effectively handle editing effects and enhanced error resilience. Ideal for video conferencing, video phones, VoD, video surveillance, security cameras.

A joint ISO/CCITT committee known as JPEG( Joint Photographic Experts Group ) established the first international compression standard for continuous-tone still images. Their recommended standard forms the basics of the worldwide still image compression scheme popularly known as JPEG. The JPEG compression format was standardised by ISO in August 1990 and commercial applications using it began to show up in 1991. The amount of compression can be adjusted to achieve the desired trade-off between file size and visual quality.To meet differing needs of many applications the JPEG standard includes two basic compression methods: A DCT based lossy compression and a Predictive method lossless compression.

JPEG 2000 is intended to be a new and improved image compression method that replaces both JPEG and JBIG. JPEG 2000 is based on the discrete wavelet transformation (DWT), scalar quantization, context modeling, arithmetic coding and post-compression rate allocation. JPEG2000 provides random access (i.e. involving a minimal decoding) to the block level in each sub-band, thus making possible to decode a region of the image without having to decode it as a whole. These two features could be very advantageous in applications such as digital libraries. From a functionality point of view JPEG 2000 is a true improvement, providing lossy and lossless compression, progressive and parseable bitstreams, error resilience, region of interest, random access and other features in one integrated algorithm. Concerning error resilience JPEG 2000 offers higher protection than JPEG. Thus JPEG2000 provides the most flexible solution, combining good compression performance with a rich set of features.

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