[NeoMac]

QuickTime exec has publically & officially stated MPEG4 is the next big thing for QuickTime. How soon will this debut? What are the practical implications of MPEG4 to Mac users and the overall consumer market?

I understand that it is "more data at a lesser bandwidth", but what will be done with it?

Does it mean we can watch movie trailers at full screen, DV quality? Or full screen, with quality between TV and DVD?

Is it an interactive technology? Are we going to have interacitve content? MPEG4 internet movie stations?

MPEG4 camcorders?

What are the practical implications?

It seems to be a fascinating bit of technology that will be a big part of Apple's 2002 strategy.

MPEG4 based codecs have been around forever now and with the advent of "Corona" they will soon be playable by almost every set top DVD player (well MS's WMV9 anyway). Maybe Apple has enough clout in DV market to follow in MS’s footsteps with their MPEG4 QT codec – if not the inability to encode WMV9 under MacOS may put a damper on Apple’s attempt at a turnkey end-to-end DVD production solution.

[handygeek]

<STRONG>MPEG4 based codecs have been around forever now and with the advent of "Corona" they will soon be playable by almost every set top DVD player (well MS's WMV9 anyway). Maybe Apple has enough clout in DV market to follow in MS’s footsteps with their MPEG4 QT codec – if not the inability to encode WMV9 under MacOS may put a damper on Apple’s attempt at a turnkey end-to-end DVD production solution.</STRONG>[/QUOTE]


Just because MPEG-4 codecs have been around, that doesn't mean MPEG-4 has been around. The codecs are one small part of the MPEG-4 equation. Corona's codec is not MPEG-4 compliant, it is proprietary. MS muscled themselves into a strategic position seemingly to compete with MPEG-4. If they succeed, I would guess MS will help Avid in pushing AAF forward as quickly as possible. AAF covers MPEG-7 and then some. If MS pushes hard enough, they could gain a strong foothold and MPEG-4 will become a moot technology. Corona/AAF might just be able to do that together. This would mean Apple would have to make FCP an AAF compliant NLE.

OTOH, if Apple also comes out with an opensource MPEG-4 platform (like AAF), they stand to slaughter MS in this space. I'm really looking forward to hearing about MPEG-4 in the keynote next week!!!



HandyGeek