Digital Video for the Next Millennium

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Section Two: Video Encoding Standards
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The critical first step in the digital video process is the encoding of analog video to digital form. As mentioned in the last section, this usually requires compression of some information to create a usable digital file. There are many encoding technologies that create digital files that can be stored, served and played back on PC and Mac desktops. The only international standards developed and ratified according to established procedures by an authorized maintenance agency are those which have emerged from committees of the Moving Pictures Experts Groups: MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4.