Fundamentals and Evolution of MPEG-2 Systems - Paving the MPEG Road

It is important to understand the fundamentals of MPEG-2 Systems in order to design high performance, cost effective products that support or use this standard. In-depth knowledge of the fundamentals of the standard, including the theoretical basis of it, is essential for those who may be extending the MPEG-2 Systems standard in the future, or designing other standards that address some of the same design problems.§The MPEG-2 Systems standard itself is concise and rigorous. However it does not serve well as an educational treatise. MPEG-2 Systems in Perspective will describe the fundamentals and details of MPEG-2 Systems technology and will also provide background and anecdotes on how and why MPEG-2 Systems became what is. To understand MPEG-2 Systems, basic knowledge of MPEG video and audio is needed because several of the basic concepts in MPEG-2 Systems were developed first for MPEG-1 Systems. The book therefore includes some preliminary chapters about compression, MPEG-1 and fundamentals before moving onto MPEG-2 systems and concluding with some additional issues such as encoding, reception, other standards and applications. This book provides a tutorial introduction into MPEG-2 transport, both the Transport Stream and the Program Stream, including MPEG-2 tables.