H.264 Transcoder: Another sign Microsoft is fighting the inevitable.

[WriteSimply]

From Tech On! Japan

Fujitsu Launches Full HD H.264 Transcoder LSI
Aug 24, 2007 10:47
Nikkei Electronics Asia

Fujitsu Ltd has launched a transcoder large-scale integrated (LSI) chip that can convert full HD (1920 dot x 1080 line) MPEG-2 video data to H.264 data and compress data size to less than one-half that of MPEG-2. Sample shipments of the MB86H52 will start from September.

This transcoder makes it possible to extend recording time of recording devices such as hard disk recorders by over 2.5 times, as the chip enables data size compression without compromising video quality. The transcoder can also be embedded in a multitude of equipment requiring reduction of data size, and can realize full HD over narrower bandwidths used for home network, the use of which is anticipated to spread hereafter.

Fujitsu developed this MB86H52 transcoder LSI that converts MPEG-2 format video data to the H.264 format, which features a high compression rate. Functionality of this transcoder is based on the video processing technology of Fujitsu's full HD H.264 Codec LSI product, MB86H51, currently being shipped.

This transcorder is important when we move forward with a BD DVR, especially for the US market where ATSC is in MPEG-2. A transcoder like this would allow more and longer programs to be recorded on a BD-R25.

There seems to be no place for VC-1 except for X-Box Live downloads and HD-DVD.


fuad

[Papi4baby]

Isn't h.264 and Apple codec? I know online is starting to take the place of xvid in certain fan subs due to a slight better quality over xvid for the same size, and it is also being used to offered the same video at higher resolutions(bigger files) the only reason i guess this is maybe because is alot easier to encode for it that something else.

[Icemage]

H.264 isn't an Apple product.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264

H.264 is a standard for video compression. It is also known as MPEG-4 Part 10, or AVC (for Advanced Video Coding). It was written by the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) together with the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) as the product of a partnership effort known as the Joint Video Team (JVT). The ITU-T H.264 standard and the ISO/IEC MPEG-4 Part 10 standard (formally, ISO/IEC 14496-10) are jointly maintained so that they have identical technical content. The final drafting work on the first version of the standard was completed in May 2003.

On-the-fly transcoding of MPEG-2 to H.264 is a very big deal in the USA since so much content that is distributed is MPEG-2 (DVD as well as broadcast signals).

[gand41f]

Just out of (scientific) curiosity, does anyone know how is the performance (compression ratio, noise, etc.) of this transcoder compared to an encoder that starts from the original lossless datastream?

Are there any extra artifacts introduced by applying one lossless compression after another? (Cuz I know for instance a GIF file converted to JPEG often looks much worse than a JPEG created from the original raw pixels for this reason.)

just wondering
gandalf

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Icemage

H.264 isn't an Apple product.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264

It can, however, be used by Quicktime, and QT is being tweaked further in its direction as Steve Jobs wants to get Apple ready for Blu-ray.