Product Description

MPEG-4 will transform Internet-based multimedia by delivering breakthrough video and audio quality, flexibility, and control. Now, there's a complete guide to MPEG-4 for everyone who wants to take advantage of it, from Internet media programmers to senior decision-makers. In MPEG-4 Jump-Start, two leaders of the Internet multimedia community introduce every aspect of the MPEG-4 standard: its fundamental concepts, capabilities, applications, requirements, limitations, and more. Walk through everything you need to know to start working with MPEG-4 today, from installing players and finding content, to creating and distributing your own content. Understand the underlying technical capabilities of MPEG-4 from a programmer's perspective, and learn why it represents a breakthrough solution for any networked environment -- Web, satellite, or even wireless.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1688210 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

From the Back Cover

The "get started" developer's guide to MPEG-4, the future of Internet and Web multimedia!

MPEG-4 will transform Internet- and Web-based multimedia by enabling breakthrough audio, video, 2D, and 3D capabilities. This book is for every developer and technical decision-maker. In MPEG-4 Jump-Start, two leaders of the Internet multimedia community introduce the MPEG-4 standard: its key concepts, capabilities, applications, requirements, and limitations. Aaron E. Walsh and Mikael Bourges-Sevenier cover what you need to know to start developing MPEG-4 players and content today, including:

• How MPEG-4 builds on the success of the MPEG standards that enabled CDs, DVDs, and MP3
• MPEG-4's underlying technical capabilities and requirements
• 2D/3D scene composition and the MPEG-4 Binary Format for Scenes (BIFS)
• MPEG-4 techniques for facial and body animation
• New compression methods for 3D meshes
• XMT: The XML-based textual format for storing MPEG-4 contents and authoring commands

MPEG-4 offers unprecedented opportunities for delivering media in any networked communications environment—Internet, Web, broadcast, satellite, or even wireless. MPEG-4 Jump-Start gives you specific, insider's techniques for building tomorrow's breakthrough media applications—starting right now.

Every Jump-Start book is:

AUTHORITATIVE written by world-class experts personally involved with the design and development of that technology FOCUSED providing exactly what you need to know to get started immediately with minimum effort PRACTICAL teaching you the skills and techniques that you need to develop professional, real-world software applications

About the Author

AARON E. WALSH is Chairman of Mantis Development Corporation, a development firm specializing in advanced multimedia and network technologies. He is Chairman of the Web3D Consortium's Universal Media technical working group, Chairman of the Web3D-MPEG group responsible for the convergence of Web3D and MPEG technology, Co-Chair of the Web3D Intellectual Property Rights group, and Web3D Liaison to MPEG and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Walsh is author of the best-selling Core Web3D, XHTML Example by Example, and Java 3D API Jump-Start.

MIKAEL BOURGES-SEVENIER is Senior Software Engineer for iVAST Inc., a development firm specializing in advanced multimedia technologies. With expertise in 2D, 3D, and multimedia technologies, he is actively involved in several areas of MPEG-4 development. In addition to serving as Co-Chairman of the MPEG-4 Animation Framework Extension (AFX) animation group, Bourges-Sevenier is responsible for the animation system for the MPEG-4 Reference Software Group.

---

Customer Reviews

Covers a limited subset of MPEG-4 issues
The title and cover text of this book are misleading. Rather than being a general "get started" guide to MPEG-4, it is a detailed treatment of scene composition and animation tools. Important topics such as the Visual and Audio coding tools are hardly mentioned. Based on the book advertising material, I was expecting a much wider treatment of MPEG-4 and I think many developers may be disappointed with the relatively narrow scope of this book.