Microsoft Video 1

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Microsoft Video 1 or MS-CRAM [1] is an early lossy video compression and decompression algorithm (codec) that was released with version 1.0 of Microsoft's Video for Windows in November 1992. It is based on MotiVE, a vector quantization codec which Microsoft licensed from Media Vision. In 1993, Media Vision marketed the Pro Movie Spectrum, an ISA board that captured video in both raw and MSV1 formats (the MSV1 processing was done in hardware on the board).

A codec is a device or computer program for encoding or decoding a digital data stream or signal. Codec is a portmanteau of coder-decoder.

Video for Windows

Video for Windows (VfW) is a multimedia framework developed by Microsoft that allows Windows to play and encode digital video.

Vector quantization (VQ) is a classical quantization technique from signal processing that allows the modeling of probability density functions by the distribution of prototype vectors. It was originally used for data compression. It works by dividing a large set of points (vectors) into groups having approximately the same number of points closest to them. Each group is represented by its centroid point, as in k-means and some other clustering algorithms.

Contents

Compression algorithm

Microsoft Video 1 operates either in a 8-bit palettized color space or in a 15-bit RGB color space. [2] Each frame is split into 4×4 pixel blocks. [2] Each 4×4 pixel block can be coded in one of three modes: skip, 2-color or 8-color. [2] In skip mode, the content from the previous frame is copied to the current frame in a conditional replenishment fashion. [2] In 2-color mode, two colors per 4×4 block are transmitted, and 1 bit per pixel is used to select between the two colors. [2] In 8-color mode, the same scheme applies with 2 colors per 2×2 block. [2] This can be interpreted as a 2-color palette which is locally adapted on either a 4×4 block basis or a 2×2 block basis. Interpreted as vector quantization, vectors with components red, green, and blue are quantized using a forward adaptive codebook with two entries.

Palette (computing) in computer graphics, a finite set of colors

In computer graphics, a palette is a finite set of colors. Palettes can be optimized to improve image accuracy in the presence of software or hardware constraints.

Color quantization

In computer graphics, color quantization or color image quantization is quantization applied to color spaces; it is a process that reduces the number of distinct colors used in an image, usually with the intention that the new image should be as visually similar as possible to the original image. Computer algorithms to perform color quantization on bitmaps have been studied since the 1970s. Color quantization is critical for displaying images with many colors on devices that can only display a limited number of colors, usually due to memory limitations, and enables efficient compression of certain types of images.

Use in NetShow Encoder

The codec was available in Microsoft NetShow Encoder, [3] which was later renamed Windows Media Encoder, and made available via the SDK. The NetShow encoder allowed the user to select a 2 pass option, where in the first pass the video was analyzed to create a color palette, and in the second pass converted to the palettized color space and encoded. Before encoding, the video could be scaled. Later versions of Windows Media Encoder dropped support for Microsoft Video 1 and only supported Windows Media Video.

NetShow was Microsoft's original framework for Internet network broadcasting, intended to compete with RealNetworks RealMedia & Vivo. It is now renamed and marketed under the Windows Media umbrella.

Windows Media Encoder (WME) is a discontinued, freeware media encoder developed by Microsoft which enables content developers to convert or capture both live and prerecorded audio, video, and computer screen images to Windows Media formats for live and on-demand delivery. It is the successor of NetShow Encoder. The download page reports that it is not supported on Windows 7. WME has been replaced by a free version of Microsoft Expression Encoder. The Media 8 Encoding Utility is still listed. WME was available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

Image scaling

In computer graphics and digital imaging, imagescaling refers to the resizing of a digital image. In video technology, the magnification of digital material is known as upscaling or resolution enhancement.

See also

In computing, indexed color is a technique to manage digital images' colors in a limited fashion, in order to save computer memory and file storage, while speeding up display refresh and file transfers. It is a form of vector quantization compression.

Color Cell Compression is a lossy image compression algorithm developed by Campbell et al., in 1986, which can be considered an early forerunner of modern texture compression algorithms, such as S3 Texture Compression and Adaptive Scalable Texture Compression. It is closely related to Block Truncation Coding, another lossy image compression algorithm, which predates Color Cell Compression, in that it uses the dominant luminance of a block of pixels to partition said pixels into two representative colors. The primary difference between Color Cell Compression and Block Truncation Coding is that the former was designed to compress color images and the latter was designed to compress grayscale images. Also, Block Truncation Coding requires that the standard deviation of the colors of pixels in a block be computed in order to compress an image, whereas Color Cell Compression does not use the standard deviation. Both algorithms, though, can compress an image down to effectively 2 bits per pixel.

Apple Video is a lossy video compression and decompression algorithm (codec) developed by Apple Inc. and first released as part of QuickTime 1.0 in 1991. The codec is also known as QuickTime Video, by its FourCC RPZA and the name Road Pizza. When used in the AVI container, the FourCC AZPR is also used.

Related Research Articles

In signal processing, data compression, source coding, or bit-rate reduction involves encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation. Compression can be either lossy or lossless. Lossless compression reduces bits by identifying and eliminating statistical redundancy. No information is lost in lossless compression. Lossy compression reduces bits by removing unnecessary or less important information.

Windows Media Audio (WMA) is a series of audio codecs and their corresponding audio coding formats developed by Microsoft. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs. The original WMA codec, known simply as WMA, was conceived as a competitor to the popular MP3 and RealAudio codecs. WMA Pro, a newer and more advanced codec, supports multichannel and high resolution audio. A lossless codec, WMA Lossless, compresses audio data without loss of audio fidelity. WMA Voice, targeted at voice content, applies compression using a range of low bit rates. Microsoft has also developed a digital container format called Advanced Systems Format to store audio encoded by WMA.

Compression artifact noticeable distortion of media caused by the application of lossy data compression

A compression artifact is a noticeable distortion of media caused by the application of lossy compression.

The BMP file format, also known as bitmap image file or device independent bitmap (DIB) file format or simply a bitmap, is a raster graphics image file format used to store bitmap digital images, independently of the display device, especially on Microsoft Windows and OS/2 operating systems.

Smacker video file format

Smacker video is a video file format developed by RAD Game Tools, and primarily used for full-motion video in video games. Smacker uses an adaptive 8-bit RGB palette. RAD's format for video at higher color depths is Bink Video. The Smacker format specifies a container format, a video compression format, and an audio compression format. Since its release in 1994, Smacker has been used in over 2300 games. Blizzard used this format for the cinematic videos seen in its games Warcraft II, StarCraft and Diablo I.

Cinepak is a lossy video codec developed by Peter Barrett at SuperMac Technologies, and released in 1991 with the Video Spigot, and then in 1992 as part of Apple Computer's QuickTime video suite. One of the first video compression tools to achieve full motion video on CD-ROM, it was designed to encode 320×240 resolution video at 1× CD-ROM transfer rates. The original name of this codec was Compact Video, which is why its FourCC identifier is CVID. The codec was ported to the Microsoft Windows platform in 1993. It was also used on first-generation and some second-generation CD-ROM game consoles, such as the Atari Jaguar CD, Sega CD, Sega Saturn, and 3DO. libavcodec includes a Cinepak decoder and an encoder, both licensed under the terms of the LGPL.

QuickTime Animation format is a video compression format and codec created by Apple Computer to enable playback of RGB video in real time without expensive hardware. It is generally found in the QuickTime container with the FourCC 'rle '. It can perform either lossless or lossy compression and is one of the few video codecs that supports an alpha channel. Supported color depths are 1-bit (monochrome), 15-bit RGB, 24-bit RGB, 32-bit ARGB, as well as palettized RGB. As a result of reverse-engineering of the format, a decoder is implemented in XAnim as well as an encoder and decoder in libavcodec.

SMPTE 421M, informally known as VC-1, is a video coding format. Most of it was initially developed as the proprietary video format Windows Media Video 9 by Microsoft in 2003. With some enhancements including the development of a new Advanced Profile, it was officially approved as a SMPTE video codec standard on April 3, 2006.

H.262 or MPEG-2 Part 2 is a video coding format developed and maintained jointly by ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) and ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). It is the second part of the ISO/IEC MPEG-2 standard. The ITU-T Recommendation H.262 and ISO/IEC 13818-2 documents are identical. The standard is available for a fee from the ITU-T and ISO.

MPEG-4 Part 2, MPEG-4 Visual is a video compression format developed by MPEG. It belongs to the MPEG-4 ISO/IEC standards. It is a discrete cosine transform compression standard, similar to previous standards such as MPEG-1 Part 2 and H.262/MPEG-2 Part 2. Several popular codecs including DivX, Xvid and Nero Digital implement this standard.

Indeo family of audio and video formats and codecs published by Intel in 1992

Indeo Video is a family of audio and video formats and codecs designed for real-time video playback on desktop CPUs first released in 1992. While its original version was related to Intel's DVI video stream format, a hardware-only codec for the compression of television-quality video onto compact discs, Indeo was distinguished by being one of the first codecs allowing full-speed video playback without using hardware acceleration. Also unlike Cinepak and TrueMotion S, the compression used the same Y'CbCr 4:2:0 colorspace as the ITU's H.261 and ISO's MPEG-1. Indeo use was free of charge to allow for broadest usage.

Avid DNxHD is a lossy high-definition video post-production codec developed by Avid for multi-generation compositing with reduced storage and bandwidth requirements. It is an implementation of SMPTE VC-3 standard.

WebP type of image file format

WebP is an image format employing both lossy and lossless compression. It is currently developed by Google, based on technology acquired with the purchase of On2 Technologies.

Sorenson Media was an American software company specializing in video encoding technology. Established in December 1995 as Sorenson Vision, the company developed technology which was licensed and ultimately acquired from Utah State University. The company first announced its codec at a developer’s preview at MacWorld Expo in January 1997.

QuickTime Graphics is a lossy video compression and decompression algorithm (codec) developed by Apple Inc. and first released as part of QuickTime 1.x in the early 1990s. The codec is also known by the name Apple Graphics and its FourCC SMC. The codec operates on 8-bit palettized RGB data. The bit-stream format of QuickTime Graphics has been reverse-engineered and a decoder has been implemented in the projects XAnim and libavcodec.

Apple ProRes is a high quality video compression format developed by Apple Inc. for use in post-production that supports up to 8K. It is the successor of the Apple Intermediate Codec and was introduced in 2007 with Final Cut Studio 2. It is widely used as a final format delivery method for HD broadcast files in commercials, features, Blu-ray and streaming.

References

  1. ↑ "Troubleshooting Video Codecs in Windows 95". Support.microsoft.com. 2006-11-15. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mike Melanson (13 March 2003). "Description of the Microsoft Video-1 Decoding Algorithm" . Retrieved 5 April 2013.
  3. ↑ "Creating NetShow™ Video". Microsoft. Archived from the original on 2014-01-12.
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