16
Introduction to video compression
Directly storing or transmitting digital video requires fairly high data capacity – about 20 megabytes per second for SD, or about 120 megabytes per second for HD. Here is a rule of thumb that relates storage capacity and data rate: Eight, 2000-ft reels of motion picture print film can carry a 133 1/3 minute movie; there are 8 bits in a byte and 60 seconds in a minute; and 60/8·1331/3is 1000. So one megabit per second equals one gigabyte per movie – whether compressed or not! Similarly, one gigabit per second equals one terabyte per movie.
A rule of thumb that relates data rate to storage capacity:
Mb/s = GB/movie
Gb/s = TB/movie
Economical storage or transmission requires compression. This chapter introduces ...
Get Digital Video and HD, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
