
Chapter 4
Compression
4.1 Introduction
If we were to use video data in a direct form, representing each pixel of each
frame as a triplet of red, green and blue values expressed with a fixed number
of bits, then the amount of data involved would be enormous in every regard:
recording, storage, transmission. For instance, recording images of 2880x1620
pixels at 30 frames per second and with 10 bits of color information per channel
would require a data rate of approximately 4 gigabits per second. This figure
is beyond the capabilities of todays’ cameras. A bandwidth of 4 Gb/s is also
exceedingly larger than current typical values for domestic DSL connections, ...