Tag: Blog

Discover the flaw in Nikon’s image authentication system and the implications for security. Learn why true file integrity relies on more than checksum protection.

The H.264 bitstream includes the Sequence Parameter Set (SPS) and the Picture Parameter Set (PPS). Both entities contain information that an H.264 decoder needs to decode the video data, for example, the resolution and frame rate.

My partner Mike Perkins and I traveled this week to Las Vegas to take in NAB, one of the big trade shows for the broadcast video market. We try to travel together once or twice a year because, in addition to whatever immediate objective we have in taking the trip, we’ve found that traveling together...

I spent the day yesterday in Las Vegas for ISC West, one of the largest shows for the CCTV and security industry. We have a couple of customers exhibiting at this show, and I haven’t attended the last couple of years, so it was interesting to see. CCTV / Security is a tough industry to...

We normally take the humble bug report for granted, but getting your company to write good bug reports is one of the cheapest and easiest ways you can increase product quality and shorten development schedules. That’s because, when a bug report is poorly worded or doesn’t include all the key information, it takes a lot...

Evidently the Justice Department is investigating MPEG LA on the grounds that they may be stifling innovation in the area of standards for web video. From today’s Wall St. Journal: The Justice Department is investigating whether a group representing some top technology firms is unfairly trying to smother a free rival technology for delivering online...

If you’ve ever had occasion to watch video on a computer, you might have noticed that it doesn’t look like it does on your TV. This is especially true when watching interlaced video. This post briefly describes some issues associated with using a computer as a video display device. Let’s start with interlaced video. What...

There’s a lot of advice on the internet directed to engineers and other tech workers who reach a certain age. According to Penelope Trunk, you’re supposed to hide your age on your resume by deleting work experience older than about 15 years ago and omitting the date on your college degree. (I’m going to blow...

In all the internet video out there, there are basically two methods of delivery: Progressive download and adaptive bit rate streaming.

The use of transforms in data compression algorithms is at least 40 years old. The goal of this three-part series of posts is to provide the mathematical background necessary for understanding transforms and to explain why they are a valuable part of many compression algorithms. I’m focusing on video since that’s my particular interest. Part...

I’ve been waiting for a little to mull over Google’s announcement about dropping H.264 support in Chrome in favor of VP8. Although my partner Ben Mesander would take the other side of the argument, I think the world needs VP8 like a fish needs a bicycle.

The use of transforms in data compression algorithms is at least 40 years old. The goal of this three-part series of posts is to provide the mathematical background necessary for understanding transforms and to explain why they are a valuable part of many compression algorithms. I’m focusing on video since that’s my particular interest. Part...