Product Description

Rapidly evolving computer and communications technologies have achieved data transmission rates and data storage capacities high enough for digital video. But video involves much more than just pushing bits! Achieving the best possible image quality, accurate color, and smooth motion requires understanding many aspects of image acquisition, coding, processing, and display that are outside the usual realm of computer graphics. At the same time, video system designers are facing new demands to interface with film and computer system that require techniques outside conventional video engineering.

Charles Poynton's 1996 book A Technical Introduction to Digital Video became an industry favorite for its succinct, accurate, and accessible treatment of standard definition television (SDTV). In Digital Video and HDTV, Poynton augments that book with coverage of high definition television (HDTV) and compression systems.

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With the help of hundreds of high quality technical illustrations, this book presents the following topics:

* Basic concepts of digitization, sampling, quantization, gamma, and filtering
* Principles of color science as applied to image capture and display
* Scanning and coding of SDTV and HDTV
* Video color coding: luma, chroma (4:2:2 component video, 4fSC composite video)
* Analog NTSC and PAL
* Studio systems and interfaces
* Compression technology, including M-JPEG and MPEG-2
* Broadcast standards and consumer video equipment

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #323785 in Books
• Published on: 2002-12-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 736 pages

From the Back Cover
"This is the "Gamma Sutra" - a guide to the pleasures of understanding electronic pictures. It's like having the world's best teacher giving you a private seminar on whatever you need to know."
-Mark Schubin, multiple Emmy Award-winning Fellow of the Society of
Motion Picture and Television Engineers


"We are all looking forward to the benefits that will result from the convergence/collision between digital television and computers. This book is an invaluable reference in how digital video is done, both for TV people and for computer graphics people, and it will go a long way toward accelerating the convergence and in minimizing the damage it may cause to either party."
-From the Foreword by Jim Blinn, Microsoft Research

Rapidly evolving computer and communications technologies have achieved data transmission rates and data storage capacities high enough for digital video. But video involves much more than just pushing bits! Achieving accurate color, smooth motion, and the best possible image quality requires understanding many aspects of image acquisition, coding, processing, and display that are outside the usual realm of computer graphics. At the same time, video system designers are facing increasing demands to interface with film and computer systems, and they therefore need to understand many of the techniques of computer graphics.

Digital Video and HDTV Algorithms and Interfaces covers the theory and engineering of digital video systems in a manner that is equally accessible to video engineers and computer graphics practitioners. It provides succinct and accurate treatment of standard-definition television (SDTV), high-definition television (HDTV), and compression systems. With the help of hundreds of high-quality technical illustrations and an extensive glossary, this book details the following topics:

*Basic concepts of digitization, sampling, quantization, gamma, and filtering

*Principles of color science as applied to image capture and display

*Scanning and coding of SDTV and HDTV

*Video color coding: luma, chroma (4:2:2 component video, 4fSC composite video)

*Analog NTSC and PAL

*Studio systems and interfaces, including SDI, IEEE 1394, and DV-over-1394

*Digital videotape recording

*Compression technology, including M-JPEG, DV, and MPEG-2

*Broadcast standards (including digital television, DTV) and consumer video equipment

About the Author
Charles Poynton is an independent contractor specializing in digital color imaging systems, including digital video, HDTV, and digital cinema. A Fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Poynton was awarded the Society's prestigious David Sarnoff Gold Medal for his work to integrate video technology with computing and communications. Poynton is the author of the widely respected book, A Technical Introduction to Digital Video, published in 1996. Engineers (SMPTE), and in 1994 was awarded the Society's David Sarnoff Gold Medal for his work to integrate video technology with computing and communications. He is also the author of A Technical Introduction to Digital Video.

Customer Reviews

A great book for all watchers of TV technology
Charles Poynton is one of the world's leading experts on TV and video technology, and he's a great writer too. Poynton demonstrates good humor and tremendous attention to detail in this book. In fact, the price of the book is both funny and technically relevant-- it's the field rate of NTSC video, 59.94 Hertz!

Poynton details dozens of video standards in this book, which builds on his previous _A Technical Introduction to Digital Video_. That book has held a place of honor in my technical library since it was published, and Poynton's latest work will sit beside it.

_Digital Video and HDTV Algorithms and Interfaces_ is an even more substantial work than its predecessor, with 736 very readable pages covering essentially the whole world of digital video. Poynton starts the book with a comprehensive review of how images are composed, displayed and perceived, and brings in the relevant elements of specific video standards as he goes.

The second and third parts of the book cover all the other fundamental technologies that make digital video possible, including filtering algorithms, color science, and video compression.

Part 4 provides a detailed explanation of the key standards used for studio video production work, both analog and video, with a whole chapter to explain standard-definition test signals. Part 5 is a complementary discussion of broadcast and consumer standards. The book also includes two appendices explaining some important issues related to digital video, and a very thorough glossary.

I've been designing and writing about computer graphics and multimedia products for many years, and this is by far the best overview of digital video that I've seen. I highly recommend this book for everyone who is professionally involved in video engineering.

Peter N. Glaskowsky
Editor in Chief, Microprocessor Report

Excellent Resource!!!
This is an excellent book especially if you are an engineer like me who is working on Digital TV and HDTV products. It could also serve as an excellent textbook for college courses. I finished reading the book in about 5 days, and now I feel very confident about my HDTV knowledge. Make sure that you read the errata on the author's webpage before you start reading the book.

Required Reference
I spent the weekend with this book and find it as first skimming suggests- a reference of the highest order, packed from front to back with solid information for the video industry. It is unique among all similar books I've seen in that it is completely comprehensive. I'm buying more copies for my staff, and have recommended it to engineers at other PBS stations.