Markets

Broadcast
Production
Consumer

Production Storage
Video On Demand (VOD) Storage
Digital Video Recorder (DVR) Storage

Format Conversion

The broadcast industry is driven by the need to convert to digital television formats, both standard definition (SDTV) and high definition (HDTV). In the short run, it will be necessary for each broadcaster to up-sample content mastered for the SDTV channel to broadcast over the HDTV channel, or to down-sample the HDTV channel to SDTV format.

Broadcast

As HDTV broadcasts become more popular and users spend money upgrading their home systems to high definition-capable equipment, a station will be judged on the clarity of its HDTV broadcasts. When the source content is in a lower resolution (say SDTV), the up-sampling algorithm becomes a significant value-add to the station, exploiting the full potential of the HDTV medium.

Telecine becomes more attractive when continuous pulldown is used instead of industry-standard 3:2 pulldown, or even more modern mixed-frame or motion-estimated transition field (2:1:2 pulldown). Motion pictures are exhibited with a smoothness of motion that cannot be obtained with current pulldown technology.

Production

Modern video production must integrate video sources from any of dozens of different digital formats, and be able to render into any of those sources as well. The production facility requires best quality format conversion, whether up-sampling or down-sampling, and whether the source has itself been up-sampled or down-sampled (multi-generation conversion).

When one further considers the possibility of signal degradation if multi-generational conversions are necessary, the importance of choosing the best possible solution becomes clear. However, as the broadcast station receives content mastered in any one of the thirty-one digital standards and must convert them to SDTV and its chosen HTDV resolution(s), the problem of format conversion may become acute.

Format conversion in the studio includes interlacing, frame rate translation, aspect ratio conversion, and field resolution. The quality of the final product is the calling card of the digital studio; no studio can afford inaccurate format translation. The statistical techniques which result in the idealized abstract representation of the content ensure high quality conversions in all dimensions.

So accurate is the idealized representation that a new effect may be added to the studio toolbox - continuous slow motion. Instant replay in slow motion of a critical sports scene shot at 60 fields per second today shows the figures jumping discontinuously from frame to frame. Continuous pulldown will interpolate the players' motions to appear as though the scene was filmed at a much higher speed - say 120 or 240 fields per second.

Similarly, conversion of 24 fps film to 60 field-per-second television can be accomplished with smooth continuously changing fields rather than 3:2 (or 2:1:2) pulldown, as is common in the industry today. And PAL to NTSC conversion can also be down more smoothly with Vodeo's continuous pulldown than the 1:1:1:1:2 pulldown that is used today.
Consumers are attracted to the higher resolution and movie-like format of the newly cost-reduced HDTV sets. The image fills a room with a theater-like ambience that promises an unheralded video experience.

Consumer

Very little HDTV content is available today to drive home theaters. Typically, SDTV from a cable or satellite connection is used to drive a low-resolution signal into the HDTV. Worse yet, DVDs are used to play a 16:9 subset of the SDTV picture into the entire screen - an even lower resolution source signal.

Manufacturers realize that HDTV sales will go to whoever best renders low-resolution video onto the big screen. Each vendor declares a proprietary technique, using marketing pitches such as "Natural Progressive" (JVC), Motion-Adaptive 480-line 3D Y/C comb filter, 480p upconversion system with 3-2 pulldown, DPM3 (DiamondDigital Pixel Multiplier) high-speed velocity-scan modulation and DefinEdge image enhancement circuit (Mitsubishi), Internal Line Doubler with 3:2 Pulldown (Panasonic), and Pro Chip Plus line doubler with 3:2 pulldown (Samsung). In this market, plenty of room exists to license a better mousetrap. The artifact-free nature of Futureware's format conversion fits the bill.

Storage

The advantages of our compression techniques enable significant savings in disk storage costs for video data. Futureware is licensing technology to create content-aware disk drives targeting the video post-production market. Equipped with fibre-channel, ATM and SCSI interfaces, these drives will store production-quality video with unprecedented economy.

Production Storage

Futureware's high-end storage solutions make use of lossless compression techniques that provide three times better compression ratios than current standards. These drives can revolutionize the cost structure of video storage, driving the per-second storage cost down significantly.

VOD Storage

Compatibility and ease of integration are critical for industry acceptance. The ZPEG compression algorithm allows transcoding to and from MPEG-2 in real time. This feature can be implemented within a content-aware Video-on-Demand (VOD) storage array. Doing so enables cost reduction in existing installations while preserving a migration path to an even more strategic solution.

DVR Storage

The proprietary nature of Digital Video Records creates an opportunity for deep penetration of the marketplace with inexpensive ZPEG ASICs. There is no need for compatibility, and the market will be driven by the best quality reproduction.

Personal video recorders can also benefit from the higher compression ratios. Disk prices are holding the DVR market back by inflating their prices well beyond those of VCRs; DVRs with CD-R removable media whose price can compete with VCR technology can be manufactured with the ZPEG compression scheme.

Defense, Law Enforcement, Security

Everything On Demand

Digital set-top boxes suffer from a proliferation of digital standards. For example, cable boxes require one modulation standardfor the delivery of MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 compressed video and another for the delivery of IP traffic. The rush to deliver some form of video-on-demand is leading the industry towards built-in digital video recorders, driving the price of cable boxes over $500.

Futureware’s compression technology enables a single delivery mechanism for all forms of content delivery - internet, broadcast, pay-per-view, or video-on-demand. Full-featured cable boxes with price tags under $100 are well within reach.

An important, "under-the-covers", feature of ZPEG interpolation is the ability to synchronize the input stream to the frame rate of the display device. Conventional set-top boxes must drop or duplicate frames when the input stream varies from the playback rate of the display device. ZPEG technology set-top boxes will be capable of smoothly synchronizing the playback rate to that of the display without noticeable artifact.

Another set-top feature is noise immunity. Loss of a single bit in the data stream will cause dozens of frames to black out, or form black boxes in the field of the picture. The ZPEG compression scheme degrades gracefully in the face of line errors, causing a gentle and temporary rolling-off of the visual clarity instead of a jarring discontinuity.

NTSC televisions are not likely to disappear from existence just because digital television becomes popular (or is legislated into exclusive existence). A market for devices capable of converting various digital television formats into analog NTSC compatible with the millions of sets that will remain functional well into the next two decades will appear, and can be economically addressed with Futureware's format conversion technology.