* * * Different Video Formats * * *

[wookie1820]

What is the main differences between an MPG-1, MPG-2 and an MP4 video format?

Thanks.......

[hech54]

https://www.videohelp.com/glossary?M#MPEG-1

[Midzuki]

Generally speaking, Wikipedia sucks, but its articles about
MPEG-1/2/4 are not-too-bad/still-worth-reading.
However I had seen nothing yet:

http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/frame/research/mpeg/mpeg_overview.html says:

Software-based MPEG-1 video decoding is considerably CPU-intensive. However, the performance bottleneck in current implementations is still file input, especially in the case of video playback through remote channel. Nevertheless, the performance requirement of a video decoder is still fundamentally bounded by the so-called real-time performance, which is 30 frames per second. There is no practical reason why one would desire a video decoder to run faster than real-time, except in fast-forwarding playback. In the case of fast-forwarding playback, the limited file input rate and the video output rate become the major concerns.

Software-based MPEG-1 video encoding is an entirely different story. While the encoder needs a decent input rate to read in the raw and uncompressed video source, the encoding process itself is extremely CPU-intensive. In order to achieve real-time encoding (30 frames per second), several GFlops is needed. Sequential software encoders are unavoidably slow. The Berkeley MPEG Encoder can compress video at a rate of 1.2 frames per second for 352x288 (CIF) images on a Sun SPARCstation 10. Hardware encoders can encode video in real-time by using multiple custom-designed video processor chips but they are expensive. The C-Cube real-time MPEG-1 video encoder uses 8 custom-designed video processor chips. A complete system is sold for $120,000. Much cheaper boards are available ($4,000 is the cheapest full MPEG-1 board we know of).

To obtain better software encoding performance, a cluster of workstations could be used to distribute the workload. The Berkeley Parallel MPEG Encoder can compress 4.7 frames per second on 6 Sun workstations connected by an ethernet.

The world has changed a lot since "sometime-before-2001", granted.

[PuzZLeR]

Some comments:

MPEG-1 is one of the first standards established some 15+ years ago. Tech back then was, obviously, much weaker and this form had a small screen (usually 320x240) and was used for multi-media CD-ROMs and some of the first CD based video games. Quite blocky, but served its purpose for that time when expectations were lower for digital file media. Consumers still were using VHS for the "high quality stuff" back then. It was called "MPEG" only until MPEG-2 came out.

MPEG-2 was designed a few years later for bigger resolutions and is the video adopted as a standard within all DvDs. The quality is still amazing today, but still needs very high bitrate and file size to acheive this. MPEG-2 is really a much bigger MPEG-1.

MPEG-3 was initially designed for High Def content, but was scrapped when it was discovered that MPEG-2 can successfully achieve this.

MPEG-4 is confusing.

MPEG-4 Part 2 came out in the late 90s to attempt to achieve much smaller file sizes than MPEG-2, and did so to some degree with a bit of a quality reduction. Codecs like DivX, Xvid, etc came out of it. Unfortunately these codecs really only made their mark with piracy although the intention was different.

MPEG-4 Part 10 is the latest standard, established in 2003, also called H.264 and also AVC (Advanced Video Codec). This standard has even better compression than any of the above, high quality at small file sizes and also used in blu-ray. Needs processing and a late model computer though...

MP3 is not MPEG-3. MP3 is an audio format, not the MPEG-3 video format that was discontinued.

MP4 is not MPEG-4. MP4 is a container which can contain audio and video streams. Other containers are VOB (for DvD video), AVI (which DivX and Xvid use mostly) and MKV, which is probably the most superior of them all.