Digital Video and HDTV Algorithms and Interfaces The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics

Customer Reviews

The most complete guide

2008-07-29
This is a very useful book if you work in the HDTV industry. It is a handy tool for me, as it points out concepts that are rather new and not so easy to understand even for skilled engineers, like HDTV timing.

Very useful, but ...

2008-05-31
This book is undoubtedly useful for any practicing video engineer and for anyone seeking to familiarize themselves with video standards and technology. It covers a broad range of topics under one cover. Depth is lacking in most parts, but then this book is not intended to be used for theoretical study. It is a handy guide to have at one's desk.

My biggest and only complaint is about the way the material is presented, which, in my opinion, is highly unstructured and makes the book much more difficult to read than it needs to be. In almost every chapter, the author asks the reader to refer to the material in both future as well past chapters for details. As an example, the section on nonlinear image coding, on p.12, refers to the material in different chapters on pages, 197, 198, 203 and 257!

Nonetheless, despite this writing flaw, the book is recommended.

Comprehensive and dense

2008-04-15
Not an easy read for beginners. If you are serious about video (i.e. work related), get this, it is recommended reading in the field.

Magnificent Book

2008-03-24
I buy and read a lot of technical books--there are hundreds in my library--and this is one of the best in any field. An adequate technical book has to be accurate, reasonably organized, provide a good selection of material, and be understandable. A good book will engage your interest and impart general knowledge. But a truly great technical book will leave you with deep insights that make you smarter. This is one of those books.

The text is lucid and the illustrations are uniformly excellent. I particularly like the layout, which leaves a column to the left of the main body text for references, notes and comments. The author deeply understands the material and conveys that knowledge beautifully. This is one of about 5 technical books I've ever come across that's hard to put down.

A minor production nitpick is that the paper shear was was a bit dull when they cut my copy, leading to slightly rough edges on the left-side (even-numbered) pages, but it wasn't bad enough to exchange the book. Otherwise the binding and paper color and quality are top notch.

Excellent book for computer video engineers

2007-12-22
I was new to video and was looking for a good book and a colleague suggested this as comprehensive and easy to read book. Each chapter explains a single concept and is around 10 pages. Complexity of the subject matter gradually increases. I read one or two chapters in each sitting and took a month to complete.

About back and forth references criticism: Author explains further concepts in few sentences whenever they occur. He also suggests the page numbers where more details are available. e.g. He mentions very early what resolution meant, and but refers to complete chapter on resolution. I did not need to back and forth, as the initial explanations were sufficient enough for reading the current chapter. I attempted to read few other books before this. I felt those books assumed few fundamentals and they were good reference manuals than introductory books. I had to google for few words even in the first chapters. On the other hand, this book is both introductory and also a mini reference.

I recommend this book in the following order of importance.
* If you are new computer video engineer, it is a must have book. Without reading it, it takes few months to understand the subject and you may have gaps in learning.
* If you are a digital TV and video electronics engineer, it is good to have. It extends your knowledge and is a good reference to standards and compressions.
* If you are moving from computer imaging background to video engineering, it is good to have. It explains concepts related to both graphics and video with similarities and contrasts and helps in easy migration.
* If you are personal video maker and at the same time tech savvy person, it is good to read at least once. It gives good background picture and also explains every buzzword you hear in frys and online.
* If you are general computer or electronics engineer, it is nice to have in your library.

Missing details for computer video engineers are video file formats and container techniques.

Buy this book if you already know about digital imaging and Video

2007-12-13

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.

For more information on HDTV Retail markets, go to: http://www.insightmedia.info/newsletters.php#hdtv

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

First Rate Book on Digital Video 2007-09-22
My favorite book on video. It is the most thorough and careful development of digital video I have seen.

While you won't hear this often, it is a beautifully produced book. It contains very clear illustrations, its equations are clearly presented, and the text is nicely organized.

Quite A Fine Text 2007-06-15
If only more tech authors could write as clearly and with such consideration for the reader as does Mr. Poynton. The layout of the text and graphics is superb. The attention to content accuracy is highlighted by the many helpful, and sometimes amusing, notes in the margins.

Good Book 2007-02-16
I think this is a good book for begginers. It's very easy to understand and there not trouble read.

A great book for the algorithms and equations of digital video 2006-12-25
Poynton presents a comprehensive treatise on digital video and HDTV in 50 chapters and two appendices. Although this is a comprehensive work and some topics are presented in complete detail, other equally important topics are discussed in a few pages. The concepts of color, NTSC and PAL encoding, colorimetry, and other topics of image presentation are strongly emphasized. However, the topics of quantization, digital filtering, general signal processing, and methods of compression are treated more briefly. This is a very good resource for anyone interested in digital TV or the computer display of images. It is probably not a good choice for general engineering study by readers without a good background in digital signal processing. The differences between computer displays and commercial television displays are well presented, provided along with some history of both disciplines and how, with the decreasing restriction on bandwidth, these interests are merging.

Part one of the book stresses digital video basics. This is pretty similar to Poynton's previous book on digital video with the exception that he has added some introductory material on HDTV, but that chapter is only a few pages long.

Part two, "Principles", is a very nondescript title for this section. That is probably because it discusses such a large group of diverse topics as filtering, sampling, visual perception, color science for video, NTSC and PAL, videotape recording, 2-3 pulldown, and deinterlacing. This is the section that is the most mathematical, however, it is still not as complex as most signal processing books you'll encounter.

Part three, "Video Compression", consists of three very short chapters on JPEG, motion-JPEG, and MPEG-2. It's a good overview of the concepts, but don't expect to be able to build a codec based on the information in this section.

Part four, "Studio Standards", also has a very specific subject matter. The standards discussed are 480i, 576i, 1280x720 HDTV, and 1920x1080 HDTV. Scanning, timing, sync structure, and picture structures are discussed in each case.

Part five, the final section, discusses broadcast and studio standards. NTSC, PAL, and digital television broadcast standards are discussed.

If you are the type of person who is interested in the algorithms of digital video more than you are the hardware of digital video systems, you'll probably enjoy this book. The author makes frequent use of illustrations and block diagrams to illustrate what is being presented, and I have gotten a great deal of use from it over the years. If you are looking for a book on digital video systems hardware, might I recommend "Video Demystified" by Keith Jack.