7 REASONS WHY JPEG2000 WILL CONTINUE TO BE THE MASTER FILE FORMAT
The debate is on. Broadcasters, post-production houses and film studios are facing a turning point. Long forgotten are those who foresaw the end of video. There is more video content produced, than ever before and the demand is obvious: quality. UHD offers not only better resolutions, but also a wider gamut and more color bits per pixel. As producers turn to ultra-high definition, the film industry is facing the ultimate question: in the name of Stanley Kubrick, how on earth are we going to process so much high-quality content?
Now, just a month before the NAB show, the need to implement a global master format is more discernible than usual. The benefits are obvious. Should the industry finally move forward in applying JPEG2000 standards to all elements of distribution, post-production and projection of ultra-high definition video content, the broadcaster would have the ability to create rules. Rules in which the video industry could grow.
We believe that JPEG2000 is the best master format and here are seven reasons why:
1. Continuous access to content over time
JPEG2000 is royalty-free and always will be. The format isn’t binding to any fees and broadcasters are not dependent on suppliers. A hundred years from now, our children’s children will be able to look at today’s videos and say „Oh my God, look at the hair style of these silly people“ With JPEG2000 we know that they will get their opportunity.
2. Lossless encoding and decoding
You never know. A year from now, the footage that was flawlessly shot becomes important. Suddenly those images of Ben Affleck at the age of thirteen become priceless. With JPEG2000 you know you can always restore them to full unprocessed quality and reuse them in a new light. Nothing is lost with jp2.
3. Playback compatibility
Exactly how many devices does video content encounter before it reaches the end user? Lets do a random count: online edit prep, off-line edit, UHD transfer and color grading, CGI and graphics, online edits, closed captioning, studio delivery, broadcasting. Did we miss something? Oh yes! But what’s important is that JPEG2000 is ideal for each phase.
4. It makes the big picture, well… small
4K will be the word on everybody’s lips at the upcoming NAB show. It’s seriously beautiful. The amount of detail 4K offers is overwhelming. But detail means data. So much data, that you’ll face difficulties in explaining to your parents that every second of content is equal to the capacity of a flash disk. Let’s not forget that JPEG2000 is a powerful codec. By reducing the content to a 24th of its original size it makes content distribution a lot easier.
5. Resolution of choice
One day you create news with a beautiful 4K signal, another day a blogger tweets exclusive content from their mobile. You don’t want to be making decisions – you have your system and that system has to account for all formats. JPEG2000 supports every resolution, color depth, number of components and frame rates.
6. Come what may
Just maybe in a couple of years time 4K will become obsolete. Maybe TV screens will become so large, that, they will hardly fit in your living room. But that’s ok. No matter what resolution might be developed, chances are, that JPEG2000 will still be used as the master format.
7. SMTPE thinks JPEG2000 is cool
The Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers, the key institution for setting industry standards, sees JPEG2000 as the Interoperable Master Format. Who else? Who else should convince you that JEPG2000 is the ultimate format of the future of video?