A new compression technology is transforming online video, promising to overcome bandwidth obstacles and fuel the proliferation of high definition and Internet TV. Produced by startup World Data Group (WDG), Boca Raton, Florida, the technology leapfrogs existing compression methods.

Media convergence continues apace, as all forms of media combine to form one interrelated continuum. Content owners are increasingly opening the doors to their vast storehouses of digital content, generating a multitude of new audiences for startups and old media giants alike. Mainstream media moguls are finding fresh audiences for their movies and TV shows; players in participatory online communications are finding new venues for their messages. It's all combining to form a Web-based Renaissance. In this innovative climate, Internet TV is one of the hottest new trends, driving the need for better compression technologies.

Bandwidth and compression limitations have long stymied the spread of Internet TV. For many businesses and consumers, it has been too onerous and expensive to download video. Insufficient compression technology was a bottleneck for content that users would have eagerly wanted. Now, as the technology gets better, deals are starting to blossom: Apple is offering Disney content on its video iPods, cable giant Comcast is providing prime-time CBS shows on-demand; and AOL is providing content from Warner Bros. programs.

As broadband becomes more ubiquitous, the tools for fully capitalizing on bandwidth are moving from "guerilla startup" to mainstream. Witness WDG, and its new technology for compression for high definition and Internet TV.

WDG provides video and image compression applications powering solutions for homeland security, digital entertainment, medicine and the U.S. military. University physicists who were pioneers in wavelet mathematics originally developed WDG's 3D wavelet-based compression, for medical color imaging. They knew doctors would not be able to rely on digital X-Rays unless they were of impeccable quality. This technology is currently used in digital color X-ray machines manufactured by Siemens and certified in Europe and the U.S.

WDG has successfully created a video CODEC (Compressor-Decompressor) capable of competing with offerings by Microsoft and Apple, with a capability gain of greater than 25% and a 70% capability gain over standard broadcast video systems. WDG product enhancements will continue to refine its quality and data compression rates another 25% in 2006.

In addition to content providers seeking new delivery venues, initial potential customers for WDG's technology include first responder systems; alternate powered communication and surveillance systems; and videophone, videoconference, classroom and broadcast applications. WDG has eschewed traditional venture capital funding and is trying to raise start-up funds on its own.

"We at the World Data Group agree with the vision that the world wants high quality video and they are often not receiving it even when they have purchased high definition TVs," says Stephen J. Remondini, president and CEO, WDG. "We now have tested technology capable of delivering higher quality than MPEG-2 at 19.2mbps at less than one third the size. The goal was to meet or beat consumer expectations, while at the same time, address the bandwidth concerns of the industry."

Industry insiders point out that today, everybody is looking at compression to squeeze in more channels. No one is talking about using compression to come out with a better picture.

"The original MPEG-4 standard was introduced to great acclaim, but its adoption has been so poor, even in products such as handheld devices where cost and power consumption are critical, it can hardly be called a de facto standard," says Douglas A. McIntyre, CEO of On2 Technologies, Inc., a key developer of video compression technology for Flash, Internet, video-on-demand, set-top box, and wireless applications. "The reason for this, aside from the cost and royalty considerations, is that, almost from day one, MPEG-4 has lagged behind proprietary CODECs in performance. Put simply, by the time the standard was ratified and products were ready to ship, the state of the art had moved on significantly."

In the longer term, expect to see the emergence of new video coding standards as processor performance continues to improve and previously impractical algorithms become feasible in commercial applications. Video coding research continues to be extremely active and there are several promising approaches.

"These tools are ahead of their time at present and may have more chance of commercial success if and when real application needs become apparent," Remondini says. "We're now a high-definition resolution society. Consumers today demand high resolution."

The key strengths of WDG's technology include:

• The recommended data rate for high quality High Definition video using MPEG-2 is 19.2mbps. WDG compression delivers the same level of quality as 19.2 MPEG-2 in less than a third of the size, making data transfer faster and easier.
• WDG seek times are non-existent. You can fast forward, rewind, or jump without rebuilding the buffer. This is critical for the incorporation into set top boxes, cameras, and video editing equipment.
• WDG does not do motion prediction. All gains are achieved through the wavelet compressing in stacks of 2, 4, or 8 frames per cycle of CPU. This gives WDG a quality that is consistent and predictable.
• By using small stacks of frames, WDG's compression maintains picture integrity and is almost impervious to the some of the adverse effects of high motion video.
• WDG's compressor is very conducive to video editing. Each batch of frames is completely independent and unaware of the frames before or after the stack. This means that video may be spliced without transcoding (decompressing and recompressing) the source.
• Because its storage structure is simple and similar to MPEG-2, tying the WDG compression into MPEG-2 based editing systems will be a reasonably easy task.
• WDG's encoding performance is unmatched. It currently fully encodes content at four times the speed of the market available CODECs, using its software only solution.

"For five years now the World Data Group has been in the pursuit of technology tools that actually help manage content delivery on a global scale," Remondini says. "In 2006, we are at a time where people who are tasked with real work are looking for real technologies that will help evolve their current capabilities rather than trying to squeeze capability out of technologies that will no longer evolve."