PR Newswire is reporting that at the January 9, Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas the Optical Storage Technology Association will be there giving limited peeks at this new format. During CES, OSTA will conduct private, one-on-one demonstrations of its MPV (MusicPhotoVideo) specification for media, industry analysts and interested manufacturers. Demonstrations involving MPV-enabled audio discs, cameras, PCs, digital imaging products, recording software and DVD players will be shown and extensions to the specification, to be announced at CES, will be discussed.
If you don't know, MPV is an open industry specification developed under the leadership of the Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) and available from OSTA at no cost. MPV enables PCs and consumer electronics products like DVD players to exchange and playback collections of digital photos, video, and music. MPV supports browsing, playing, and printing multimedia collections.
We all now have collections of hundreds of files of
personal music, photos and video clips and archive them in various ways and
formats. Unfortunately, each application organizes and records the files with
unique structure and naming. Right now, there is no standard way for CD and DVD
players to recognize and playback the content. Without a standard method for organization and access, our hardware, whatever it may be, can take minutes to read through our large varied collections. Then afterwards, there is no real convenient way to search or organise the material. This is where MPV steps in and gives us that ability and more.
In this Hewlett-Packard press release from last April, they indicate the deployment of such a standard is also quite practical from the standpoint of hardware and software entities.
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The MPV control file provides a table of contents of the storage media such as CDs and DVDs which a MPV-enabled device can quickly recognize and use to navigate and access the multimedia content. Additions and edits to playlists and multimedia content can be made easily without rewriting the entire disc. Storage media, like CDs and flash memory cards, containing MPV playlists can be enjoyed on a PC or in any consumer electronics product that supports content in formats used on PCs such as MP3 and JPEG files. This will provide unprecedented ease of use and a much enhanced user experience. MPV TECHNOLOGY Manufacturers can add MPV support in new products by adding a small MPV reader. Similarly, most application software requires only modest enhancements to support MPV. Storage media such as data CDs and DVDs with an MPV playlist are compatible with existing CE devices that already play files on recordable data discs. MPV is compatible with the ISO 9660-1 and Joliet file systems on CD and supports multisession CDs. The Common Picture Exchange Environment (CPXe) provides a standard way for MPV photo collections to be used with online photo printing services. CPXe was recently announced by the International Imaging Industry Association along with Eastman Kodak Company, Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd and HP. |
From the OSTA website we can get a grasp of the power with this new standard in their consise explanation: "Users can navigate large collections of hundreds or thousands of files organized into multiple playlists, such as songs by genre, by artist, and by album. Creation and playback of a multimedia slideshows of pictures and video with background music and transition effects. Songs can have album art, lyrics, music in both audio-only and video file formats, and multiple encodings of the same music, for example WMA and MP3. MPV manages multiple renditions of images, such as high resolution, screen resolution, and thumbnails that enable high-performance playback on low-end systems using low-res images and printing using high-res images. MPV is playlist and asset management control file for collections of music, photo, and video files in any combination. A playlist is an index or table of contents that specifies the location of files and the order in which to play them."
Furthermore, for once it seems all the players are in agreement and are embracing this format. We can see this by reading the press release last June from Phillips: "Companies announcing support for the MPV standard include Eastman Kodak Company, HP, LG Electronics Inc., Olympus Optical Co., Ltd., Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, and Sony Corporation. Also announcing implementation of the MPV format in future products are companies developing leading software and firmware applications for creating multimedia discs. These applications include ACD Systems ACDSee, Ahead Software's Nero, ArcSoft PhotoBase, HP Memories Disc Creator, Planetweb Digital Photo and Audio Managers, Roxio Easy CD & DVD Creator, Sonic Solutions MyDVD and RecordNow Max."
It is refreshing to see such cooperation among so many to bring convenience and reliability to us the consumer. Here is a message from the Consumer Electronics Association that speaks to the issue: 'As the leading advocate association for consumer electronics in the U.S., the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is pleased to work with OSTA in its efforts to address real problems faced by consumers by encouraging industry-wide media and drive compatibility and interchange," said Gary Shapiro, President and CEO of CEA. 'During the past decade, OSTA has developed several key compatibility specifications, including the Universal Disk Format (UDF), which enables file interchange among different operating systems. OSTA continues to facilitate easier exchange of multimedia content between PCs and CE devices with the MPV specification."
Source: PR NewsWire
