Customer Reviews

Real World Video Compression

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Not really what I was expecting for. I guess it answers the needs of those looking for better performance on compression jobs without having to go too deep, serving as well as a good introduction to video and audio compression. I found the conceptual and analytical part of the matter too shallow on codec differences and performances, standards, etc. But the recipes for getting quickly started on compression processes for different purposes, using different softwares can be quite useful.

Great book. What jumps out is that there is an art to video compression -- this is more than a how to book or compression for dummies book or a long tome that recites MPEG standards. What I really liked about it was the way the author describes things in language that is easy to understand. Another great feature of the book is the section on compressionists today. Great interview with Ben Waggoner, a national expert from Microsoft who really understands what it takes to bring digital video to the web... Highly recommend this book.

Excellent resource for getting up to speed on compression. Not a detailed step by step guide for every situation but rather an overview of the current standards, codecs, players, encoding software, as well as the general principles of compression. I think it gives a good level of detail for a complicated subject. It provides mostly general principles and then a few points of guidance pertaining to individual software titles. I think I personally would have preferred more detail on certain areas, say compressing for DVD and mobile, and cut out the interviews with compressionists.

I would also quibble with the $44.99 retail price. Publishers are making it so you must buy your books online.

This is a very good book, it gives an excellent explaination in video compression fundamentals.

This book provides an excellent overview of video compression. For someone just entering the field of video compression or for an experienced professional looking for a refresher covering just about all facets of the technology, this is a great book. There are many useful references to the various compression software packages that are currently available. The content is comprehensive and reasonably detailed and the writing style is such that reading this book is quite enjoyable. I highly recommend this book.

If you are new to video compression or simply looking for the latest in the industry, this book is a must have. For all of the technical issues that are discussed, it is surprisingly easy reading. Resources are abundantly identified, and the flow of content is superb. How soon until we get the sequel?

This book is one of those "middle of the road" texts that has enough meat in it to be helpful to a technical reader, yet is not scary-technical. It's the first written work that I've found that describes deinterlacing well enough for me to know why to choose one method over another. It taught me some things about the Blu-ray standard that I didn't know. Lots of helpful tips that "Dummies" books don't cover, and isn't usually indexed in engineering texts. With the latter, the information is probably there in some form, but good luck finding it in less than a day!

The book is written from a Mac-centric, interactive GUI viewpoint. Unlike some Mac-centric books, this one gives Windows apps a fair shake. Even better it covers free, open-source software that runs on multiple platforms, and are staples for the Linux user. It even covers the powerful MPlayer/MEncoder software.

This is a good, no-nonsense book that's full of useful how and why information. My only criticism is that the space taken up by the step-by-step directions for using specific software could have been put to better use. I didn't find the interviews all that helpful either. It's not perfect, but it's very good.

This is a great book for "jack of all trades, master of none." (doesn't quite makes sense, but hope you get the drift) You probably won't be able to write a master's thesis on video compression after reading this book, but you will know enough on the subject to sound like a subject matter expert. Provides great background info on the subject, concepts described and explained are easy to understand, and includes a great deal of info on commercial products available. I highly recommend this book for a novice who wants to be well versed in the subject of video compression.

This book is precisely the one I was looking for: both very precise and easy to grasp. There is theory and practice (step-by-step explanations of various softwares), and further points of view on the matter with professional compressors (what a job!).

Bits and pieces of info on many different software apps but not enough of anything to be useful. The chapter on compression for the web was sorely lacking, which is why I bought the book.