Video Demystified: A Handbook for the Digital Engineer, 5th Edition [Paperback]

Keith Jack (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0750683953 | ISBN-13: 978-0750683951 | Publication Date: May 14, 2007 | Edition: 5th

What doesn't have a video component nowadays? IPod, cell phone, computer, they all have video. And, of course, television which is a major source of our entertainment and information. Any engineer involved in designing, manufacturing, or testing video electronics needs this book!

Each edition of Video Demystified has sold thousands of copies and answered many questions for electrical engineers across the globe. This fifth edition will keep the engineer up-to-date with next-generation digital video formats - Blu-ray and HD-DVD, development of new audio and video codecs - Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD, etc. - along with the all the latest information on HDTV, HDMI and IPTV(TV over the Internet). All broadcast, cable, and satellite standards will be updated to reflect these new codecs and specifications. The book will also aid in the design of devices and infrastructures from analog to digital television transmission - with analog transmission ceasing in early 2009 or before.

*The next generation of digital video - Blu-ray and HD-DVD thoroughly introduced
*All broadcast and satellite standards completely updated
*Essential information for the upcoming transition of television signals from analog to digital

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Somewhere within the 759 pages of Keith Jack's $69.95 Video Demystified: Third Edition (ISBN 1-878707-56-6) is the answer to nearly every conceivable question involving analog and digital video. The author has not only assembled a tremendous amount of information, but also structured it in a manner that enables easy navigation. Video Demystified's incremental-complexity format enables you to explore the material to whatever degree you desire. Folks who want only a high-level overview can stop when they've satisfied their objectives and won't be frustrated by lots of upfront jargon, and those who want a deeper understanding can continue reading to their hearts' content.

Jack includes a list of references at the end of each chapter, along with a 50-pg glossary at the end of book. He's also bundled two CDs, containing an e-book version of the manuscript; a directory of still test images; source code for H.261, H.263, MPEG 1, and MPEG 2 video encoders and decoders; and image sequences at various resolutions for use as test-source material for the codecs.And not only for consumer digital video, but also for the various analog formats that are in widespread use throughout the world. That's where this book comes in."
--Visual Developer

"I have never seen such a wealth of useful information about video signals as the author provides in this book. And with today's emphasis on multimedia computers, video-processing devices, and graphic add-in boards, the book is invaluable, whether you're a test engineer or a designer."
--Test and Measurement World

"Video Demystified is a one-of-a-kind book. Anyone who designs multimedia or digital-video products will most certainly benefit from reading it."
--Electronics Handbook

"This is the kind of engineer1s source book you wish publishers would do more often. It contains a vast amount of information on the relationships between video and computer graphics--everything from the ba --PC Techniques

From the Back Cover

What doesn't have a video component nowadays? i-Pod, cell phone, computer, they all have video, and, of course, television which is a major source of our entertainment and information. Any engineer involved in designing, manufacturing, or testing video electronics needs this book!

Each edition of Video Demystified has sold thousands of copies and answered many questions for engineers across the globe. This fifth edition will keep you up-to-date on the use of next-generation video and audio codecs-H.264, VC-1, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD, etc.-along with the all the latest information on how to convey and process related data, such as closed captioning, aspect ratio information, and the new xvYCC color space being widely adopted. All broadcast, cable, and satellite specifications are being updated to take advantage of these new codecs and standards.

Key Features

*Latest information on how the new audio and video codecs are being used
*All broadcast, cable, and satellite standards completely updated
*Essential information for the upcoming transition of television signals from analog to digital

About the Author
Keith Jack is Director of Product Marketing at Sigma Designs. Sigma Designs develops and markets high-performance, highly-integrated System-on-a-Chip (SoC) semiconductors for IPTV Set-top Boxes, Blu-ray and HD DVD Players/Recorders, HDTVs, Digital Media Adapters, and Portable Media Players. Prior to joining Sigma Designs, Mr. Jack held various marketing and chip design positions at Harris Semiconductor, Brooktree, and Rockwell International. He has been involved in over 40 multimedia chips for the consumer market.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 944 pages
• Publisher: Newnes; 5th edition (May 14, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750683953
• ISBN-13: 978-0750683951
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #74,525 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A bit disappointing, January 9, 2008

By 

Leonardo Giordani (Milan, Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Video Demystified: A Handbook for the Digital Engineer, 5th Edition (Paperback)

This is a fairly complete handbook about video signals: here you will find quite everything about analog and digital video, cables and connection standards.

From the first chapter, however, the written text disappoints the reader: it is a list of technical data, without any further explanation or with a poor one. This book is a sort of "data sheet compilation", and it is a very good one. But it is not a book about digital and analog video.

From this book you will not learn how and why PAL and NTSC have been designed and you will not be introduced into color theory in an effective way. You will learn how many pixels PAL and NTSC are made of at every possible resolution, and when you will read the same sentence for the 30th time, you will ask yourself why the book was not simply condensed in a list of tables and graphics. That way it could have been a must have.

In brief: an interesting and complete but pointlessy verbose reference.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A handbook for the digital engineer, November 7, 2008

By 

J. Dowling (NH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Video Demystified: A Handbook for the Digital Engineer, 5th Edition (Paperback)

I have the second edition in print and the third in PDF as well as the fifth in print. Some of the other reviews of this book bash the fact that it isn't for hobbiests or those less technical but take a look at the full title, it IS intended for digital design engineers. The 2nd book is about 700 pages with about 100 more of appendix, the 3rd is about the same but the appendix have been encorporated into chapters. Both include the same CD of test images. The 5th edition is actually thinner bye 1/4" and perhaps heavier with about 900 pages. It lacks the CD of images even though the same images are used throughout the book. If you really want the images you can probably find them somewhere. Additional subjects include MPEG4, digital TV standards and more coding formats. It saves you the time of finding and paying for the individual standards. It doesn't cover DVD or BlueRay standards and still includes NTSC / PAL / SECAM. It doesn't cover DisplayPort but that is still an unproven in the market standard. Does it cover absolutely everything, no, it can't it would be too big. It is my number one goto reference for video information though since everything I need is in there and then some (which is nice to have on hand anyway).

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, October 4, 2009

By 

J. Serror - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Video Demystified: A Handbook for the Digital Engineer, 5th Edition (Paperback)

Great book for the starting Engineer or the experienced Engineer who needs to look something up. Easy to understand and contains the most important aspects of video today.