What is the “4:2:2” Profile in MPEG-2 Compression Heirarchy?
By Bob Paulson (SMPTE Life Fellow and Long-time Technology Committees member) As the wide-ranging technopolitical marketing presentations drew to an end at the January Meeting on New Digital Tape Formats, one statement in the Sony presentation prompted Wilson Chao (owner of Cambridge TV Productions) to ask (approximately), “Do I understand that Sony has a proprietary MPEG compression scheme?” Sony’s Nick DiLello’s answer was essentially “No, but yes.” I stood to explain the “No, but — ” part of that answer, from the perspective of a member of the SMPTE Technology Committee which has created the 4:2:2 profile recommended standard document. But Section Chair Phil Ozek closed the lengthy meeting before I could utter Word One. Here is my answer, more detailed than I was going to give at the meeting. It has been hastily constructed from memory and submitted immediately via e-mail, without taking time to check spelling or details and times against SMPTE Committee meeting records. Don t pill
