[Mp4-tech] MPEG-4 and synchronized interactive applications

[Olivier Amato]

Dear Olivier,
> I am not sure DVB is tackling the issue. There were some expectations
> at some points in time that MHP will be the ultimate answer. It seems now
> generally accepted that MHP is fine for the application part but that a
specific
> technology is needed for the interactive graphics enhancements. MPEG-4
> Systems is to my knowledge the only solution that is fully standardized
and
> allow the frame based synchronization that you request.

This is a very interesting topic !
How do you see the future for interactive TV ?
Involved companies ( Canal+ Technologies, Liberate, OpenTV, Microsoft ... )
seem to move slowly from proprietary technologies ( Mediahighway, Mediacast,
MicrosoftTV ... ) to MHP.
Will they embrace MPEG-4 advanced features when MHP is not widely adopted
yet ?
Are international broadcast organizations ( DVB, ATSC, ARIB ) working on
MPEG-4 tools ( visual, audio, systems ) implementation right now ?
My humble opinion would be to adopt AVC Main Profile + HE AAC + MPEG-4
Systems ( scene composition and interactivity ) for future iTV requirements,
but I don't now MHP features enough to tell how they would overlap with
MPEG-4's ...
BTW, would MPEG's propositions for content protection be sufficient for this
purpose ( IPMP, MPEG REL, RDD ... ) ?
And what about the necessary integration of metadata for future advanced
EPGs and users' profiles ? MPEG-7 seems to be very attractive but is really
not widely implemented yet ( except for the very promising TV-Anytime
forum ) ...
Last thing, what about future HD-DVD ? Does anybody know DVD Forum's
technical choices for audio/video codecs and interactivity features ?
Best regards,
Olivier Amato