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

[AVARO Olivier FTRD/DIH/REN]

Hi Olivier,
> 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 ?

If you go beyond blank statements like : MHP can do it all since Java can do it all, or MPEG-4 can do it all since MPEG-4 as Java in it and Java can do it all, MHP and MPEG-4 are two complementary frameworks that can be integrated reasonnably easily (a couple of European projects have already demonstrated this).
Whether you prioritize your products on MPEG-4 only solution (focus on media and interactive graphics), on MHP (focuq on application logic) or both is a company product policy. So far, the MHP only products seems not to have the expected success. I know a couple of companies working on MPEG-4 only solutions, and others working on the two integrated.
> 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 ...
It is very hard to tell what the good mix would be. Still, MHP + a simple MPEG-4 Systems profile as well as MPEG-J seems compelling since it provides the application execution environment of MHP, allows easy creation of content with MPEG-4, and allows the MHP application to interact with the scene logic with MPEG-J.
cu,
O.