Posted by Jeff Rife on 11/30/05 05:22

David Z (dave@hotmail.com) wrote in alt.video.dvd:
> Ok, but what about digital photos? All consumer digital cameras
> automatically save the images in JPEG format, you don't even get a choice
> about whether you want lossy or not.

I don't know what cameras you buy, but *my* digital camera comes with a
option to save losslessly, as do most other decent digital cameras. It is
called "RAW" mode by most manufacturers, although some use slightly different
names (Nikon, for example, calls it "NEF", but they have started calling it
"RAW" so that people familiar with other brands will know what they mean).

Even without "RAW", my camera's "Extra Fine" JPEG mode is only 3:1
compression, which is very, very minimal...you can do lossless compression
of images at between 1.5:1 and 2:1 compression using other algorithms, so
you'd be hard pressed to find significant JPEG artifacts using "Extra Fine".

Some digital still cameras also support lossless compressed TIFF format,
although they are becoming less common.

For digital video, lossy is a requirement today for consumers, but that's
completely a storage space vs. cost issue. There are uncompressed and
lossless compressed digital video formats built into professional devices,
where spending $50/tape isn't as much of an deal breaker.

--
Jeff Rife |
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