With Advent Of MPEG-4, MPEGIF Goes OIPF

Coming soon: The MPEG Industry Forum (MPEGIF) will merge with the Open IPTV Forum (OIPF), now that its work to promote MPEG-4 Part 10 (aka H.264) as the dominant codec in next-generation video technology and the successor to MPEG-2 is done. ?

Such a merger is not unknown. In 2011, the Broadcast Mobile Convergence Forum (BMCO) merged into OIPF, which followed the Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA) merging with the MPEGIF.

David Price, president of MPEGIF who also heads Business Development/Compression at Ericsson, comments, “When the MPEG Industry Forum was founded, the future of IP-based video technology was far from clear, except that the industry knew that conventional TV services were going to be radically and permanently changed.”? ?

He continues, “At the center of this revolution was the emergence of new, highly efficient codecs that enabled new business models such as TV over DSL and broadband television. As the premier industry body advocating adoption of standards based technologies with over 100 companies in its membership, MPEGIF used educational MasterClasses at major trade shows and 9 rounds of interoperability testing to show that MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) was the clear successor to MPEG-2 for the next generation of services. We are pleased to declare ‘victory’ and merge the assets of the forum into the Open IPTV Forum going forward.”?

Adds OIPF President Nilo Mitra, “We are pleased to contribute towards this consolidation of the work from the MPEGIF and welcome those additional members from the MPEGIF who join our efforts. The end result is that the Open IPTV Forum will be an even stronger and more vigorous industry body, representing all constituents and contributors within the ecosystem of businesses creating and delivering the next generation of television entertainment.”?