A critical issue in the development of digital high-definition television (HDTV) is the reliable transmission of high-quality video images with minimum transmission bandwidth. This creates a need for efficient data compression algorithms for digitized image sequences. However, existing video compression techniques, such as the CCITT standard, cannot consistently achieve high compression ratios. This study will involve an examination of two multiresolution representations, the development of motion estimation algorithms, and an evalutation of compression performance on selected video imagery. The reviewers comment on the high quality of the proposal, the science, the research plan and the qualifications of the PI and key staff. They point out areas where more detail in the proposal regarding the approach would have been helpful, but they are confident of the commercial viablilty in the potentially huge HDTV market . One reviewer states that the concepts are well known in academia and may have already been investigated. Program staff agrees with the high ratings of the two subpanelists, and believes that while the concepts are known in academia, the implementation proposed by the principal investigator has not been done.
