MPEG2 Systems and the Transport over ATM

MPEG-2 (Moving Picture Experts Group - phase 2) and ATM(Asynchronous Transfer Mode) both are key enabling technologies for the emerging infornultion superhighway. MPEG-2 is developed for high-quality general video applications including video on demand, two-way communications, and HDTV (High Definition TV). ATM is a cell relay technology which can provide the flexibility and high-spted needed for networked video services. For the transport of MPEG-2 video/audio over ATM, several issues including timing recovery, bit-error detection/correction, cell-loss detection/correction, and mapping of MPEG-2 bit-streams into ATM cells need to be carefully examined .Currently, these issues are being actively discussed in various forums and standards organizations including ATM Forum, ITU-T SG15. and ISO MPEG. This chapter provides a short tutorial on MPEG-2 systems and ATM, and discusses the issues related to the transport of MPEG-2 video/audio over ATM.