Video in the 21st Century

Rating:
Summary: Not worth reading if it was free
Review: There are plenty of websites where you can get much better information (which is why you will find many used books- 'like new' for less than half price!) After spending a premium price, I expected something more than compilation of common bits of information. Try searcing for keywords on search engines before buying this book.

Rating:
Summary: Informative, Interesting, Funny, Life Changing!
Review: This book made me pursue the filed I'm now majoring in. Need I say more? I will, anyways.

I got a chance to read this book for free at a library, and after having read it almost cover to cover, I still feel like buying a copy to keep on my shelf (which I would have done, had the topic not been so fast-evolving).

Scott introduces the concepts of Digital Video with a historical introduction and goes on to explain not only the latest technologies in use today, including DVD, HDTV etc. but also intricate details of the MPEG encoding format, for the more technically-inclined reader.

Barring two intensively mathematical chapters, Scott explains everything in such a light-hearted and often funny way, that it holds your interest even for seemingly dry topics like VHS vs. Betacam.

It is obviously not possible to include extensive technical information on each and every topic in a couple of hundred pages. Also, it is true that most of this information is available online at various websites like HowStuffWorks.com. So if you are just looking for a particular topic, head there; or if you are looking for technical details, grab some technical papers on the relevant subject from IEEE publications. However, if you want an interesting overview of all video technologies around you in one book, this is the book you should read first.

Just one final word of caution: this book could be career-changing. It inspired me to leave my boring IT job and pursue graduate studies in (multimedia) signal processing.