compressed 4:2:2 MPEG-2 or something else in games? at DVinfo.net

Jack Zhang · October 14th, 2005, 10:31 PM

I want to know what is the color sampling for video games when it comes to MPEG-2. I could mostly detect motion artifacts but I just wasn't sure what they used, I'm guessing it's compressed 4:2:2 but any of you in the game industry could give me an correct answer.

Xander Christ · October 16th, 2005, 02:05 AM

Can you be specific as to what video games you are talking about?

Most games don't use MPEG-2 for "video sequences". They use proprietary codecs (usually the ones made by On2/Duck Corporation). That's why the video sequences are really soft or fuzzy looking with lots of blocking artifacts when compared to mainstream DVD video.

I think next gen consoles (PS3 and Xbox 360) "video sequences" will be completely hardware rendered using multicore PowerPC/Cell processors along with ATI's and NVidia's GPUs for true HD-quality "video".

Jack Zhang · October 17th, 2005, 10:57 PM

Well, I put in a PS2 OPM (Official Playstation Magazine) disc into my DVD-ROM drive and played one of the videos using VLC and it did show "MPGV" in the video FourCC code area and I'm just guessing but I do think that it's MPEG-2 in the "Sly cooper" series of games. Is this true with all "PS2" games or do they really all use diffrent codecs depending on the developer?

Xander Christ · October 18th, 2005, 02:41 PM

Jack,

Was the video you played from OPM inside the actual video game (an intermission?), or was it a non-playable demo (NPD)? If it was a NPD, I could see how that would be MPEG-2 as those are typically played on DVD players.

If you could be specific as to what games you think are MPEG-2 DVD video, I can find out for sure. Another way to think about this is that most video games use the DVD-data format to store info, not DVD-video format (otherwise, we'd all be playing 'interactive' dvd titles, like Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, etc.).

Jake Russell · October 18th, 2005, 04:17 PM

Hi peeps,

If it's mpeg-2 for DVD-Video it's YUV 4:2:0,

Jake

Jack Zhang · October 21st, 2005, 08:22 PM

Yes, it was an NPD, but still the video looked like compressed 4:2:2, and yes, I do know the diffrence between DVD-video and DVD-ROM, but still it did look like MPEG-2 and I think it's running @ 8Mbps, and the game series is called "Sly Cooper".

Xander Christ · October 24th, 2005, 08:57 PM

Just off the top of my head, I've never seen a DVD-Video disc authored in 422P@ML as a distribution format.

I contacted my friend at EA Chicago and he's never heard of 422 being used in NPD DVDs. However, he did say that if the animation is 100% digitally rendered at 60i, there is no noise in the image and that can give the image a percieved higher-quality (unlike CG movies which is rendered at 24p and therefore needs 2:3 pulldown and looks kinda jerky), so this is probably what you're seeing.

October 14th, 2005, 10:31 PM	#1
Jack Zhang Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Burnaby, BC, Canada Posts: 3,053	compressed 4:2:2 MPEG-2 or something else in games? I want to know what is the color sampling for video games when it comes to MPEG-2. I could mostly detect motion artifacts but I just wasn't sure what they used, I'm guessing it's compressed 4:2:2 but any of you in the game industry could give me an correct answer.

October 16th, 2005, 02:05 AM	#2
Xander Christ Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 115	Can you be specific as to what video games you are talking about? Most games don't use MPEG-2 for "video sequences". They use proprietary codecs (usually the ones made by On2/Duck Corporation). That's why the video sequences are really soft or fuzzy looking with lots of blocking artifacts when compared to mainstream DVD video. I think next gen consoles (PS3 and Xbox 360) "video sequences" will be completely hardware rendered using multicore PowerPC/Cell processors along with ATI's and NVidia's GPUs for true HD-quality "video".

October 17th, 2005, 10:57 PM	#3
Jack Zhang Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Burnaby, BC, Canada Posts: 3,053	Well, I put in a PS2 OPM (Official Playstation Magazine) disc into my DVD-ROM drive and played one of the videos using VLC and it did show "MPGV" in the video FourCC code area and I'm just guessing but I do think that it's MPEG-2 in the "Sly cooper" series of games. Is this true with all "PS2" games or do they really all use diffrent codecs depending on the developer?

October 18th, 2005, 02:41 PM	#4
Xander Christ Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 115	Jack, Was the video you played from OPM inside the actual video game (an intermission?), or was it a non-playable demo (NPD)? If it was a NPD, I could see how that would be MPEG-2 as those are typically played on DVD players. If you could be specific as to what games you think are MPEG-2 DVD video, I can find out for sure. Another way to think about this is that most video games use the DVD-data format to store info, not DVD-video format (otherwise, we'd all be playing 'interactive' dvd titles, like Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, etc.).

October 18th, 2005, 04:17 PM	#5
Jake Russell Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Oxford, UK Posts: 177	Hi peeps, If it's mpeg-2 for DVD-Video it's YUV 4:2:0, Jake

October 21st, 2005, 08:22 PM	#6
Jack Zhang Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Burnaby, BC, Canada Posts: 3,053	Yes, it was an NPD, but still the video looked like compressed 4:2:2, and yes, I do know the diffrence between DVD-video and DVD-ROM, but still it did look like MPEG-2 and I think it's running @ 8Mbps, and the game series is called "Sly Cooper".

October 24th, 2005, 08:57 PM	#7
Xander Christ Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 115	Just off the top of my head, I've never seen a DVD-Video disc authored in 422P@ML as a distribution format. I contacted my friend at EA Chicago and he's never heard of 422 being used in NPD DVDs. However, he did say that if the animation is 100% digitally rendered at 60i, there is no noise in the image and that can give the image a percieved higher-quality (unlike CG movies which is rendered at 24p and therefore needs 2:3 pulldown and looks kinda jerky), so this is probably what you're seeing.