Re: MHEG

> 
> What are the differences between SMIL and the MHEG standard?

SMIL and MHEG-5 both offer the functionality to describe a multimedia 
presentation; the most important are ways to specify 
- synchronization
- layout
- linking
At this moment MHEG-5 is richer in the functionality it offers.

SMIL and MHEG-5 are both declarative languages. Their main difference 
is in their language model. Where SMIL accentuates the structured 
approach (elements arranged in a tree). MHEG-5 places its accent on 
being object-oriented, using an event-driven paradigm for all 
presentational dependicies. This creates flexibility in authoring, 
as any event can cause any action(s).
MHEG5-document encoding is in ASN.1/DER, a textual notation is 
also supported. SMIL is XML-compliant, the document basically 
being a text-file.

> I have an embarrassing question - what is MHEG and what does it stand for?

MHEG-5 is ISO/IEC International Standard 13522 since 
November 1996 [1]. DAVIC [2] has specified MHEG-5 as the format 
for interactive applications. MHEG-5 is used in the digital-TV 
broadcast environment (like DVB [3]).

[1] MHEG-5: Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group
    http://www.fokus.gmd.de/ovma/mug/index.html
   
http://www.fokus.gmd.de/ovma/mug/archives/documents/mheg-reader/rd1206.html
[2] DAVIC: Digital Audio-Visual Council
    http://www.davic.org/
    http://www.gctech.co.jp/software/davic.shtml
[3] DVB: Digital Video Broadcasting
    http://www.dvb.org/
    http://www.dvb.org/dvb_slides/dvb_index.htm


Regards,
Warner ten Kate.

--
Philips Research Labs. WY21 ++ New Systems & Applications
Prof. Holstlaan 4 ++ 5656 AA  Eindhoven ++ The Netherlands
Phone: +31 4027 44830
Fax:   +31 4027 44648    tenkate@natlab.research.philips.com