Somewhere within the 759 pages of Keith Jack's USD69.95 Video Demystified: Third Edition (ISBN 1-878707-56-6) is the answer to nearly every conceivable question involving analog and digital video. The author has not only assembled a tremendous amount of information, but also structured it in a manner that enables easy navigation. Video Demystified's incremental-complexity format enables you to explore the material to whatever degree you desire. Folks who want only a high-level overview can stop when they've satisfied their objectives and won't be frustrated by lots of upfront jargon, and those who want a deeper understanding can continue reading to their hearts' content. Jack includes a list of references at the end of each chapter, along with a 50-pg glossary at the end of book. He's also bundled two CDs, containing an e-book version of the manuscript; a directory of still test images; source code for H.261, H.263, MPEG 1, and MPEG 2 video encoders and decoders; and image sequences at various resolutions for use as test-source material for the codecs. A companion Web site (www.video-demystified.com) provides links to companies, standards organizations, and other references. --EDN, June 7, 2001 If you are going to get seriously involved with digital video--perhaps writing programs for video editing and special effects--you need to know at least some of the technical details. And not only for consumer digital video, but also for the various analog formats that are in widespread use throughout the world. That's where this book comes in. --Visual Developer I have never seen such a wealth of useful information about video signals as the author provides in this book. And with today's emphasis on multimedia computers, video-processing devices, and graphic add-in boards, the book is invaluable, whether you're a test engineer or a designer. --Test and Measurement World Video Demystified is a one-of-a-kind book. Anyone who designs multimedia or digital-video products will most certainly benefit from reading it. --Electronics Handbook This is the kind of engineer s source book you wish publishers would do more often. It contains a vast amount of information on the relationships between video and computer graphics--everything from the basics of NTSC to complex color space conversion and MPEG video compression--all of it explained in a clear, easy-to-understand language and richly illustrated with diagrams, waveforms, and tables. --Stephan Ohr, contributing editor, Computer Design It's [Video Demystified] extraordinarily technical, with an astonishing number of superb figures--and you'd better know your 'rithmetic coming in. If you want to do custom video interfacing, get it. --PC Techniques
