Synchronization

Abstract

Many multimedia products are local systems that do not support any communication of audio and video data and do not accept inputs in the form of audio and motion picture signals from distributed sources. Normally, these systems support only few and simple relationships between selected media. When making a choice between various concepts and subsequent implementation of prototype or product developments, particular attention should be paid to the capability of such a system to integrate into existing hardware and software environments. This chapter studies and discusses the issues of synchronization and both known and new concepts, including their implementation capabilities. It should be noted that emphasis is placed on the field of live synchronization, and that both the definition and evaluation of synchronization relationships, mainly in the form of stored information, is not one of the issues we will study here in depth (for a discussion of the so-called synthetic synchronization, see also Section 8.5).