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Microsoft Officially Announces HD Photo

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Didn't we already do that?

Regular readers of my blog (which is a tad oxymoronic, since it appears I have a hard time being a regular poster) already know all about HD Photo.  We've been talking about at various conferences, via this blog and on various websites for quite a while.  However, during all that time, we never "officially" announced this new still image file format.  There have been press reports, quotes in the media, blog posting, independent analysis and speculation, and seemingly endless comments, but never a press release.

So, all that changed this week at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) conference in Las Vegas, NV.  We announced a bunch of stuff that you probably know all about, plus some signficant new information.  The full press release is here.  We also have a new HD Photo information page at Microsoft's Pro Photo website.

We announced the availability of the HD Photo file format, with support in Windows Vista.  We also announced support for Windows XP and Server 2003 via a Windows Imaging Component (WIC) redistributable or via .NET Framework 3.0.  But you already know all that.

We announced the Device Porting Kit (DPK), allowing developers to implement HD Photo encoders and decoders for any device or platform.  We also announced that HD Photo is licensed 100% royalty free.  But again, you already know all that.

So what's new?

I'm very excited that we announced a free set of HD Photo plug-ins for Adobe® Photoshop® software, developed in conjunction with Adobe Systems, Inc.  The set of plug-ins includes support for CS2 and CS3 on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Macintosh OS/X.  The beta release for Windows is available now; you can download it here.  Our goal is to have the beta version for OS/X available in a few weeks, and final versions released by May.

The plug-ins provide support for a wide range of HD Photo features including extensive pixel format support, alpha channels, multiple color formats, and high dynamic range, wide gamut imaging.  The full set of encoder parameters is also available including quantization, color sub-sampling, overlap processing, tiling, planar alpha channels and option pixel format conversion.  When released shortly, the OS/X version will provide the first support for HD Photo on the Macintosh.

With these plug-ins, it's now possible to easily create a wide range of HD Photo files.  Using Photoshop actions, you can easily batch convert to/from the HD Photo format.  Over the next several weeks I'll be posting a set of tutorials on using the plug-ins to take full advantage of the powerful capabilities offered by HD Photo.  We'll also talk about the great features in Photoshop (especially in the new CS3 Beta release) that are ideal when working with HD Photo.

In addition to working with Adobe, we're also working together with Pegasus Imaging Systems to develop this set of plug-ins.  Check out their website for a very extensive set of healthcare, document and photo imaging solutions for developers and end users.  Cool stuff!

Did someone stay standards?

I'm also very pleased that we have announced our commitment to submit HD Photo for standardization.  There's really no details to talk about yet.  We're in the process of evaluating the appropriate standards organization and the process.  But we're committed to pursue standardization for HD Photo. 

We've worked very hard over the past several months to address the comments and concerns we've heard about achieving broader deployment for HD Photo.  We changed the licensing terms to eliminate the previous very small royalties.  We changed the name to a generic, un-trademarked term.  We've made the DPK available through a simple click-through End User License Agreement.

Now we're taking the next big step.  Our goal is to turn the format over to an appropriate standards organization.  Ideally, this will include the publishing of an open specification, making possible to implement compatible encoders and decoders that are completely independent of Microsoft's reference source code.  This should fully address any concerns that have been raised about the option for open source implementations.

Anyone who has been involved in standardization, especially related to advanced technology, can tell you it is often a complicated and sometimes lengthly process.  We're working hard to move forward in a timely manner; we'll share more details as we have them.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    March 11, 2007
    I was quite interested to see how HD Photo faired against JPEG, given the claims made. My results haven't been very good though and I'm wondering if you could comment.This shows the differences:http://farm1.static.flickr.com/128/417638386_6745780e3c_o.pngAt the same file size, the HD Photo image has blocky backgrounds and artifacts around fine detail areas on the face. These were both created from the same original master file at 8bit, sRGB. The HD Photo version was created with the Photoshop plugin set to 61% so that the files were the same size.Am I doing something wrong? Would the advanced features of the export plugin have helped me get a better result? I can provide the original image if you're interested.Thanks.
  • Anonymous
    March 11, 2007
    Once known as Windows Media Photo, Microsoft just released a new photo format called HD-Photo. Bill Crow
  • Anonymous
    March 11, 2007
    Once known as Windows Media Photo, Microsoft just released a new photo format called HD-Photo. Bill Crow
  • Anonymous
    March 11, 2007
    A few days ago I mentioned there are some limitations with HD Photo in it’s current state. The limitations are in the legal sense. Specifically they prohibit open source implementations. This obviously hinders adoption as many large organizati..
  • Anonymous
    March 11, 2007
    Hi Citezein,It would be great if you could provide me a link to the original image, or at a minimum, let me know the resolution of the original so I know what compression ratio you're trying to achieve.  I'd be happy to do my own test and provide my recomendations for encoder settings.  This is also the type of issue we're looking to fine tune with this beta release, making the simple encoder controls as intuitive as possible.Thanks,Bill CrowHD Photo Program Manager
  • Anonymous
    March 11, 2007
    Bill,The original file is a CR2 raw from a Canon Digital Rebel XTi. I took it into Photoshop from Lightroom, converted it to 8bit sRGB and resized to 600 x 900px. I then applied a small amount of sharpening with Smart Sharpen.The file, with those changes made and saved as a PSD can be downloaded from my site: http://brian.vallelunga.com/files/headshot.zipHD Photo seemed to have issues in the out of focus background and in the skin and hair on the face. The background lost its smoothness and there is visible blockiness. The skin, especially around the eyes, mouth, and cheeks also appears to have artifacts and a coarseness not there in the original. If you'd like the original CR2 raw file to play with, just let me know. I'm interested in seeing the results.I'm going to try HD Photo on a photo with more fine detail such as a landscape and see if it fairs better under those conditions.
  • Anonymous
    March 12, 2007
    Microsoft has announced HD Photo , formerly known as Windows Media Photo. Bill Crow has much more information
  • Anonymous
    March 12, 2007
    Good luck with the standard! As of myself, HD photo just sounds like the perfect format to replace TIF when saving/transmitting a processed photo. This all sounds very promising, keep up the good work !
  • Anonymous
    March 15, 2007
    Please update the Picture and Fax Viewer for XP to support HD Photo/WM Photo. And some tool on XP to create HD Photo files.
  • Anonymous
    May 27, 2007
    Τα 10 πιο σημαντικά νέα χαρακτηριστικά (σύμφωνα με το BetaNews) του Windows Server 2008 (πρώην Longhorn
  • Anonymous
    May 27, 2007
    Τα 10 πιο σημαντικά νέα χαρακτηριστικά (σύμφωνα με το BetaNews) του Windows Server 2008 (πρώην Longhorn