Will SMIL Frown?

Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL), a WC3 standard for synchronizing numerous different media into a single presentation, overlaps somewhat with MPEG-4. While not direct replacements for each other, the specifications are clearly in competition for some applications. Opinions are mixed as to whether they can flourish side by side.

"MPEG-4 will replace SMIL, no question," says Frank Hugenard, director of product management for wireless solutions provider Active Sky.

Microsoft doesn't subscribe to the SMIL replacement theory, though, citing available SMIL-like feature combinations of scripting within the browser, and timing controls available via proprietary players.

"This lowers the dependency on newer technology and reduces the memory footprint in the wireless device, which is an important consideration if you are talking about supporting multimedia in mass-market, feature-phone terminals," says Amir Majidimehr, general manager, Microsoft Windows Media Audio and Video Codec Development.

Adding yet another perspective to the mix, wireless technology provider Emblaze Systems believes that SMIL and MPEG-4 will live in harmony for some time, complementing each other on commercial multimedia systems until both SMIL and MPEG-4 fully overlap and come together as one format. Or when, as Raviv Pablo, director of product management at Emblaze states, "a clear leader in media synchronization emerges between these two."

Rob Lanphier, program manager of open standards for RealNetworks, echoes that sentiment by outlining SMIL's inherent benefits. "The key to creating a great experience for all audiences is having standards that recognize and adapt to heterogeneous environments," he says. "For example, SMIL 2.0 scales from SMIL 2.0 Basic, which is suitable for constrained devices, on up to the full SMIL 2.0 Language, and it provides a number of hooks for negotiating different presentations for different audiences according to their needs."

As a result, the Third Generation Partners Project (3GPP), which focuses on the 3G cellular networks under development in Europe, is currently considering SMIL as the standard presentation language for mobile devices.

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