tended the standard to facilitate both low and high bit rates and low and high-resolution video not only in ITU-T multimedia telephony systems, but also in RTP/IP packet networks, DVD storage, and broadcast applications. In September 2004, extensions to the original standard, known as the Fidelity Range Extensions (FRExt), were completed to support higher-fidelity video coding via higher-resolution color information (including YUV 4:2:2 and YUV 4:4:4 sampling structures) and increased sample accuracy (including 10-bit and 12-bit coding). Included in the Fidelity Range Extensions project are efficient inter-picture lossless coding, support of additional color spaces, residual color transform, adaptive switching between 4x4 and 8x8 integer transforms, and encoder-specified perceptual- based quantization weighting matrices. Video Communications: The Whole Picture H.264/AVC compresses video more efficiently than older codecs and flexibility for a wide variety of network environment and applications. In scenes with back-and-forth scene cuts, uncovered background areas, or rapid repetitive flashing, H.264 significantly reduces bit rate by providing multi-picture motion compensation. While prior standards offered referencing to no more than two previously-encoded pictures, H.264 allows referencing to as many as 32. For motion compensation, H.264 provides quarter-pixel precision, which allows for accurate description of the displacements of moving areas (as accurate as 1/8 pixel for chroma). H.264 also allows for more precise segmentation of moving regions, with block sizes as small as 4x4 or as large as 16x16, through variable block-size motion compensation (VBSMC). The ringing and blocking artifacts that dog other DCT-based image compression techniques are mitigated in H.264 with an in-loop deblocking filter. Weighted prediction allows an encoder to specify the use of a scaling and offset when performing motion compensation and enhances performance in such instances as fade-to-black, fade-in, and cross-fade transitions