Abstract
There is no theoretical roadblock obstructing the integration of different media types into a single digital medium – after all, bits are bits – but there are several real problems hindering the so-called digital convergence. The alpha problem is that between premultiplied and non-premultiplied alpha. The gamma problem concerns the nonlinearity that many of today's applications insist on burning into their image data. The delta problem is about the integration of the discrete and the continuous – eg, samples (pixels) and geometry. The subtleties of these are explored – eg, square pixels" and non-rectangular images – and a current example of how wrong things can get – the US digital television transmission formats battle – is elaborated."
