Originally created in 1988, MPEG I was the first file format to deliver high quality information in a smaller compressed file. It was used in Video CD's and MP3's. Currently MPEG II is the standard for digital televisions and DVD's. In development are MPEG formats as high as MPEG 21, which will be used for complex multimedia especially designed to stream over the Internet. It stands to reason that the compression technology will continue to improve making for faster high quality data transfer. This means more channels on your satellite TV.