  In this paper, we investigate the optimal tradeoff between source and channel
coding for channels with bit or packet erasure. Upper and Lower bounds on the
optimal channel coding rate are computed to achieve minimal end-to-end
distortion. The bounds are calculated based on a combination of sphere packing,
straight line and expurgated error exponents and also high rate vector
quantization theory. By modeling a packet erasure channel in terms of an
equivalent bit erasure channel, we obtain bounds on the packet size for a
specified limit on the distortion.
