This white paper discusses the H.264 video compression standard and its applications in video surveillance. It provides an introduction to H.264 and how it offers significantly higher compression rates than previous standards like MPEG-4 Part 2, reducing bandwidth and storage needs. It then covers the development of H.264 as a joint project between telecommunications and IT organizations, and how it supports various applications. Finally, it briefly explains the basics of video compression and some key aspects of H.264, such as profiles and levels that define its capabilities and complexity.
The document summarizes the key features and tools of the H.264/AVC video coding standard. It describes how H.264/AVC achieves significant gains in compression efficiency of up to 50% compared to previous standards through the use of new tools like multiple reference frames, fractional pixel motion estimation, an adaptive deblocking filter, and an integer transform. It also notes that while the decoder complexity of H.264/AVC is higher than previous standards, the standard aims to provide efficient video compression for both interactive and non-interactive applications across different networks and storage media.
This document discusses a project that aims to capture real-time video frames using a webcam, compress the frames using the H.263 codec, transmit the encoded stream over Ethernet, decode it at the receiving end for display. It describes the tools, video compression and encoding process using H.263, packetization for transmission, decoding, and analysis of compression ratio and quality using PSNR.
Video coding standards define bitstream structures and decoding methods for video compression. Popular standards include MPEG-1/2/4 and H.264/HEVC developed by ISO/IEC and ITU-T. Standards are developed through identification of requirements, algorithm development, selection of core techniques, validation testing, and publication. They enable interoperability and future decoding of emerging standards. [/SUMMARY]
H.261 is a video coding standard published in 1990 by ITU-T for videoconferencing over ISDN networks. It uses techniques like DCT, motion compensation, and entropy coding to achieve compression ratios over 100:1 for video calling. H.261 remains widely used in applications like Windows NetMeeting and video conferencing standards H.320, H.323, and H.324.
The document discusses the H.264 video compression standard. It provides an overview of the standard, including its objectives to improve compression performance over previous standards. Key features that allow for superior compression compared to other standards are described, such as enhanced motion estimation and an improved deblocking filter. Performance comparisons show H.264 can provide bit rate savings of up to 50% compared to other standards like MPEG-2 and H.263.
An Overview of High Efficiency Video Codec HEVC (H.265)Varun Ravi
The document provides an overview of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) H.265 standard. It discusses the need for improved video compression standards due to increasing video content and limited bandwidth. HEVC was developed to meet this need by providing around 50% better compression over its predecessor H.264 while still maintaining high video quality. The document describes the various techniques used in HEVC such as improved block partitioning, transform sizes, prediction modes, and entropy coding that help achieve its compression gains. Both hardware and software implementations of HEVC decoders and encoders are discussed.
The document summarizes key benefits of JPEG2000 compression standard for broadcast picture quality, including its open and license-free nature, lossless and lossy compression capabilities, scalability, low latency, ability to maintain constant quality through multiple generations, and support for 4K resolution. It discusses ongoing industry efforts through the JPEG2000 Alliance and standards bodies to promote adoption and interoperability of JPEG2000 for applications such as digital cinema, broadcast, surveillance, medical imaging, and more.
Video coding is an essential component of video streaming, digital TV, video chat and many other technologies. This presentation, an invited lecture to the US Patent and Trade Mark Office, describes some of the key developments in the history of video coding.
Many of the components of present-day video codecs were originally developed before 1990. From 1990 onwards, developments in video coding were closely associated with industry standards such as MPEG-2, H.264 and H.265/HEVC.
The presentation covers:
- Basic concepts of video coding
- Fundamental inventions prior to 1990
- Industry standards from 1990 to 2014
- Video coding patents and patent pools.
The document summarizes the key features and tools of the H.264/AVC video coding standard. It describes how H.264/AVC achieves significant gains in compression efficiency of up to 50% compared to previous standards through the use of new tools like multiple reference frames, fractional pixel motion estimation, an adaptive deblocking filter, and an integer transform. It also notes that while the decoder complexity of H.264/AVC is higher than previous standards, the standard aims to provide efficient video compression for both interactive and non-interactive applications across different networks and storage media.
This document discusses a project that aims to capture real-time video frames using a webcam, compress the frames using the H.263 codec, transmit the encoded stream over Ethernet, decode it at the receiving end for display. It describes the tools, video compression and encoding process using H.263, packetization for transmission, decoding, and analysis of compression ratio and quality using PSNR.
Video coding standards define bitstream structures and decoding methods for video compression. Popular standards include MPEG-1/2/4 and H.264/HEVC developed by ISO/IEC and ITU-T. Standards are developed through identification of requirements, algorithm development, selection of core techniques, validation testing, and publication. They enable interoperability and future decoding of emerging standards. [/SUMMARY]
H.261 is a video coding standard published in 1990 by ITU-T for videoconferencing over ISDN networks. It uses techniques like DCT, motion compensation, and entropy coding to achieve compression ratios over 100:1 for video calling. H.261 remains widely used in applications like Windows NetMeeting and video conferencing standards H.320, H.323, and H.324.
The document discusses the H.264 video compression standard. It provides an overview of the standard, including its objectives to improve compression performance over previous standards. Key features that allow for superior compression compared to other standards are described, such as enhanced motion estimation and an improved deblocking filter. Performance comparisons show H.264 can provide bit rate savings of up to 50% compared to other standards like MPEG-2 and H.263.
An Overview of High Efficiency Video Codec HEVC (H.265)Varun Ravi
The document provides an overview of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) H.265 standard. It discusses the need for improved video compression standards due to increasing video content and limited bandwidth. HEVC was developed to meet this need by providing around 50% better compression over its predecessor H.264 while still maintaining high video quality. The document describes the various techniques used in HEVC such as improved block partitioning, transform sizes, prediction modes, and entropy coding that help achieve its compression gains. Both hardware and software implementations of HEVC decoders and encoders are discussed.
The document summarizes key benefits of JPEG2000 compression standard for broadcast picture quality, including its open and license-free nature, lossless and lossy compression capabilities, scalability, low latency, ability to maintain constant quality through multiple generations, and support for 4K resolution. It discusses ongoing industry efforts through the JPEG2000 Alliance and standards bodies to promote adoption and interoperability of JPEG2000 for applications such as digital cinema, broadcast, surveillance, medical imaging, and more.
Video coding is an essential component of video streaming, digital TV, video chat and many other technologies. This presentation, an invited lecture to the US Patent and Trade Mark Office, describes some of the key developments in the history of video coding.
Many of the components of present-day video codecs were originally developed before 1990. From 1990 onwards, developments in video coding were closely associated with industry standards such as MPEG-2, H.264 and H.265/HEVC.
The presentation covers:
- Basic concepts of video coding
- Fundamental inventions prior to 1990
- Industry standards from 1990 to 2014
- Video coding patents and patent pools.
The document provides an overview of the emerging H.264 video coding standard and its implementation on the TMS320C64x digital media platform. It discusses key advantages of H.264 including up to 50% bit rate savings compared to other standards. It describes H.264 technical features such as various block sizes for motion estimation, high precision motion vectors, multiple reference frames, and de-blocking filters. Finally, it introduces UB Video's H.264 video processing solution UBLive-264-C64 optimized for the TMS320C64x DSP platform.
The document discusses video compression standards for conferencing and internet video. It describes the components and evolution of standards including H.261, H.263, H.263+, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4. It focuses on the basics of H.263 including its frame formats, picture and macroblock types, and motion vectors. It also explains the improvements of H.263+ over H.263 such as additional negotiable options.
Subjective quality evaluation of the upcoming HEVC video compression standard Touradj Ebrahimi
Slides of my presentation at SPIE Optics+Photonics 2012 Applications of Digital Image Processing XXXV, San Diego, August 12-16, 2012
Paper available at: http://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/180494
BT has developed Fastnets technology to improve video streaming. It avoids start-up delays and picture freezing during congestion. Fastnets streams multiple encoded versions of the video at different data rates and seamlessly switches between them based on available bandwidth to maintain quality without pausing. This allows for near-instant start times and reduces bandwidth usage by up to 30%. Fastnets provides a high-quality video streaming solution for both mobile and IPTV applications.
Presentazione Broadcast H.265 & H.264 Sematron Italia - Maggio 2016Sematron Italia S.r.l.
This document provides an agenda and overview for a presentation on H.265 and H.264 technologies from Sematron Italia. The agenda includes presentations from Paralinx, TeraDek, Soliton, and Vitec on their latest products, followed by a question and answer session and commercial proposal. Sematron Italia is introduced as a partner for leading companies in defense, telecommunications, satellite communications, aerospace and broadcast with over 30 years of experience. The document also provides overviews of Sematron Italia's divisions for microwave/RF components, satellite communications, and broadcast solutions.
The document summarizes key video coding standards including H.261, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, H.263, MPEG-4, and H.264. It describes their applications, coding tools, profiles, and roles in important technologies. H.261 was the earliest standard for videoconferencing over ISDN. MPEG-1 enabled video on CDs. MPEG-2 allowed digital TV and DVD. Later standards added features for improved compression and functionality at lower bitrates.
H.265ImprovedCE_over_H.264-HarmonicMay2014FinalDonald Pian
H.265/HEVC is a video compression standard that achieves around 50% higher compression efficiency than its predecessor H.264. It introduces new coding tools like larger coding units (64x64 vs 16x16 in H.264), additional filters, and more flexible block partitioning. Subjective comparisons of original and compressed video are important and can involve viewing them side-by-side, alternating between them, or viewing a difference image alongside the compressed video to detect artifacts. When developing technology for Hollywood, it is important to preserve the director's artistic intent, use proper color spaces, and avoid introducing artifacts without permission.
The document discusses the H.264 video compression standard and its applications in video surveillance. H.264 provides much more efficient video compression than previous standards like MPEG-4 and Motion JPEG, reducing file sizes by over 80% without compromising quality. This allows for higher resolution, frame rate, and quality video streams using the same or lower bandwidth and storage compared to earlier standards. H.264 compression will enable uses like high frame rate surveillance at airports and casinos where bandwidth savings are most significant.
In familiar applications such as digital versatile disc (DVD), digital video can be found in digital TV, Internet video streaming, digital high-definition television is defined formula. Digital video sharing digital format all functions, including lossless transmission, lossless storage, easy to edit.Currently in many applications, including video conferencing, video games entertainment, DVD discs, digital video broadcasting. As digital video compression format storage requirements prohibitive, lossy digital video compression technology commonly used as the data transmission rate and a compromise between quality. In this paper, we compare and analyze the MPEG-2 , H.261 and H.264 video compression standards.After the Compression , We get the result that the compression of H.264 is better than other two but it take much time as compare to H.261 on higher cost.
Video Compression Standards - History & IntroductionChamp Yen
This document provides an overview of several video compression standards including MPEG-1/2, MPEG-4, H.264, and HEVC/H.265. It discusses the key concepts of video coding such as entropy coding, quantization, transformation, and intra- and inter-prediction. For each standard, it describes the main coding tools and improvements over previous standards, focusing on techniques for more efficient prediction and extraction of redundant spatial and temporal information while maintaining quality. The development of these standards has moved towards more fine-grained partitioning and new coding ideas and tools to reduce bitrates further.
The document discusses MPEG-4, a standard for multimedia coding. It was originally intended for low bitrate coding but later expanded its scope. MPEG-4 allows coding of audio-visual objects rather than just pixels, supports interactivity and universal access. It includes parts for video, audio, and other functionalities. Key features of MPEG-4 video include coding of video object planes (VOPs), shape coding, and various scalabilities.
The document discusses the H.265/HEVC video coding standard. It provides an overview of HEVC version 1.0 and its extensions, including its coding efficiency compared to prior standards. Studies show HEVC achieves 50% bitrate reduction over H.264/AVC for the same subjective quality. For low delay applications, HEVC requires 48-73% fewer bits than VP9 or H.264/AVC encoders. While reference encoders are slow, real-time encoders have approached the coding efficiency of the reference within 1.5 years. Future extensions include higher color depths, multiview, and scalable coding.
HEVC/H.265 is a video compression standard that provides around 50% better compression over H.264/AVC for the same level of video quality. It was finalized in 2013 by the joint collaboration of MPEG and ITU-T. Key features of HEVC include support for higher resolutions like 4K and 8K, improved parallel processing abilities, increased coding efficiency through larger block sizes and an expanded set of prediction modes.
The document discusses various analog and digital video interfaces. It describes common analog video interfaces like composite video, S-video, component video and RGB analog video. It then covers digital video interfaces such as HDMI, DVI, FireWire, S/PDIF and SDI. For each interface, it provides details on technical standards, maximum supported resolutions and example uses.
The document compares video compression standards MPEG-4 and H.264. It discusses key aspects of each including profiles, levels, uses and future applications. MPEG-4 introduced object-based coding while H.264 provides around 50% better compression than MPEG-4 at similar quality levels. Both standards are widely used for video streaming, television broadcasting, and storage applications like Blu-ray discs. Ongoing development aims to improve support for high definition video formats.
A REAL-TIME H.264/AVC ENCODER&DECODER WITH VERTICAL MODE FOR INTRA FRAME AND ...csandit
The video coding standards are being developed to satisfy the requirements of applications for
various purposes, better picture quality, higher coding efficiency, and more error robustness.
The new international video coding standard H.264 /AVC aims at having significant
improvements in coding efficiency, and error robustness in comparison with the previous
standards such as MPEG-2, H261, H263,and H264. Video stream needs to be processed from
several steps in order to encode and decode the video such that it is compressed efficiently with
available limited resources of hardware and software. All advantages and disadvantages of
available algorithms should be known to implement a codec to accomplish final requirement.
The purpose of this project is to implement all basic building blocks of H.264 video encoder and
decoder. The significance of the project is the inclusion of all components required to encode
and decode a video in MatLab .
IBM VideoCharger and Digital Library MediaBase.docVideoguy
This document provides an overview of video streaming over the internet. It discusses video compression standards like H.261, H.263, MJPEG, MPEG1, MPEG2 and MPEG4. It also covers internet transport protocols like TCP and UDP, and challenges like firewall penetration. Both commercial streaming products and research projects aiming to improve streaming are reviewed, with limitations of current approaches outlined. The SuperNOVA research project is evaluated against other work seeking to make high quality video streaming over the internet practical.
Spatial Scalable Video Compression Using H.264IOSR Journals
H.264 is a video compression standard that provides improved compression performance over prior standards like H.261 and H.263. It achieves spatial scalability by encoding video in a spatial manner that reduces the number of frames and file size. The paper simulates H.264 encoding and decoding of a QCIF video using JM software. It compares parameters like PSNR, CSNR, and MSE between the encoded and decoded video. H.264 provides 31-35% greater efficiency and lower bit rates compared to prior standards.
This document summarizes spatial scalable video compression using H.264. It discusses previous video compression standards like H.261 and H.263. It then describes the key components of the H.264 encoder and decoder, including prediction models, spatial models and entropy encoding. Simulation results comparing parameters like PSNR, CSNR and MSE between encoded and decoded video using H.264 are presented. The paper concludes that H.264 provides 31-35% improved efficiency and bit rate reduction over previous standards.
H.264 offers several technical advantages over MPEG-4 for video compression including finer-grained motion prediction, integer transforms, deblocking filters, and the ability to use multiple reference pictures. H.264 was designed to avoid the complex licensing issues of MPEG-4 and aims to not require royalty payments for its baseline profile. If H.264 can successfully avoid licensing controversies, it has the potential to see widespread adoption for uses beyond videoconferencing such as video streaming and storage.
This document describes a project to design an H.264 video decoder using Verilog. It implements the key decoding blocks like Context-Based Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding (CABAC), inverse quantization, and inverse discrete cosine transform. CABAC is the entropy decoding method used in H.264 that is computationally intensive. The project develops hardware modules for these blocks to accelerate decoding and enable real-time performance. It presents the designs of the individual modules and simulation results showing their functionality. The goal is to improve on software implementations by using dedicated hardware for the critical decoding stages.
The document provides an overview of the emerging H.264 video coding standard and its implementation on the TMS320C64x digital media platform. It discusses key advantages of H.264 including up to 50% bit rate savings compared to other standards. It describes H.264 technical features such as various block sizes for motion estimation, high precision motion vectors, multiple reference frames, and de-blocking filters. Finally, it introduces UB Video's H.264 video processing solution UBLive-264-C64 optimized for the TMS320C64x DSP platform.
The document discusses video compression standards for conferencing and internet video. It describes the components and evolution of standards including H.261, H.263, H.263+, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4. It focuses on the basics of H.263 including its frame formats, picture and macroblock types, and motion vectors. It also explains the improvements of H.263+ over H.263 such as additional negotiable options.
Subjective quality evaluation of the upcoming HEVC video compression standard Touradj Ebrahimi
Slides of my presentation at SPIE Optics+Photonics 2012 Applications of Digital Image Processing XXXV, San Diego, August 12-16, 2012
Paper available at: http://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/180494
BT has developed Fastnets technology to improve video streaming. It avoids start-up delays and picture freezing during congestion. Fastnets streams multiple encoded versions of the video at different data rates and seamlessly switches between them based on available bandwidth to maintain quality without pausing. This allows for near-instant start times and reduces bandwidth usage by up to 30%. Fastnets provides a high-quality video streaming solution for both mobile and IPTV applications.
Presentazione Broadcast H.265 & H.264 Sematron Italia - Maggio 2016Sematron Italia S.r.l.
This document provides an agenda and overview for a presentation on H.265 and H.264 technologies from Sematron Italia. The agenda includes presentations from Paralinx, TeraDek, Soliton, and Vitec on their latest products, followed by a question and answer session and commercial proposal. Sematron Italia is introduced as a partner for leading companies in defense, telecommunications, satellite communications, aerospace and broadcast with over 30 years of experience. The document also provides overviews of Sematron Italia's divisions for microwave/RF components, satellite communications, and broadcast solutions.
The document summarizes key video coding standards including H.261, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, H.263, MPEG-4, and H.264. It describes their applications, coding tools, profiles, and roles in important technologies. H.261 was the earliest standard for videoconferencing over ISDN. MPEG-1 enabled video on CDs. MPEG-2 allowed digital TV and DVD. Later standards added features for improved compression and functionality at lower bitrates.
H.265ImprovedCE_over_H.264-HarmonicMay2014FinalDonald Pian
H.265/HEVC is a video compression standard that achieves around 50% higher compression efficiency than its predecessor H.264. It introduces new coding tools like larger coding units (64x64 vs 16x16 in H.264), additional filters, and more flexible block partitioning. Subjective comparisons of original and compressed video are important and can involve viewing them side-by-side, alternating between them, or viewing a difference image alongside the compressed video to detect artifacts. When developing technology for Hollywood, it is important to preserve the director's artistic intent, use proper color spaces, and avoid introducing artifacts without permission.
The document discusses the H.264 video compression standard and its applications in video surveillance. H.264 provides much more efficient video compression than previous standards like MPEG-4 and Motion JPEG, reducing file sizes by over 80% without compromising quality. This allows for higher resolution, frame rate, and quality video streams using the same or lower bandwidth and storage compared to earlier standards. H.264 compression will enable uses like high frame rate surveillance at airports and casinos where bandwidth savings are most significant.
In familiar applications such as digital versatile disc (DVD), digital video can be found in digital TV, Internet video streaming, digital high-definition television is defined formula. Digital video sharing digital format all functions, including lossless transmission, lossless storage, easy to edit.Currently in many applications, including video conferencing, video games entertainment, DVD discs, digital video broadcasting. As digital video compression format storage requirements prohibitive, lossy digital video compression technology commonly used as the data transmission rate and a compromise between quality. In this paper, we compare and analyze the MPEG-2 , H.261 and H.264 video compression standards.After the Compression , We get the result that the compression of H.264 is better than other two but it take much time as compare to H.261 on higher cost.
Video Compression Standards - History & IntroductionChamp Yen
This document provides an overview of several video compression standards including MPEG-1/2, MPEG-4, H.264, and HEVC/H.265. It discusses the key concepts of video coding such as entropy coding, quantization, transformation, and intra- and inter-prediction. For each standard, it describes the main coding tools and improvements over previous standards, focusing on techniques for more efficient prediction and extraction of redundant spatial and temporal information while maintaining quality. The development of these standards has moved towards more fine-grained partitioning and new coding ideas and tools to reduce bitrates further.
The document discusses MPEG-4, a standard for multimedia coding. It was originally intended for low bitrate coding but later expanded its scope. MPEG-4 allows coding of audio-visual objects rather than just pixels, supports interactivity and universal access. It includes parts for video, audio, and other functionalities. Key features of MPEG-4 video include coding of video object planes (VOPs), shape coding, and various scalabilities.
The document discusses the H.265/HEVC video coding standard. It provides an overview of HEVC version 1.0 and its extensions, including its coding efficiency compared to prior standards. Studies show HEVC achieves 50% bitrate reduction over H.264/AVC for the same subjective quality. For low delay applications, HEVC requires 48-73% fewer bits than VP9 or H.264/AVC encoders. While reference encoders are slow, real-time encoders have approached the coding efficiency of the reference within 1.5 years. Future extensions include higher color depths, multiview, and scalable coding.
HEVC/H.265 is a video compression standard that provides around 50% better compression over H.264/AVC for the same level of video quality. It was finalized in 2013 by the joint collaboration of MPEG and ITU-T. Key features of HEVC include support for higher resolutions like 4K and 8K, improved parallel processing abilities, increased coding efficiency through larger block sizes and an expanded set of prediction modes.
The document discusses various analog and digital video interfaces. It describes common analog video interfaces like composite video, S-video, component video and RGB analog video. It then covers digital video interfaces such as HDMI, DVI, FireWire, S/PDIF and SDI. For each interface, it provides details on technical standards, maximum supported resolutions and example uses.
The document compares video compression standards MPEG-4 and H.264. It discusses key aspects of each including profiles, levels, uses and future applications. MPEG-4 introduced object-based coding while H.264 provides around 50% better compression than MPEG-4 at similar quality levels. Both standards are widely used for video streaming, television broadcasting, and storage applications like Blu-ray discs. Ongoing development aims to improve support for high definition video formats.
A REAL-TIME H.264/AVC ENCODER&DECODER WITH VERTICAL MODE FOR INTRA FRAME AND ...csandit
The video coding standards are being developed to satisfy the requirements of applications for
various purposes, better picture quality, higher coding efficiency, and more error robustness.
The new international video coding standard H.264 /AVC aims at having significant
improvements in coding efficiency, and error robustness in comparison with the previous
standards such as MPEG-2, H261, H263,and H264. Video stream needs to be processed from
several steps in order to encode and decode the video such that it is compressed efficiently with
available limited resources of hardware and software. All advantages and disadvantages of
available algorithms should be known to implement a codec to accomplish final requirement.
The purpose of this project is to implement all basic building blocks of H.264 video encoder and
decoder. The significance of the project is the inclusion of all components required to encode
and decode a video in MatLab .
IBM VideoCharger and Digital Library MediaBase.docVideoguy
This document provides an overview of video streaming over the internet. It discusses video compression standards like H.261, H.263, MJPEG, MPEG1, MPEG2 and MPEG4. It also covers internet transport protocols like TCP and UDP, and challenges like firewall penetration. Both commercial streaming products and research projects aiming to improve streaming are reviewed, with limitations of current approaches outlined. The SuperNOVA research project is evaluated against other work seeking to make high quality video streaming over the internet practical.
Spatial Scalable Video Compression Using H.264IOSR Journals
H.264 is a video compression standard that provides improved compression performance over prior standards like H.261 and H.263. It achieves spatial scalability by encoding video in a spatial manner that reduces the number of frames and file size. The paper simulates H.264 encoding and decoding of a QCIF video using JM software. It compares parameters like PSNR, CSNR, and MSE between the encoded and decoded video. H.264 provides 31-35% greater efficiency and lower bit rates compared to prior standards.
This document summarizes spatial scalable video compression using H.264. It discusses previous video compression standards like H.261 and H.263. It then describes the key components of the H.264 encoder and decoder, including prediction models, spatial models and entropy encoding. Simulation results comparing parameters like PSNR, CSNR and MSE between encoded and decoded video using H.264 are presented. The paper concludes that H.264 provides 31-35% improved efficiency and bit rate reduction over previous standards.
H.264 offers several technical advantages over MPEG-4 for video compression including finer-grained motion prediction, integer transforms, deblocking filters, and the ability to use multiple reference pictures. H.264 was designed to avoid the complex licensing issues of MPEG-4 and aims to not require royalty payments for its baseline profile. If H.264 can successfully avoid licensing controversies, it has the potential to see widespread adoption for uses beyond videoconferencing such as video streaming and storage.
This document describes a project to design an H.264 video decoder using Verilog. It implements the key decoding blocks like Context-Based Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding (CABAC), inverse quantization, and inverse discrete cosine transform. CABAC is the entropy decoding method used in H.264 that is computationally intensive. The project develops hardware modules for these blocks to accelerate decoding and enable real-time performance. It presents the designs of the individual modules and simulation results showing their functionality. The goal is to improve on software implementations by using dedicated hardware for the critical decoding stages.
The document discusses video streaming, including its objectives, advantages, architecture, compression techniques, and standards. It provides details on video capture, content management, formats, frame rates, codecs, content compression using MPEG, and protocols for real-time transmission like RTP, UDP, and TCP. It also compares major streaming products from Microsoft and RealNetworks.
This document discusses post-processing and rate distortion algorithms for the VP8 video codec. It first provides background on the need for post-processing algorithms to reduce blocking artifacts in compressed video, and for rate control algorithms to regulate bitrates and achieve high video quality within bandwidth constraints. It then summarizes existing in-loop deblocking filters and post-processing algorithms. A novel optimal post-processing/in-loop filtering algorithm is described that can achieve better performance than H.264/AVC or VP8 by computing optimal filter coefficients. Finally, a proposed rate distortion optimization algorithm for VP8 is discussed to improve its rate control and coding efficiency.
Polycom ® Video Communications H.264 and Pro-Motion ™ : The ...Videoguy
Polycom provides video conferencing systems that deliver the highest quality video through cutting edge technologies like H.264 video compression and Pro-Motion. H.264 allows for better video quality at half the bit rate of previous standards. Pro-Motion preserves both video fields for smoother motion and higher resolution. Polycom systems automatically choose the best algorithm to optimize quality based on bandwidth and scene type. Polycom continues to advance video technologies to provide the best experience.
This document compares video compression standards MPEG-4 and H.264. It discusses key factors for video compression like spatial and temporal sampling. It provides an overview of MPEG-4 including object-based coding, profiles and levels. H.264 is introduced as a standard that provides 50% bit rate savings over MPEG-2. Profiles and levels are explained for both standards. Common uses of each are listed, along with future development options.
Axis offers a broad portfolio of network cameras and video encoders based on its ARTPEC-3 chip. The
performance of Axis products, in terms of streams and frame rate, is important, and we will focus on the
performance of Axis network products based on ARTPEC-3 in this paper.
The intended audience of this document is technical personnel and system integrators.
This document compares video compression standards MPEG-4 and H.264. It provides an overview of both standards, including their development histories and profiles. MPEG-4 was the first standard to support object-based video coding and compression of different media types. H.264 provides significantly better compression than prior standards like MPEG-2 at the cost of higher computational complexity. Both standards are widely used today for applications ranging from mobile and internet video to television broadcasting and digital cinema.
Polycom provides video conferencing systems that use H.264 and Pro-Motion video compression technologies to deliver high quality video. H.264 allows for better video quality at half the bit rate of previous standards. Pro-Motion preserves both video fields for smoother motion. Polycom systems can choose between the standards to optimize video quality for the connection bandwidth and scene content.
This document provides an overview and comparison of the H.265/HEVC and H.264/AVC video coding standards. It summarizes the key features and techniques of each, such as HEVC achieving around 40% higher data compression compared to H.264/AVC through improvements to prediction, transform coding, and entropy encoding. Experimental results testing various video sequences show HEVC provides significantly better compression efficiency. The document also reviews the technical details and implementations of both standards.
Requiring only half the bitrate of its predecessor, the new standard – HEVC or H.265 – will significantly reduce the need for bandwidth and expensive, limited spectrum. HEVC (H.265) will enable the launch of new video services and in particular ultra HD television (UHDTV).
State-of-the-art video compression techniques – HEVC/H.265 – can reduce the size of raw video by a factor of about 100 without any noticeable reduction in visual quality. With estimates indicating that compressed real-time video accounts for more than 50 percent of current network traffic, and this figure is set to rise to 90 percent within a few years, HEVC/H.265 will be a welcome relief for network operators.
New services, devices and changing viewing patterns are among the factors contributing to the growth in video traffic as people watch more and more traditional TV and video-streaming services on their mobile devices.
Ericsson has been heavily involved in the standardization of HEVC since it began in 2010, and this Ericsson Review article highlights some of the contributions that have led to the compression efficiency offered by HEVC.
Requiring only half the bitrate of its predecessor, the new standard – HEVC or H.265 – will significantly reduce the need for bandwidth and expensive, limited spectrum. HEVC (H.265) will enable the launch of new video services and in particular ultra HD television (UHDTV).
State-of-the-art video compression techniques – HEVC/H.265 – can reduce the size of raw video by a factor of about 100 without any noticeable reduction in visual quality. With estimates indicating that compressed real-time video accounts for more than 50 percent of current network traffic, and this figure is set to rise to 90 percent within a few years, HEVC/H.265 will be a welcome relief for network operators.
New services, devices and changing viewing patterns are among the factors contributing to the growth in video traffic as people watch more and more traditional TV and video-streaming services on their mobile devices.
Ericsson has been heavily involved in the standardization of HEVC since it began in 2010, and this Ericsson Review article highlights some of the contributions that have led to the compression efficiency offered by HEVC.
.
The H.264/AVC Advanced Video Coding Standard: Overview and ...Videoguy
This document provides an overview of the H.264/AVC video coding standard and its Fidelity Range Extensions (FRExt). It discusses how H.264/AVC was developed jointly by ISO/IEC MPEG and ITU-T VCEG to improve coding efficiency over prior standards. The FRExt amendment adds support for higher chroma sampling, bit depths, and other capabilities for demanding professional applications. Initial industry feedback indicates rapid adoption of the High Profile added in FRExt.
Motion Vector Recovery for Real-time H.264 Video StreamsIDES Editor
Among the various network protocols that can be
used to stream the video data, RTP over UDP is the best to do
with real time streaming in H.264 based video streams. Videos
transmitted over a communication channel are highly prone
to errors; it can become critical when UDP is used. In such
cases real time error concealment becomes an important
aspect. A subclass of the error concealment is the motion
vector recovery which is used to conceal errors at the decoder
side. Lagrange Interpolation is the fastest and a popular
technique for the motion vector recovery. This paper proposes
a new system architecture which enables the RTP-UDP based
real time video streaming as well as the Lagrange
interpolation based real time motion vector recovery in H.264
coded video streams. A completely open source H.264 video
codec called FFmpeg is chosen to implement the proposed
system. Proposed implementation was tested against the
different standard benchmark video sequences and the
quality of the recovered videos was measured at the decoder
side using various quality measurement metrics.
Experimental results show that the real time motion vector
recovery does not introduce any noticeable difference or
latency during display of the recovered video.
Introduction to Video Compression Techniques - Anurag JainVideoguy
The document provides an overview of video compression techniques and standards. It discusses the motivation for video compression to reduce data sizes for storage and transmission. It then reviews several key video compression standards including H.261, H.263, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264 and others. For each standard, it summarizes the goals, features, applications and technical details like motion compensation methods, block sizes, and bitrate ranges.
The document provides an overview of MPEG-4, a standard that offers both advanced audio and video codecs as well as tools for combining multimedia such as audio, video, graphics and interactivity. It was developed through an open international process to select the best technologies. MPEG-4 codecs like AVC and AAC provide high compression efficiency, having been adopted for HDTV, mobile video, and digital music. Its rich media tools allow interactive experiences combining different media types.
This document provides an overview of Codan's 6700/6900 series block up converter (BUC) systems and components. It describes the BUC, low-noise block converter (LNB), and redundancy systems. It also covers installation, operation, and troubleshooting of the systems. The document contains information on frequency bands, conversion plans, interfaces, cable connections, monitor/control, commands, maintenance procedures, and compliance standards.
This document discusses digital set-top boxes (STBs) and related standards. It covers:
1) The DVB standards for digital TV broadcasting via different transmission media, including DVB-T for terrestrial, DVB-S for satellite, and DVB-C for cable. These share source coding/compression and service multiplexing standards.
2) STBs will be needed until integrated digital TVs are cheaper. Affordable STBs are key for digital TV adoption. Common standards help lower STB costs through economies of scale.
3) "Open architecture" and "interoperability" mean the STB functionality is defined by public standards and can receive services across networks, respectively. The
The document discusses DCT/IDCT concepts and applications. It provides an introduction to DCT and IDCT, explaining that they are used widely in video and audio compression. It describes the DCT and IDCT functions and how they work to transform signals between spatial and frequency domains. Examples of one-dimensional and two-dimensional DCT/IDCT equations are also given. Finally, common applications of DCT/IDCT compression techniques are listed, such as in DVD players, cable TV, graphics cards, and medical imaging systems.
This document discusses image compression using the discrete cosine transform (DCT). It develops simple Mathematica functions to compute the 1D and 2D DCT. The 1D DCT transforms a list of real numbers into elementary frequency components. It is computed via matrix multiplication or using the discrete Fourier transform with twiddle factors. The 2D DCT applies the 1D DCT to rows and then columns of an image, making it separable. These functions illustrate how Mathematica can be used to prototype image processing algorithms.
DVB-S2 is the second-generation specification for satellite broadcasting developed by DVB in 2003. It uses more advanced channel coding (LDPC codes) and modulation formats (QPSK, 8PSK, 16APSK, 32APSK) for a 30% increase in transmission capacity over DVB-S. DVB-S2 allows for adaptive coding and modulation to optimize transmission for each user. It is designed for broadcast, interactive, and professional applications with flexibility to handle different transponder characteristics and content formats.
The STi7167 is an integrated system-on-chip that combines a configurable DVB-T or DVB-C demodulator with STB decoding and display functions. It provides advanced HD and SD video decoding, audio decoding, graphics processing, and connectivity options. The chip's integrated features allow for low cost and small size STB designs for cable or terrestrial networks.
This document provides an overview of service information (SI) in digital video broadcasting (DVB) systems, including sections like the network information section (NIT), service description section (SDT), bouquet association section (BAT), program association section (PAT), conditional access section (CAT), transport stream description section (TSDT), event information section (EIT), and running status section (RST). It includes syntax diagrams and details for each section, such as table IDs, section lengths, descriptors, and other fields. It also provides the PID and refresh interval requirements for each table type.
1) The document describes a modification to the Huffman coding used in JPEG image compression. It proposes pairing each non-zero DCT coefficient with the run-length of subsequent (rather than preceding) zero coefficients.
2) This allows using separate optimized Huffman code tables for each DCT coefficient position, improving compression by 10-15% over standard JPEG coding.
3) The decoding procedure is not changed and no end-of-block marker is needed, providing advantages with no increase in complexity.
Dani Pedrosa won the MotoGP race at Laguna Seca, finishing just 0.344 seconds ahead of Valentino Rossi in second and 1.926 seconds ahead of Jorge Lorenzo in third. Casey Stoner finished fourth, over 12 seconds behind Pedrosa. There were several crashes during the race, with Andrea Dovizioso, Sete Gibernau, and Gabor Talmacsi all falling out of contention. James Toseland received a ride through penalty for a jump start.
The document provides implementation guidelines for using the DVB Simulcrypt standard, including describing the architecture and protocols, clarifying differences between protocol versions, explaining state diagrams and behaviors, and providing recommendations for error handling, redundancy management, and custom signaling profiles to facilitate reliable and efficient Simulcrypt headend implementation.
1) The document discusses quantization and pulse code modulation (PCM) in voice signal encoding. PCM assigns 256 possible values to digitally represent analog voice samples, divided into chords and steps on a linear scale.
2) A logarithmic quantization scale is better than a linear one for voice signals, as it allocates more quantization steps to lower amplitudes prevalent in speech. This "compressed encoding" improves fidelity.
3) Quantization error occurs when samples with different amplitudes are assigned the same digital value, distorting the reconstructed waveform. Compression helps maintain a higher signal-to-noise ratio especially for low amplitudes.
This document provides implementation guidelines for the DVB Simulcrypt standard. It describes the architecture and protocols involved in simulcrypt systems, including the ECMG protocol between the security client system and conditional access modules, and the EMMG/PDG protocol between conditional access modules and multiplex equipment. The document outlines differences between version 1 and 2 of the standards, and provides recommendations for compliance. It also includes detailed state diagrams and descriptions of the protocols involved.
The Event Logger monitors and logs Digital Program Insertion (DPI) messages to verify correct transmission of signals via satellite. It watches for configured GPI state changes that indicate an expected DPI message. If the message is received on time, it is logged as a matched event. If not received on time, it is flagged as missed. The Event Logger also decodes DPI messages to help diagnose issues, and is compatible with various encoding systems. It has 6 ASI inputs, 108 GPI sensors, and logs data in real-time and for archiving.
This document discusses the basics of BISS scrambling. It describes BISS mode 1, which uses a session word, and BISS mode E, which encrypts the session word using an identifier and encryption algorithm. BISS mode E provides an additional layer of protection for transmitting the session word. The document also covers calculating the encrypted session word, using buried and injected identifiers, and how to operate scramblers in the different BISS modes.
Euler's theorem states that for any plane graph, the number of vertices (v) minus the number of edges (e) plus the number of faces (f) equals 2. The document proves this theorem by considering a minimal tree (T) within the graph and its dual tree (D), showing that the number of edges of T and D sum to the total edges (e) of the original graph. Some applications of the theorem are that any plane graph contains an edge of degree 5 or higher and any finite set of points not all on a line contains a line with exactly two points.
This document provides an overview of satellite communications fundamentals. It discusses how satellites provide capabilities not available through landlines, such as mobility and quick implementation. However, satellites are not always the most cost effective solution due to limited frequency spectrum and spatial capacity. The document describes different types of satellite services and configurations, including geostationary and non-geostationary satellites. It also covers topics like frequency reuse, earth station antennas, and satellite link delays.
The document discusses quantization in analog-to-digital conversion. It describes the three processes of A/D conversion as sampling, quantization, and binary encoding. Quantization involves mapping amplitude values into a set of discrete values using a quantization interval or step size. The document discusses uniform quantization and how the quantization levels are determined. It also covers non-uniform quantization and provides examples and MATLAB code demonstrations of audio signal quantization.
1) Reed-Solomon codes are a type of error-correcting code invented in 1960 that can detect and correct multiple symbol errors. They work by encoding data into redundant symbols that can be used to detect and locate errors.
2) Reed-Solomon codes are particularly good at correcting burst errors, where a block of symbols are corrupted together by noise. Even if an entire block of bits is corrupted, the code can still correct the errors by replacing the corrupted symbol.
3) The error correction capability of Reed-Solomon codes increases with larger block sizes, as noise is averaged over more symbols. However, implementing Reed-Solomon codes also becomes more complex with higher redundancy.
This document describes the head-end architecture and synchronization for digital video broadcasting using SimulCrypt. It outlines the system components including an event information scheduler, SimulCrypt synchronizer, entitlement control message generator, entitlement management message generator, and multiplexer. It also describes the interfaces between these components, covering processes like channel and stream establishment and closure, as well as bandwidth allocation and status reporting.
Generative AI Deep Dive: Advancing from Proof of Concept to ProductionAggregage
Join Maher Hanafi, VP of Engineering at Betterworks, in this new session where he'll share a practical framework to transform Gen AI prototypes into impactful products! He'll delve into the complexities of data collection and management, model selection and optimization, and ensuring security, scalability, and responsible use.
“An Outlook of the Ongoing and Future Relationship between Blockchain Technologies and Process-aware Information Systems.” Invited talk at the joint workshop on Blockchain for Information Systems (BC4IS) and Blockchain for Trusted Data Sharing (B4TDS), co-located with with the 36th International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAiSE), 3 June 2024, Limassol, Cyprus.
Removing Uninteresting Bytes in Software FuzzingAftab Hussain
Imagine a world where software fuzzing, the process of mutating bytes in test seeds to uncover hidden and erroneous program behaviors, becomes faster and more effective. A lot depends on the initial seeds, which can significantly dictate the trajectory of a fuzzing campaign, particularly in terms of how long it takes to uncover interesting behaviour in your code. We introduce DIAR, a technique designed to speedup fuzzing campaigns by pinpointing and eliminating those uninteresting bytes in the seeds. Picture this: instead of wasting valuable resources on meaningless mutations in large, bloated seeds, DIAR removes the unnecessary bytes, streamlining the entire process.
In this work, we equipped AFL, a popular fuzzer, with DIAR and examined two critical Linux libraries -- Libxml's xmllint, a tool for parsing xml documents, and Binutil's readelf, an essential debugging and security analysis command-line tool used to display detailed information about ELF (Executable and Linkable Format). Our preliminary results show that AFL+DIAR does not only discover new paths more quickly but also achieves higher coverage overall. This work thus showcases how starting with lean and optimized seeds can lead to faster, more comprehensive fuzzing campaigns -- and DIAR helps you find such seeds.
- These are slides of the talk given at IEEE International Conference on Software Testing Verification and Validation Workshop, ICSTW 2022.
Dr. Sean Tan, Head of Data Science, Changi Airport Group
Discover how Changi Airport Group (CAG) leverages graph technologies and generative AI to revolutionize their search capabilities. This session delves into the unique search needs of CAG’s diverse passengers and customers, showcasing how graph data structures enhance the accuracy and relevance of AI-generated search results, mitigating the risk of “hallucinations” and improving the overall customer journey.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 6DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 6. In this session, we will cover Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI.
UiPath Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI webinar offers an in-depth exploration of leveraging cutting-edge technologies for test automation within the UiPath platform. Attendees will delve into the integration of generative AI, a test automation solution, with Open AI advanced natural language processing capabilities.
Throughout the session, participants will discover how this synergy empowers testers to automate repetitive tasks, enhance testing accuracy, and expedite the software testing life cycle. Topics covered include the seamless integration process, practical use cases, and the benefits of harnessing AI-driven automation for UiPath testing initiatives. By attending this webinar, testers, and automation professionals can gain valuable insights into harnessing the power of AI to optimize their test automation workflows within the UiPath ecosystem, ultimately driving efficiency and quality in software development processes.
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into integrating generative AI.
2. Understanding how this integration enhances test automation within the UiPath platform
3. Practical demonstrations
4. Exploration of real-world use cases illustrating the benefits of AI-driven test automation for UiPath
Topics covered:
What is generative AI
Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI.
UiPath integration with generative AI
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Alt. GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using ...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
Communications Mining Series - Zero to Hero - Session 1DianaGray10
This session provides introduction to UiPath Communication Mining, importance and platform overview. You will acquire a good understand of the phases in Communication Mining as we go over the platform with you. Topics covered:
• Communication Mining Overview
• Why is it important?
• How can it help today’s business and the benefits
• Phases in Communication Mining
• Demo on Platform overview
• Q/A
Securing your Kubernetes cluster_ a step-by-step guide to success !KatiaHIMEUR1
Today, after several years of existence, an extremely active community and an ultra-dynamic ecosystem, Kubernetes has established itself as the de facto standard in container orchestration. Thanks to a wide range of managed services, it has never been so easy to set up a ready-to-use Kubernetes cluster.
However, this ease of use means that the subject of security in Kubernetes is often left for later, or even neglected. This exposes companies to significant risks.
In this talk, I'll show you step-by-step how to secure your Kubernetes cluster for greater peace of mind and reliability.
Climate Impact of Software Testing at Nordic Testing DaysKari Kakkonen
My slides at Nordic Testing Days 6.6.2024
Climate impact / sustainability of software testing discussed on the talk. ICT and testing must carry their part of global responsibility to help with the climat warming. We can minimize the carbon footprint but we can also have a carbon handprint, a positive impact on the climate. Quality characteristics can be added with sustainability, and then measured continuously. Test environments can be used less, and in smaller scale and on demand. Test techniques can be used in optimizing or minimizing number of tests. Test automation can be used to speed up testing.
Introducing Milvus Lite: Easy-to-Install, Easy-to-Use vector database for you...Zilliz
Join us to introduce Milvus Lite, a vector database that can run on notebooks and laptops, share the same API with Milvus, and integrate with every popular GenAI framework. This webinar is perfect for developers seeking easy-to-use, well-integrated vector databases for their GenAI apps.
20 Comprehensive Checklist of Designing and Developing a WebsitePixlogix Infotech
Dive into the world of Website Designing and Developing with Pixlogix! Looking to create a stunning online presence? Look no further! Our comprehensive checklist covers everything you need to know to craft a website that stands out. From user-friendly design to seamless functionality, we've got you covered. Don't miss out on this invaluable resource! Check out our checklist now at Pixlogix and start your journey towards a captivating online presence today.
Sudheer Mechineni, Head of Application Frameworks, Standard Chartered Bank
Discover how Standard Chartered Bank harnessed the power of Neo4j to transform complex data access challenges into a dynamic, scalable graph database solution. This keynote will cover their journey from initial adoption to deploying a fully automated, enterprise-grade causal cluster, highlighting key strategies for modelling organisational changes and ensuring robust disaster recovery. Learn how these innovations have not only enhanced Standard Chartered Bank’s data infrastructure but also positioned them as pioneers in the banking sector’s adoption of graph technology.
2. Table of contents
1. Introduction 3
2. Development of H.264 3
3. How video compression works 4
4. H.264 profiles and levels 5
5. Understanding frames 5
6. Basic methods of reducing data 6
7. Efficiency of H.264 7
8. Conclusion 9
3. 1. Introduction
The latest video compression standard, H.264 (also known as MPEG-4 Part 10/AVC for Advanced Video
Coding), is expected to become the video standard of choice in the coming years.
H.264 is an open, licensed standard that supports the most efficient video compression techniques available
today. Without compromising image quality, an H.264 encoder can reduce the size of a digital video file by
more than 80% compared with the Motion JPEG format and as much as 50% more than with the MPEG-4
Part 2 standard. This means that much less network bandwidth and storage space are required for a video
file. Or seen another way, much higher video quality can be achieved for a given bit rate.
Jointly defined by standardization organizations in the telecommunications and IT industries, H.264 is
expected to be more widely adopted than previous standards.
H.264 has already been introduced in new electronic gadgets such as mobile phones and digital video
players, and has gained fast acceptance by end users. Service providers such as online video storage and
telecommunications companies are also beginning to adopt H.264.
In the video surveillance industry, H.264 will most likely find the quickest traction in applications where
there are demands for high frame rates and high resolution, such as in the surveillance of highways,
airports and casinos, where the use of 30/25 (NTSC/PAL) frames per second is the norm. This is where
the economies of reduced bandwidth and storage needs will deliver the biggest savings.
H.264 is also expected to accelerate the adoption of megapixel cameras since the highly efficient
compression technology can reduce the large file sizes and bit rates generated without compromising
image quality. There are tradeoffs, however. While H.264 provides savings in network bandwidth and
storage costs, it will require higher performance network cameras and monitoring stations.
2. Development of H.264
H.264 is the result of a joint project between the ITU-T’s Video Coding Experts Group and the ISO/IEC
Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). ITU-T is the sector that coordinates telecommunications standards
on behalf of the International Telecommunication Union. ISO stands for International Organization for
Standardization and IEC stands for International Electrotechnical Commission, which oversees standards
for all electrical, electronic and related technologies. H.264 is the name used by ITU-T, while ISO/IEC has
named it MPEG-4 Part 10/AVC since it is presented as a new part in its MPEG-4 suite. The MPEG-4 suite
includes, for example, MPEG-4 Part 2, which is a standard that has been used by IP-based video encoders
and network cameras.
Designed to address several weaknesses in previous video compression standards, H.264 delivers on its
goals of supporting:
> Implementations that deliver an average bit rate reduction of 50%, given a fixed video quality
compared with any other video standard
> Error robustness so that transmission errors over various networks are tolerated
> Low latency capabilities and better quality for higher latency
> Straightforward syntax specification that simplifies implementations
> Exact match decoding, which defines exactly how numerical calculations are to be made by an
encoder and a decoder to avoid errors from accumulating
H.264 also has the flexibility to support a wide variety of applications with very different bit rate
requirements. For example, in entertainment video applications—which include broadcast, satellite, cable
and DVD—H.264 will be able to deliver a performance of between 1 to 10 Mbit/s with high latency, while
for telecom services, H.264 can deliver bit rates of below 1 Mbit/s with low latency.
3
4. 3. How video compression works
Video compression is about reducing and removing redundant video data so that a digital video file can
be effectively sent and stored. The process involves applying an algorithm to the source video to create
a compressed file that is ready for transmission or storage. To play the compressed file, an inverse
algorithm is applied to produce a video that shows virtually the same content as the original source
video. The time it takes to compress, send, decompress and display a file is called latency. The more
advanced the compression algorithm, the higher the latency, given the same processing power.
A pair of algorithms that works together is called a video codec (encoder/decoder). Video codecs that
implement different standards are normally not compatible with each other; that is, video content that is
compressed using one standard cannot be decompressed with a different standard. For instance, an
MPEG-4 Part 2 decoder will not work with an H.264 encoder. This is simply because one algorithm cannot
correctly decode the output from another algorithm but it is possible to implement many different
algorithms in the same software or hardware, which would then enable multiple formats to be
compressed.
Different video compression standards utilize different methods of reducing data, and hence, results
differ in bit rate, quality and latency.
Results from encoders that use the same compression standard may also vary because the designer of
an encoder can choose to implement different sets of tools defined by a standard. As long as the output
of an encoder conforms to a standard’s format and decoder, it is possible to make different implementations.
This is advantageous because different implementations have different goals and budget. Professional
non-real-time software encoders for mastering optical media should have the option of being able to
deliver better encoded video than a real-time hardware encoder for video conferencing that is integrated
in a hand-held device. A given standard, therefore, cannot guarantee a given bit rate or quality.
Furthermore, the performance of a standard cannot be properly compared with other standards, or even
other implementations of the same standard, without first defining how it is implemented.
A decoder, unlike an encoder, must implement all the required parts of a standard in order to decode a
compliant bit stream. This is because a standard specifies exactly how a decompression algorithm should
restore every bit of a compressed video.
The graph below provides a bit rate comparison, given the same level of image quality, among the
following video standards: Motion JPEG, MPEG-4 Part 2 (no motion compensation), MPEG-4 Part 2 (with
motion compensation) and H.264 (baseline profile).
Doorway scene
H.264 (Baseline profile)
MPEG-4 Part 2 (No motion compensation)
MPEG-4 Part 2 (With motion compensation)
Motion JPEG
7,000
6,000
5,000
Bit rate (kbit/s)
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
50 100
Time (s)
Figure 1. An H.264 encoder generated up to 50% fewer bits per second for a sample video sequence than an MPEG-4 encoder with motion
compensation. The H.264 encoder was at least three times more efficient than an MPEG-4 encoder with no motion compensation
and at least six times more efficient than Motion JPEG.
4
5. 4. H.264 profiles and levels
The joint group involved in defining H.264 focused on creating a simple and clean solution, limiting
options and features to a minimum. An important aspect of the standard, as with other video standards,
is providing the capabilities in profiles (sets of algorithmic features) and levels (performance classes)
that optimally support popular productions and common formats.
H.264 has seven profiles, each targeting a specific class of applications. Each profile defines what
feature set the encoder may use and limits the decoder implementation complexity.
Network cameras and video encoders will most likely use a profile called the baseline profile, which is
intended primarily for applications with limited computing resources. The baseline profile is the most
suitable given the available performance in a real-time encoder that is embedded in a network video
product. The profile also enables low latency, which is an important requirement of surveillance video and
also particularly important in enabling real-time, pan/tilt/zoom (PTZ) control in PTZ network cameras.
H.264 has 11 levels or degree of capability to limit performance, bandwidth and memory requirements.
Each level defines the bit rate and the encoding rate in macroblock per second for resolutions ranging
from QCIF to HDTV and beyond. The higher the resolution, the higher the level required.
5. Understanding frames
Depending on the H.264 profile, different types of frames such as I-frames, P-frames and B-frames, may
be used by an encoder.
An I-frame, or intra frame, is a self-contained frame that can be independently decoded without any
reference to other images. The first image in a video sequence is always an I-frame. I-frames are needed
as starting points for new viewers or resynchronization points if the transmitted bit stream is damaged.
I-frames can be used to implement fast-forward, rewind and other random access functions. An encoder
will automatically insert I-frames at regular intervals or on demand if new clients are expected to join in
viewing a stream. The drawback of I-frames is that they consume much more bits, but on the other hand,
they do not generate many artifacts.
A P-frame, which stands for predictive inter frame, makes references to parts of earlier I and/or P
frame(s) to code the frame. P-frames usually require fewer bits than I-frames, but a drawback is that
they are very sensitive to transmission errors because of the complex dependency on earlier P and I
reference frames.
A B-frame, or bi-predictive inter frame, is a frame that makes references to both an earlier reference
frame and a future frame.
I B B P B B P B B I B B P
Figure 2. A typical sequence with I-, B- and P-frames. A P-frame may only reference preceding I- or P-frames, while a B-frame may
reference both preceding and succeeding I- or P-frames.
5
6. When a video decoder restores a video by decoding the bit stream frame by frame, decoding must always
start with an I-frame. P-frames and B-frames, if used, must be decoded together with the reference
frame(s).
In the H.264 baseline profile, only I- and P-frames are used. This profile is ideal for network cameras and
video encoders since low latency is achieved because B-frames are not used.
6. Basic methods of reducing data
A variety of methods can be used to reduce video data, both within an image frame and between a series
of frames.
Within an image frame, data can be reduced simply by removing unnecessary information, which will
have an impact on the image resolution.
In a series of frames, video data can be reduced by such methods as difference coding, which is used by
most video compression standards including H.264. In difference coding, a frame is compared with a
reference frame (i.e. earlier I- or P-frame) and only pixels that have changed with respect to the reference
frame are coded. In this way, the number of pixel values that are coded and sent is reduced.
Figure 3. With Motion JPEG format, the three images in the above sequence are coded and sent as separate unique images (I-frames) with
no dependencies on each other.
Figure 4. With difference coding (used in most video compression standards including H.264), only the first image (I-frame) is coded in its
entirety. In the two following images (P-frames), references are made to the first picture for the static elements, i.e. the house, and
only the moving parts, i.e. the running man, is coded using motion vectors, thus reducing the amount of information that is sent
and stored.
The amount of encoding can be further reduced if detection and encoding of differences is based on
blocks of pixels (macroblocks) rather than individual pixels; therefore, bigger areas are compared and
only blocks that are significantly different are coded. The overhead associated with indicating the
location of areas to be changed is also reduced.
6
7. Difference coding, however, would not significantly reduce data if there was a lot of motion in a video.
Here, techniques such as block-based motion compensation can be used. Block-based motion
compensation takes into account that much of what makes up a new frame in a video sequence can be
found in an earlier frame, but perhaps in a different location. This technique divides a frame into a series
of macroblocks. Block by block, a new frame—for instance, a P-frame—can be composed or ‘predicted’
by looking for a matching block in a reference frame. If a match is found, the encoder simply codes the
position where the matching block is to be found in the reference frame. Coding the motion vector, as it
is called, takes up fewer bits than if the actual content of a block were to be coded.
Search window
Matching block
Motion vector Target block
Earlier reference frame P-frame
Figure 5. Illustration of block-based motion compensation
7. Efficiency of H.264
H.264 takes video compression technology to a new level. With H.264, a new and advanced intra
prediction scheme is introduced for encoding I-frames. This scheme can greatly reduce the bit size of an
I-frame and maintain a high quality by enabling the successive prediction of smaller blocks of pixels
within each macroblock in a frame. This is done by trying to find matching pixels among the earlier-
encoded pixels that border a new 4x4 pixel block to be intra-coded. By reusing pixel values that have
already been encoded, the bit size can be drastically reduced. The new intraprediction is a key part of the
H.264 technology that has proven to be very efficient. For comparison, if only I-frames were used in an
H.264 stream, it would have a much smaller file size than a Motion JPEG stream, which uses only
I-frames.
In this mode, four bottom pixels from In this mode, four right-most pixels In this mode, eight bottom pixels from
the block above are copied vertically from the block to the left are copied the blocks above are copied diagonally
into part of an intra-coded macro- horizontally into part of an intra-coded into part of an intra-coded macro-
block. macroblock. block.
Figure 6. Illustrations of some of the modes that intra prediction can take in coding 4x4 pixels within one of the 16 blocks that make up a
macroblock. Each of the 16 blocks in a macroblock may be coded using different modes.
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8. Original source image Intra predicted image
Residual image Output image
Figure 7. The above images illustrate the efficiency of H.264’s intra prediction scheme, whereby the intra predicted image is sent for “free”.
Only the residual content and the intra prediction modes need to be coded to produce the output image.
Block-based motion compensation—used in encoding P- and B-frames—has also been improved in H.264.
An H.264 encoder can choose to search for matching blocks—down to sub-pixel accuracy—in a few or
many areas of one or several reference frames. The block size and shape can also be adjusted to improve
a match. In areas where no matching blocks can be found in a reference frame, intra-coded macroblocks
are used. The high degree of flexibility in H.264’s block-based motion compensation pays off in crowded
surveillance scenes where the quality can be maintained for demanding applications. Motion compensation
is the most demanding aspect of a video encoder and the different ways and degrees with which it can
be implemented by an H.264 encoder can have an impact on how efficiently video is compressed.
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9. With H.264, typical blocky artifacts—seen in highly compressed video using Motion JPEG and MPEG
standards other than H.264—can be reduced using an in-loop deblocking filter. This filter smoothes block
edges using an adaptive strength to deliver an almost perfect decompressed video.
Figure 8. Blocky artifacts in the highly compressed image at left are reduced when a deblocking filter is applied, as seen in the image at
right.
8. Conclusion
H.264 presents a huge step forward in video compression technology. It offers techniques that enable
better compression efficiencies due to more accurate prediction capabilities, as well as improved
resilience to errors. It provides new possibilities for creating better video encoders that enable higher
quality video streams, higher frame rates and higher resolutions at maintained bit rates (compared with
previous standards), or, conversely, the same quality video at lower bit rates.
H.264 represents the first time that the ITU, ISO and IEC have come together on a common, international
standard for video compression. Due to its flexibility, H.264 has been applied in diverse areas such as
high-definition DVD (e.g. Blu-ray), digital video broadcasting including high-definition TV, online video
storage (e.g. YouTube), third-generation mobile telephony, in software such as QuickTime, Flash and
Apple Computer’s MacOS X operating system, and in home video game consoles such PlayStation 3.
With support from many industries and applications for consumer and professional needs, H.264 is
expected to replace other compression standards and methods in use today.
As the H.264 format becomes more broadly available in network cameras, video encoders and video
management software, system designers and integrators will need to make sure that the products and
vendors they choose support this new open standard. And for the time being, network video products that
support both H.264 and Motion JPEG are ideal for maximum flexibility and integration possibilities.
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