TL;DR: An overview of the technical features of H.264/AVC is provided, profiles and applications for the standard are described, and the history of the standardization process is outlined.
Abstract: H.264/AVC is newest video coding standard of the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group and the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group. The main goals of the H.264/AVC standardization effort have been enhanced compression performance and provision of a "network-friendly" video representation addressing "conversational" (video telephony) and "nonconversational" (storage, broadcast, or streaming) applications. H.264/AVC has achieved a significant improvement in rate-distortion efficiency relative to existing standards. This article provides an overview of the technical features of H.264/AVC, describes profiles and applications for the standard, and outlines the history of the standardization process.
TL;DR: This chapter discusses JPEG Syntax and Data Organization, the history of JPEG, and some of the aspects of the Human Visual Systems that make up JPEG.
Abstract: Foreword. Acknowledgments. Trademarks. Introduction. Image Concepts and Vocabulary. Aspects of the Human Visual Systems. The Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT). Image Compression Systems. JPEG Modes of Operation. JPEG Syntax and Data Organization. Entropy Coding Concepts. JPEG Binary Arithmetic Coding. JPEG Coding Models. JPEG Huffman Entropy Coding. Arithmetic Coding Statistical. More on Arithmetic Coding. Probability Estimation. Compression Performance. JPEG Enhancements. JPEG Applications and Vendors. Overview of CCITT, ISO, and IEC. History of JPEG. Other Image Compression Standards. Possible Future JPEG Directions. Appendix A. Appendix B. References. Index.
TL;DR: Overall, the complexity of HEVC decoders does not appear to be significantly different from that of H.264/AVC decoder; this makes HEVC decoding in software very practical on current hardware.
Abstract: Advances in video compression technology have been driven by ever-increasing processing power available in software and hardware. The emerging High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard aims to provide a doubling in coding efficiency with respect to the H.264/AVC high profile, delivering the same video quality at half the bit rate. In this paper, complexity-related aspects that were considered in the standardization process are described. Furthermore, profiling of reference software and optimized software gives an indication of where HEVC may be more complex than its predecessors and where it may be simpler. Overall, the complexity of HEVC decoders does not appear to be significantly different from that of H.264/AVC decoders; this makes HEVC decoding in software very practical on current hardware. HEVC encoders are expected to be several times more complex than H.264/AVC encoders and will be a subject of research in years to come.
TL;DR: The search speed of the proposed ARPS-ZMP is about two to three times faster than that of the diamond search (DS), and the method even achieves higher peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) particularly for those video sequences containing large and/or complex motion contents.
Abstract: We propose a novel and simple fast block-matching algorithm (BMA), called adaptive rood pattern search (ARPS), which consists of two sequential search stages: (1) initial search and (2) refined local search. For each macroblock (MB), the initial search is performed only once at the beginning in order to find a good starting point for the follow-up refined local search. By doing so, unnecessary intermediate search and the risk of being trapped into local minimum matching error points could be greatly reduced in long search case. For the initial search stage, an adaptive rood pattern (ARP) is proposed, and the ARP's size is dynamically determined for each MB, based on the available motion vectors (MVs) of the neighboring MBs. In the refined local search stage, a unit-size rood pattern (URP) is exploited repeatedly, and unrestrictedly, until the final MV is found. To further speed up the search, zero-motion prejudgment (ZMP) is incorporated in our method, which is particularly beneficial to those video sequences containing small motion contents. Extensive experiments conducted based on the MPEG-4 Verification Model (VM) encoding platform show that the search speed of our proposed ARPS-ZMP is about two to three times faster than that of the diamond search (DS), and our method even achieves higher peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) particularly for those video sequences containing large and/or complex motion contents.
TL;DR: Technical details of the block partitioning structure of HEVC are introduced with an emphasis on the method of designing a consistent framework by combining the three different units together and experimental results are provided to justify the role of each component.
Abstract: High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) is the latest joint standardization effort of ITU-T WP 3/16 and ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 11. The resultant standard will be published as twin text by ITU-T and ISO/IEC; in the latter case, it will also be known as MPEG-H Part 2. This paper describes the block partitioning structure of the draft HEVC standard and presents the results of an analysis of coding efficiency and complexity. Of the many new technical aspects of HEVC, the block partitioning structure has been identified as representing one of the most significant changes relative to previous video coding standards. In contrast to the fixed size 16 × 16 macroblock structure of H.264/AVC, HEVC defines three different units according to their functionalities. The coding unit defines a region sharing the same prediction mode, e.g., intra and inter, and it is represented by the leaf node of a quadtree structure. The prediction unit defines a region sharing the same prediction information. The transform unit, specified by another quadtree, defines a region sharing the same transformation. This paper introduces technical details of the block partitioning structure of HEVC with an emphasis on the method of designing a consistent framework by combining the three different units together. Experimental results are provided to justify the role of each component of the block partitioning structure and a comparison with the H.264/AVC design is performed.