Video Coding

The video coding standard High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) targets at improved compression performance for video resolutions of HD and beyond, providing Ultra HD video at similar compressed bit rates as for HD video encoded with the well-established video coding standard H.264/AVC. Based on known concepts, new coding structures and improved coding tools have been developed and specified in HEVC. The standard is expected to be taken up easily by established industry as well as new endeavors, answering the needs of todays connected and ever-evolving online world. This book presents the High Efficiency Video Coding standard and explains it in a clear and coherent language. It provides a comprehensive and consistently written description, all of a piece. The book targets at both, newbies to video coding as well as experts in the field. While providing sections with introductory text for the beginner, it suits as a well-arranged reference book for the expert. The book provides a comprehensive reference for the technical details of the employed coding tools; it further outlines the algorithmic advances compared to H.264/AVC. In addition to the technical aspects, the book provides insight to the general concepts of standardization, how specification text is written, and how these concepts apply to the HEVC specification.

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in Second Generation Image and Video Coding Techniques. These techniques introduce new concepts from image analysis that greatly improve the performance of the coding schemes for very high compression. This interest has been further emphasized by the future MPEG 4 standard. Second generation image and video coding techniques are the ensemble of approaches proposing new and more efficient image representations than the conventional canonical form. As a consequence, the human visual system becomes a fundamental part of the encoding/decoding chain. More insight to distinguish between first and second generation can be gained if it is noticed that image and video coding is basically carried out in two steps. First, image data are converted into a sequence of messages and, second, code words are assigned to the messages. Methods of the first generation put the emphasis on the second step, whereas methods of the second generation put it on the first step and use available results for the second step. As a result of including the human visual system, second generation can be also seen as an approach of seeing the image composed by different entities called objects. This implies that the image or sequence of images have first to be analyzed and/or segmented in order to find the entities. It is in this context that we have selected in this book three main approaches as second generation video coding techniques: Segmentation-based schemes Model Based Schemes Fractal Based Schemes £/LIST£ Video Coding: The Second Generation Approach is an important introduction to the new coding techniques for video. As such, all researchers, students and practitioners working in image processing will find this book of interest.

The requirements for multimedia (especially video and audio) communications increase rapidly in the last two decades in broad areas such as television, entertainment, interactive services, telecommunications, conference, medicine, security, business, traffic, defense and banking. Video and audio coding standards play most important roles in multimedia communications. In order to meet these requirements, series of video and audio coding standards have been developed such as MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MPEG-21 for audio and video by ISO/IEC, H.26x for video and G.72x for audio by ITU-T, Video Coder 1 (VC-1) for video by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and RealVideo (RV) 9 for video by Real Networks. AVS China is the abbreviation for Audio Video Coding Standard of China. This new standard includes four main technical areas, which are systems, video, audio and digital copyright management (DRM), and some supporting documents such as consistency verification. The second part of the standard known as AVS1-P2 (Video - Jizhun) was approved as the national standard of China in 2006, and several final drafts of the standard have been completed, including AVS1-P1 (System - Broadcast), AVS1-P2 (Video - Zengqiang), AVS1-P3 (Audio - Double track), AVS1-P3 (Audio - 5.1), AVS1-P7 (Mobile Video), AVS-S-P2 (Video) and AVS-S-P3 (Audio). AVS China provides a technical solution for many applications such as digital broadcasting (SDTV and HDTV), high-density storage media, Internet streaming media, and will be used in the domestic IPTV, satellite and possibly the cable TV market. Comparing with other coding standards such as H.264 AVC, the advantages of AVS video standard include similar performance, lower complexity, lower implementation cost and licensing fees. This standard has attracted great deal of attention from industries related to television, multimedia communications and even chip manufacturing from around the world. Also many well known companies have joined the AVS Group to be Full Members or Observing Members. The 163 members of AVS Group include Texas Instruments (TI) Co., Agilent Technologies Co. Ltd., Envivio Inc., NDS, Philips Research East Asia, Aisino Corporation, LG, Alcatel Shanghai Bell Co. Ltd., Nokia (China) Investment (NCIC) Co. Ltd., Sony (China) Ltd., and Toshiba (China) Co. Ltd. as well as some high level universities in China. Thus there is a pressing need from the instructors, students, and engineers for a book dealing with the topic of AVS China and its performance comparisons with similar standards such as H.264, VC-1 and RV-9.

This book provides developers, engineers, researchers and students with detailed knowledge about the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard. HEVC is the successor to the widely successful H.264/AVC video compression standard, and it provides around twice as much compression as H.264/AVC for the same level of quality. The applications for HEVC will not only cover the space of the well-known current uses and capabilities of digital video – they will also include the deployment of new services and the delivery of enhanced video quality, such as ultra-high-definition television (UHDTV) and video with higher dynamic range, wider range of representable color, and greater representation precision than what is typically found today. HEVC is the next major generation of video coding design – a flexible, reliable and robust solution that will support the next decade of video applications and ease the burden of video on world-wide network traffic. This book provides a detailed explanation of the various parts of the standard, insight into how it was developed, and in-depth discussion of algorithms and architectures for its implementation.

This book presents an overview of the state of the art in video coding technology. Specifically, it introduces the tools of the AVS2 standard, describing how AVS2 can help to achieve a significant improvement in coding efficiency for future video networks and applications by incorporating smarter coding tools such as scene video coding. Features: introduces the basic concepts in video coding, and presents a short history of video coding technology and standards; reviews the coding framework, main coding tools, and syntax structure of AVS2; describes the key technologies used in the AVS2 standard, including prediction coding, transform coding, entropy coding, and loop-filters; examines efficient tools for scene video coding and surveillance video, and the details of a promising intelligent video coding system; discusses optimization technologies in video coding systems; provides a review of image, video, and 3D content quality assessment algorithms; surveys the hot research topics in video compression.

Reviews the new High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard and advancements in adaptive streaming technologies for use in broadband networks and the Internet This book describes next-generation video coding and streaming technologies with a comparative assessment of the strengths and weaknesses. Specific emphasis is placed on the H.265/HEVC video coding standard and adaptive bit rate video streaming. In addition to evaluating the impact of different types of video content and powerful feature sets on HEVC coding efficiency, the text provides an in-depth study on the practical performance of popular adaptive streaming platforms and useful tips for streaming optimization. Readers will learn of new over-the-top (OTT) online TV advancements, the direction of the broadband telecommunications industry, and the latest developments that will help keep implementation costs down and maximize return on infrastructure investment. Reviews the emerging High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard and compares its coding performance with the MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding (AVC) and MPEG-2 standards Provides invaluable insights into the intra and inter coding efficiencies of HEVC, such as the impact of hierarchical block partitioning and new prediction modes Evaluates the performance of the Apple and Microsoft adaptive streaming platforms and presents innovative techniques related to aggregate stream bandwidth prediction, duplicate chunk Includes end-of-chapter homework problems and access to instructor slides Next-Generation Video Coding and Streaming is written for students, researchers, and industry professionals working in the field of video communications. Benny Bing has worked in academia for over 20 years. He has published over 80 research papers and 12 books, and has 6 video patents licensed to industry. He has served as a technical editor for several IEEE journals and an IEEE Communications Society Distinguished lecturer. He also received the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Technology Innovation Award for demonstrations of advanced media technologies.

The requirements for multimedia (especially video and audio) communications increase rapidly in the last two decades in broad areas such as television, entertainment, interactive services, telecommunications, conference, medicine, security, business, traffic, defense and banking. Video and audio coding standards play most important roles in multimedia communications. In order to meet these requirements, series of video and audio coding standards have been developed such as MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MPEG-21 for audio and video by ISO/IEC, H.26x for video and G.72x for audio by ITU-T, Video Coder 1 (VC-1) for video by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and RealVideo (RV) 9 for video by Real Networks. AVS China is the abbreviation for Audio Video Coding Standard of China. This new standard includes four main technical areas, which are systems, video, audio and digital copyright management (DRM), and some supporting documents such as consistency verification. The second part of the standard known as AVS1-P2 (Video - Jizhun) was approved as the national standard of China in 2006, and several final drafts of the standard have been completed, including AVS1-P1 (System - Broadcast), AVS1-P2 (Video - Zengqiang), AVS1-P3 (Audio - Double track), AVS1-P3 (Audio - 5.1), AVS1-P7 (Mobile Video), AVS-S-P2 (Video) and AVS-S-P3 (Audio). AVS China provides a technical solution for many applications such as digital broadcasting (SDTV and HDTV), high-density storage media, Internet streaming media, and will be used in the domestic IPTV, satellite and possibly the cable TV market. Comparing with other coding standards such as H.264 AVC, the advantages of AVS video standard include similar performance, lower complexity, lower implementation cost and licensing fees. This standard has attracted great deal of attention from industries related to television, multimedia communications and even chip manufacturing from around the world. Also many well known companies have joined the AVS Group to be Full Members or Observing Members. The 163 members of AVS Group include Texas Instruments (TI) Co., Agilent Technologies Co. Ltd., Envivio Inc., NDS, Philips Research East Asia, Aisino Corporation, LG, Alcatel Shanghai Bell Co. Ltd., Nokia (China) Investment (NCIC) Co. Ltd., Sony (China) Ltd., and Toshiba (China) Co. Ltd. as well as some high level universities in China. Thus there is a pressing need from the instructors, students, and engineers for a book dealing with the topic of AVS China and its performance comparisons with similar standards such as H.264, VC-1 and RV-9.

This book discusses the Versatile Video Coding (VVC), the ISO and ITU state-of-the-art video coding standard. VVC reaches a compression efficiency significantly higher than its predecessor standard (HEVC) and it has a high versatility for efficient use in a broad range of applications and different types of video content, including Ultra-High Definition (UHD), High-Dynamic Range (HDR), screen content, 360o videos, and resolution adaptivity. The authors introduce the novel VVC tools for block partitioning, intra-frame and inter-frames predictions, transforms, quantization, entropy coding, and in-loop filtering. The authors also present some solutions exploring VVC encoding behavior at different levels to accelerate the intra-frame prediction, applying statistical-based heuristics and machine learning (ML) techniques.