The H.264 Advanced Video Compression Standard E-Book

Iain E. Richardson

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 402

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

H.264 Advanced Video Coding or MPEG-4 Part 10 is fundamental to a growing range of markets such as high definition broadcasting, internet video sharing, mobile video and digital surveillance. This book reflects the growing importance and implementation of H.264 video technology. Offering a detailed overview of the system, it explains the syntax, tools and features of H.264 and equips readers with practical advice on how to get the most out of the standard. * Packed with clear examples and illustrations to explain H.264 technology in an accessible and practical way. * Covers basic video coding concepts, video formats and visual quality. * Explains how to measure and optimise the performance of H.264 and how to balance bitrate, computation and video quality. * Analyses recent work on scalable and multi-view versions of H.264, case studies of H.264 codecs and new technological developments such as the popular High Profile extensions. * An invaluable companion for developers, broadcasters, system integrators, academics and students who want to master this burgeoning state-of-the-art technology. "[This book] unravels the mysteries behind the latest H.264 standard and delves deeper into each of the operations in the codec. The reader can implement (simulate, design, evaluate, optimize) the codec with all profiles and levels. The book ends with extensions and directions (such as SVC and MVC) for further research." Professor K. R. Rao, The University of Texas at Arlington, co-inventor of the Discrete Cosine Transform

Leseprobe

Contents

About the Author

Preface

Glossary

List of Figures

List of Tables

1 Introduction

1.1 A change of scene

1.2 Driving the change

1.3 The role of standards

1.4 Why H.264 Advanced Video Coding is important

1.5 About this book

1.6 Reference

2 Video formats and quality

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Natural video scenes

2.3 Capture

2.4 Colour spaces

2.5 Video formats

2.6 Quality

2.7 Summary

2.8 References

3 Video coding concepts

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Video CODEC

3.3 Prediction model

3.4 Image model

3.5 Entropy coder

3.6 The hybrid DPCM/DCT video CODEC model

3.7 Summary

3.8 References

4 What is H.264?

4.1 Introduction

4.2 What is H.264?

4.3 How does an H.264 codec work?

4.4 The H.264/AVC Standard

4.5 H.264 Profiles and Levels

4.6 The H.264 Syntax

4.7 H.264 in practice

4.8 Summary

4.9 References

5 H.264 syntax

5.1 Introduction

5.2 H.264 syntax

5.3 Frames, fields and pictures

5.4 NAL unit

5.5 Parameter Sets

5.6 Slice layer

5.7 Macroblock layer

5.8 Summary

5.9 References

6 H.264 Prediction

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Macroblock prediction

6.3 Intra prediction

6.4 Inter prediction

6.5 Loop filter

6.6 Summary

6.7 References

7 H.264 transform and coding

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Transform and quantization

7.3 Block scan orders

7.4 Coding

7.5 Summary

7.6 References

8 H.264 conformance, transport and licensing

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Conforming to the Standard

8.3 H.264 coding tools for transport support

8.4 Transport of H.264 data

8.5 Supplemental Information

8.6 Licensing H.264/AVC

8.7 Summary

8.8 References

9 H.264 performance

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Experimenting with H.264

9.3 Performance comparisons

9.4 Rate control

9.5 Mode selection

9.6 Low complexity coding

9.7 Summary

10 Extensions and directions

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Scalable Video Coding

10.3 Multiview Video Coding

10.4 Configurable Video Coding

10.5 Beyond H.264/AVC

10.6 Summary

10.7 References

Index

This edition first published 2010

© 2010, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

First Edition published in 2003

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Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Richardson, Iain E. G.

The H.264 advanced video compression standard/Iain E. Richardson. – 2nd ed.

p. cm.

Rev. ed. of: H.264 and MPEG-4 video compression. c2003.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-51692-8 (pbk.)

1. Digital video–Standards. 2. Video compression–Standards. 3. MPEG (Video coding standard) 4. Multimedia systems. I. Richardson, Iain E. G. H.264 and MPEG–4 video compression. II. Title.

TK6680.5.R52 2010

006.6′96–dc22

2009054387

ISBN: 978-0-470-51692-8

To Pat

Language is living, but what is most important goes deeper than words.

About the Author

Professor Iain Richardson is an internationally known expert on the MPEG and H.264 video compression standards.

The author of H.264 and MPEG-4 Video Compression, a widely cited work in the research literature, Professor Richardson has written two further books and over 70 journal and conference papers on video compression. He regularly advises companies on video compression technology, video coding patents and company acquisitions in the video coding industry. Professor Richardson leads an internationally renowned video coding research team, contributes to the MPEG industry standards group and is sought after as an expert witness. Based in Aberdeen, Scotland, he regularly travels to the US and Europe.

Preface

The last decade has seen a quiet revolution in digital video technology. Digital video is everywhere: on our televisions, our DVD and Blu-Ray players, our computers, our music players and our mobile handsets. Only recently, a video image in a web page was an unusual sight. Nowadays, many of us are just as likely to catch the latest news on the web as on the TV. With the explosion of digital video applications, a billion-dollar industry has developed and expanded, with new companies and niche markets emerging, thriving and disappearing faster than anyone can easily track. Video compression is essential to all of these applications and markets, and the H.264 format is considered by many to be the state of the art in video compression.

When I wrote the first edition of this book in 2003, H.264 Advanced Video Compression had just been published as an International Standard and it was hard to predict its impact on industry. Its predecessor, MPEG-4 Visual, had arguably failed to live up to its promise, with only limited adoption in the market. Since 2003, the significant performance improvements that are built into H.264 have made it the clear successor to the older MPEG video standards in many applications, from mobile video to High Definition broadcasting. At the time of writing, the MPEG and VCEG standards committees are debating the possible successor to H.264. It is likely to be several years before a new standard is released, and several years after that before H.264 begins to become obsolete.

This book is intended to be a practical, accessible and unbiased guide to the H.264 video compression standard. As always, I have chosen to explain the details of H.264 in my own way, concentrating on what I feel is important to the engineer, researcher or student who needs a ‘way in’ to this complex yet important technical subject. This book is not the final word on H.264. By definition, that final word is provided by the standard itself and I advise any serious developer or implementer of H.264 to get hold of a copy of the standard. There is a need for a guidebook to the standard that explains the concepts, tools, benefits and disadvantages of the format, just as a good guidebook helps the tourist to get to know a foreign country and to become more at home there. Some visitors may be disappointed that their favourite subject is not covered in as much depth as they would like. I have made a deliberate choice to cover certain topics such as Scalable and Multiview Video Coding only briefly as they are still, in my view, in the early stages of practical implementation.

My sincere thanks to the many people who have helped to shape this book, including the readers of my earlier books who told me what they liked and what they wanted; the many companies and individuals who have asked me to solve their video compression problems; Kourosh Soroushian for discussions on Hypothetical Reference Decoders; Abharana Bhat, MajaBystrom, SamJansen, Sampath Kannangara and Yafan Zhao for reading and commenting on draft chapters; Gary Sullivan for many comments, corrections, suggestions and discussions; Nicky, Simone and the editorial team at John Wiley & Sons; and to Pat for reading the manuscript, cracking the whip and making me finish it.

I hope that you find the book useful; more importantly, I hope you enjoy it. Visit my website at www.vcodex.com and tell me what you think.

Iain Richardson

Aberdeen, 2010

Glossary

4:2:0 (sampling) Sampling method: chrominance components have half the horizontal and vertical resolution of luminance component 4:2:2 (sampling) Sampling method: chrominance components have half the horizontal resolution of luminance component 4:4:4 (sampling) Sampling method: chrominance components have same resolution as luminance component access unit Complete coded frame or field arithmetic coding Coding method to reduce redundancy artefact Visual distortion in an image ASO Arbitrary Slice Order, in which slices may be coded out of raster sequence block Region of macroblock block matching Motion estimation carried out on rectangular picture areas blocking Square or rectangular distortion areas in an image B slice Coded slice predicted using bidirectional motion compensation CABAC Context-based Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding CAVLC Context Adaptive Variable Length Coding chrominance or chroma Colour difference component CIF Common Intermediate Format, a colour image format CODEC COder/DECoder pair Coded Picture Buffer (CPB) Buffer containing coded frames or fields colour space Method of representing colour images DCT Discrete Cosine Transform, a mathematical transform and/or its practical approximation(s) direct prediction A coding mode in which no motion vector is transmitted DPCM Differential Pulse Code Modulation DSCQS Double Stimulus Continuous Quality Scale, a scale and method for subjective quality measurement DWT Discrete Wavelet Transform entropy coding Coding method to reduce redundancy error concealment Post-processing of a decoded image to remove or reduce visible error effects Exp-Golomb or ExpG Exponential Golomb variable length codes Field Odd- or even-numbered lines from an interlaced video sequence FMO Flexible Macroblock Order, in which macroblocks may be coded out of raster sequence Full Search A motion estimation algorithm Fully Configurable Video Coding A framework for video coding in which a codec may be completely re-configured during a communication session GOP Group of Pictures, a set of coded video images H.261 A video coding standard H.263 A video coding standard H.264 A video coding standard HDTV High Definition Television Huffman coding Coding method to reduce redundancy HVS Human Visual System, the system by which humans perceive and interpret visual images hybrid (CODEC) CODEC model featuring motion compensation and transform Hypothetical Reference Decoder (HRD) Decoder ‘model’ that may be used to test bitstream conformance IEC International Electrotechnical Commission, a standards body inter (coding) Coding of video frames using temporal prediction or compensation interlaced (video) Video data represented as a series of fields intra (coding) Coding of video frames without temporal prediction I slice Slice coded without reference to any other frame ISO International Standards Organisation, a standards body ITU International Telecommunication Union, a standards body JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group, a committee of ISO (also an image coding standard) latency Delay through a communication system Level A set of conformance parameters (applied to a Profile) loop filter Spatial filter placed within encoding or decoding feedback loop luminance or luma Monochrome or brightness component Macroblock Region of frame coded as a unit (usually 16 × 16 pixels in the original frame) Macroblock partition Region of macroblock with its own motion vector Macroblock sub-partition Region of macroblock with its own motion vector motion compensation Prediction of a video frame with modelling of motion motion estimation Estimation of relative motion between two or more video frames motion vector Vector indicating a displaced block or region to be used for motion compensation MPEG Motion Picture Experts Group, a committee of ISO/IEC MPEG-1 A multimedia coding standard MPEG-2 A multimedia coding standard MPEG-4 A multimedia coding standard MVC Multiview Video Coding, in which multiple views of a scene may be jointly coded NAL Network Abstraction Layer objective quality Visual quality measured by algorithm(s) Picture (coded) Coded (compressed) video frame P-picture (slice) Coded picture (or slice) using motion-compensated prediction from one reference frame Profile A set of functional capabilities (of a video CODEC) progressive (video) Video data represented as a series of complete frames PSNR Peak Signal to Noise Ratio, an objective quality measure QCIF Quarter Common Intermediate Format quantize Reduce the precision of a scalar or vector quantity rate control Control of bit rate of encoded video signal rate-distortion Measure of CODEC performance (distortion at a range of coded bit rates) RBSP Raw Byte Sequence Payload RVC Reconfigurable Video Coding, a framework for video coding in which a decoder may be constructed from pre-defined Functional Units. RGB Red/Green/Blue colour space ringing (artefacts) ‘Ripple’-like artefacts around sharp edges in a decoded image RTP Real Time Protocol, a transport protocol for real-time data scalable coding Coding a signal into a number of layers SVC Scalable Video Coding SI slice Intra-coded slice used for switching between coded bitstreams (H.264) Slice A region of a coded picture SP slice Inter-coded slice used for switching between coded bitstreams statistical redundancy Redundancy due to the statistical distribution of data studio quality Lossless or near-lossless video quality subjective quality Visual quality as perceived by human observer(s) subjective redundancy Redundancy due to components of the data that are subjectively insignificant sub-pixel (motion compensation) Motion-compensated prediction from a reference area that may be formed by interpolating between integer-valued pixel positions test model A software model and document that describe a reference implementation of a video coding standard texture Image or residual data tree-structured motion compensation Motion compensation featuring a flexible hierarchy of partition sizes VCEG Video Coding Experts Group, a committee of ITU VCL Video Coding Layer video packet Coded unit suitable for packetization VLC Variable Length Code VLD Variable Length Decoder VLE Variable Length Encoder VLSI Very Large Scale Integrated circuit VQEG Video Quality Experts Group weighted prediction Motion compensation in which the prediction samples from two references are scaled YCrCb Luminance/Red chrominance/Blue chrominance colour space