Architectures for Fast Transcoding of H.264/AVC to Quality-Scalable SVC Streams

The scalable extension of H.264/AVC (SVC) was recently standardized, and offers scalability at a minor penalty in rate-distortion efficiency when compared to single-layer H.264/AVC coding. In SVC, a scaled version of the original video sequence can easily be extracted by dropping layers from the stream. However, most of the video content nowadays is still produced in a single-layer format. While decoding and reencoding is a possible solution to introduce scalability in the existing bitstreams, this is an approach which requires a tremendous amount of time and effort. In this paper, we show that transcoding can be used to intelligently derive scalable bitstreams from existing single-layer streams. We focus on SNR scalability, and introduce techniques that are able to create multiple quality layers in the bitstreams. We also discuss bitstream rewriting from SVC to H.264/AVC, and examine how our newly proposed architectures can benefit from the changes that were introduced for bitstream rewriting. Architectures with different rate distribution flexibility and computational complexity are discussed. Rate-distortion performance of transcoding is shown to be comparable to that of reencoding at a fraction of the time needed for the latter.     

Simple intra prediction algorithms for heterogeneous MPEG-2/H.264 video transcoders

Recent developments have given birth to H.264/AVC: a video coding standard offering better bandwidth to video quality ratios than MPEG-2. It is expected that the H.264/AVC will take over the digital video market, replacing the use of MPEG-2 in most digital video applications. The complete migration to the new video-coding algorithm will take several years given the wide scale use of MPEG-2 in the market place today. This creates an important need for MPEG-2/H264 transcoding technologies. However, given the significant differences between both encoding algorithms, the transcoding process of such systems is much more complex to other heterogeneous video transcoding processes. In this work, we start by analyzing the methods defined in the H.264 video coding standard for the intra prediction: a central element of every H.264 encoder. We then introduce and evaluate six fast intra mode decision algorithms which should enable the development of MPEG-2 to H.264 transcoders. Having evaluated all the proposed methods, we have come out with a high-efficient method, namely DC-ABS pixel. Our results show that our algorithm considerable reduces the complexity involved in the intra prediction with respect the mode decision algorithms used in H.264 JM reference software, while exhibiting a slight degradation on the RD function.. Finally, we analyze a comparative study with two of the most prominent fast intra prediction methods presented in the literature. The results show that the proposed DC-ABS pixel method achieves the best results for video transcoding applications.

Effective algorithms for fast transcoding of AVS to H.264/AVC in the spatial domain

This paper proposes a transcoding scheme from AVS to H.264/AVC. As high-compression video coding standards, H.264/AVC jointly developed by MPEG and ITU and AVS developed by the Audio Video Coding Standard Working Group of China will co-exist in the future market. Therefore, it is worthy to transcode the AVS format to the H.264/AVC format or vice versa. After an insight into the inter transcoding from AVS to H.264/AVC, a simple and effective method is proposed by reusing the mode and motion vectors to achieve high-efficient and fast transcoding. The problem in reusing the skip mode is studied and an effective method to eliminate the artifacts is proposed. Furthermore, a fast intra transcoding algorithm based on the distribution of the DCT coefficients is proposed to speed up the transcoding process. Detailed experiment results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can effectively reduce the transcoding complexity.

Fast macroblock mode decision for H.264/AVC baseline profile video transcoder based on support vector machines

In video transcoding, accuracy and efficiency of macroblock mode decision are critical issues at the re-encoder side due to the changes in frame size, frame rate, and bit rate. In this paper, a fast macroblock mode decision scheme based on support vector machines is proposed for H.264/AVC baseline profile video transcoder. Features including motion vectors, residual data, pre-encoded macroblock modes, and quantization parameters are extracted from incoming bitstream in both of training stage and classification stage. Feature extraction methods are investigated for spatial resolution transcoder, temporal resolution transcoder, and bit-rate transcoder. After off-line training and simplification of support vectors, the obtained support vector machine classifier can determine macroblock mode in the re-encoder accurately. Extensive experiments are carried out on different types of transcoders and results show that the proposed method can save about 80% in computational complexity compared to full mode search algorithm implemented in the latest H.264/AVC reference software (JM17.1), while maximum peak signal-to-noise ratio is degraded by 0.2–1.1?dB depending on different sequences and bit rate.     

On the impact of the GOP size in a temporal H.264/AVC-to-SVC transcoder in baseline and main profile

Scalable video coding is a recent extension of the advanced video coding H.264/AVC standard developed jointly by ISO/IEC and ITU-T, which allows adapting the bitstream easily by dropping parts of it named layers. This adaptation makes it possible for a single bitstream to meet the requirements for reliable delivery of video to diverse clients over heterogeneous networks using temporal, spatial or quality scalability, combined or separately. Since the scalable video coding design requires scalability to be provided at the encoder side, existing content cannot benefit from it. Efficient techniques for converting contents without scalability to a scalable format are desirable. In this paper, an approach for temporal scalability transcoding from H.264/AVC to scalable video coding in baseline and main profile is presented and the impact of the GOP size is analyzed. Independently of the GOP size chosen, time savings of around 63 % for baseline profile and 60 % for main profile are achieved while maintaining the coding efficiency.     

Concealment of Whole-Picture Loss in Hierarchical B-Picture Scalable Video Coding

H.264/AVC scalable video coding (H.264/AVC SVC), as the scalable extension of H.264/AVC, offers the flexible adaptivity in terms of spatial, temporal and SNR scalabilities for the generated bitstream. However, such compressed video still suffers from the bad playback quality when packet loss occurs over unreliable networks. In this paper, we present an error concealment algorithm to tackle the whole-picture loss problem in H.264/AVC SVC when hierarchical B-picture coding is used to support temporal scalability. In the proposed algorithm, by taking advantage of the temporal relationship among the adjacent video pictures, the motion information of the lost picture is derived simply and efficiently based on the principle of temporal direct mode. Utilizing the derived motion information, the lost picture is concealed by performing motion compensation on the correctly received temporally previous and future video pictures. The experimental results demonstrate that as a post-processing tool, the proposed error concealment algorithm is able to significantly improve both the objective and subjective qualities of the decoded video pictures in the presence of packet losses when compared to the error concealment algorithm used in H.264/AVC SVC reference software. The proposed method can also be applied to H.264/AVC with hierarchical B-picture coding for error concealment.     

基于特征建模的H.264到AVS-S2监控视频转码快速帧间模式选择算法研究

针对监控视频从H.264到AVS-S2转码中的高计算复杂度问题进行了研究,提出了一种基于特征建模的快速帧间模式选择算法。首先对少量视频序列通过级联方式转码,根据提取的H.264运动特征和AVS-S2最优模式在线训练建立转码模型,再对后续序列根据模型快速选择转码后的帧间预测候选模式,并基于宏块的前景背景特性进一步减少背景宏块的候选模式数目。实验结果表明算法有效地降低了转码复杂度。由于算法在转码过程中实时训练更新转码模型,因此与传统的模式映射算法相比改善了转码图像质量、降低了转码码率。     

Motion mapping and mode decision for MPEG-2 to H.264/AVC transcoding

This paper describes novel transcoding techniques aimed for low-complexity MPEG-2 to H.264/AVC transcoding. An important application for this type of conversion is efficient storage of broadcast video in consumer devices. The architecture for such a system is presented, which includes novel motion mapping and mode decision algorithms. For the motion mapping, two algorithms are presented. Both efficiently map incoming MPEG-2 motion vectors to outgoing H.264/AVC motion vectors regardless of the block sizes that the motion vectors correspond to. In addition, the algorithm maps motion vectors to different reference pictures, which is useful for picture type conversion and prediction from multiple reference pictures. We also propose an efficient rate-distortion optimised macroblock coding mode decision algorithm, which first evaluates candidate modes based on a simple cost function so that a reduced set of candidate modes is formed, then based on this reduced set, we evaluate the more complex Lagrangian cost calculation to determine the coding mode. Extensive simulation results show that our proposed transcoder incorporating the proposed algorithms achieves very good rate-distortion performance with low complexity. Compared with the cascaded decoder-encoder solution, the coding efficiency is maintained while the complexity is significantly reduced.

Low-complexity heterogeneous architecture for H.264/HEVC video transcoding

High efficiency video coding (HEVC) was developed by the Joint Collaborative Team on video coding to replace the current H.264/AVC standard, which has been widely adopted over the last few years. Therefore, there is a lot of legacy content encoded with H.264/AVC, and an efficient conversion to HEVC is needed. This paper presents a hybrid transcoding algorithm which makes use of soft computing techniques as well as parallel processing. On the one hand, a fast quadtree level decision algorithm tries to exploit the information gathered at the H.264/AVC decoder to make faster decisions on coding unit splitting in HEVC using a Naïve–Bayes probabilistic classifier that is determined by a supervised data mining process. On the other hand, a parallel HEVC-encoding algorithm makes use of a heterogeneous platform composed of a multi-core central processing unit plus a graphics processing unit (GPU). In this way, from a coarse point of view, groups of frames or rows of a frame (both options are possible) are divided into threads to be executed on each core (each of which executes one of the aforementioned classifiers) and, from a finer point of view, all these threads work in a collaborative way on a single GPU to perform the motion estimation process on the co-processor. Experimental results show that the proposed transcoder can achieve a good tradeoff between coding efficiency and complexity compared with the anchor transcoder.     

一种基于AVS卫星数字视频系统的实现

2002年中国开始制定了新一代数字音视频编解码标准———AVS。由于它采纳了近几年来国内研究的先进音视频编码技术,其不仅与H.264/AVS相比,具有较低的复杂度,并可通过一站式授权方式支付少量费用来获得AVS使用权,因此可作为中国卫星电视直接入户方案的一种较好,且具有竞争力的候选标准。在对AVS和MPEG-2的差异进行比较的基础上,分析了两种在传输系统中替代MPEG-2的方法:直接AVS编码和AVS转码,并给出了一种转码方案,最终实现了新一代基于AVS卫星视频广播系统。     

H.264视频流分辨率缩减转码的快速宏块模式选择算法

H.264视频编码标准采用帧内预测,帧间的宏块分割等新的特性提高了编码效率,同时也较大地提高了模式选择的复杂度,因此H.264视频转码中模式选择算法将显著影响到转码的效率。提出了一种适用于H.264视频流空间分辨率缩减转码的宏块模式选择算法。主要利用输入码流中的宏块模式和运动矢量信息,获得局部的预测方向或者梯度方向,从而根据方向信息,减少需要计算的宏块模式的数目。实验证明,在保持编码效率和视频质量的同时,能够有效地降低H.264下采样转码过程中的宏块模式选择算法的复杂度。     

MPEG-2到H.264/AVC转码中的快速模式选择算法

为了降低MPEG-2到H.264/AVC的转码复杂度,针对转码过程中H.264/AVC编码的多模式预测,提出一个有效的快速模式选择算法.算法用MPEG-2中已有的运动矢量的差异来衡量宏块的运动情况,对运动矢量进行聚类,进而用聚类结果来选择预测模式.实验结果表明,算法可以在视频质量损失很小的情况下大幅度降低转码中再编码的复杂度.     

H.264/AVC解码芯片验证系统及验证策略

H.264/AVC视频编码标准是目前应用广泛的视频压缩标准,具有压缩比高、算法复杂等特点,给视频解码系统的设计和验证带来了挑战。文中基于一款H.264/AVC解码芯片架构,针对H.264/AVC视频解码系统的复杂性,构建了验证系统,提出多形式、分层次的验证策略,在解码芯片设计实现的各个阶段实施验证。根据RTL虚拟仿真、FPGA原型和后仿真等验证手段的特点,分别规划不同阶段的测试激励,形成基于H.264/AVC解码芯片的验证项策划,对类似H.264/AVC解码器的验证工作具有一定的帮助。     

Fast video transcoding from H.263 to H.264/MPEG-4 AVC

In the past 10 years detailed works on different video transcoders have been published. However, the new ITU-T Recommendation H.264—also adapted as ISO/IEC MPEG-4 Part 10 (AVC)—provides many new encoding options for the prediction processes that lead to difficulties for low complexity transcoding. In this work we present very fast transcoding techniques to convert H.263 bitstreams into H.264/AVC bitstreams. We will give reasoning, why the proposed pixel domain approach is advantageous in this scenario instead of using a DCT domain transcoder. Our approach results in less than 9% higher data rate at equivalent PSNR quality compared to a full-search approach. But this rate loss allows the reduction of the search complexity by a factor of over 200 for inter frames and still a reduction of over 70% for intra frames. A comparison to a fast search algorithm is given. We also provide simulation results that our algorithm works for transcoding MPEG-2 to H.264/AVC in the aimed scenario.

结合运动搜索的混合域I帧错误隐藏

在数字广播电视,移动视频终端和视频电话中错误恢复是一个必须的部分。最新的视频压缩标准H.264/AVC为一系列视频消费电子应用提供更高的编码效率。但是H.264的视频流仍然容易发生传输错误。根据H.264的编码特性和网络特性众多的错误隐藏方法已经被提出。在H.264中I帧的错误隐藏尤为重要,因为I帧的错误会通过运动估计传播到后续的P帧或B帧中。结合时域和空域错误隐藏算法,本文提出一种用于I帧的低复杂度自适应空域/时域运动估计算法。实验结果显示,本文提出的算法的视觉效果和PSNR都优于原算法。     

SVC在无线信道传输中的非均衡差错保护

针对H.264的可伸缩视频编码扩展标准(SVC)在噪声信道中的传输,采用低密度奇偶校验码(LDPC)提出一种非均衡差错保护的方案。在所提的方案中,根据时间、分辨率和质量把原视频序列按重要性分成不同的层。由于不同层的数据对错误的敏感性不同,对其进行不同码率的LDPC信道编码,实现非均衡差错保护。根据视频流中每一帧不同层的PSNR增量不同,和不同信道码率下正确解码的概率不同,反复计算每一帧所有码率组合的PSNR增量值并找出最大组,从而进行信道编码并传输。实验表明,在相同的平均码率条件下,提出的方案相比其他方案的PSNR值增加了2.8 dB,更适合无线信道的传输。     

基于片类型和帧间预测的H.264去块滤波新算法*

在H.264/AVC视频编码标准中,去方块效应滤波器对改善图像质量和提高压缩效率起着重要作用,并能够有效地去除视频图中出现的方块效应,但却增加了计算的复杂度。在滤波过程中,边界强度（Bs）的计算量是最大的,几乎达到整个滤波过程的90%,为了简化Bs的计算复杂度,在分析了H.264的去块滤波原理之后,提出了一种基于片类型和帧间预测的H.264去块滤波优化算法。通过实验表明,该算法能够确保编/解码视频图像的质量,与JM8.6测试代码中标准算法相比,降低了近20%的滤波时间以及近10%的编码时间,这不仅有效地缓解了H.264的编/解码运算复杂度,而且更有助于视频序列实时传输的实现。     

Adaptive group-of-pictures and scene change detection methods based on existing H.264 advanced video coding information

The H.264 advanced video coding (H.264/AVC) standard provides several advanced features such as improved coding efficiency and error robustness for video storage and transmission. In order to improve the coding performance of H.264/AVC, coding control parameters such as group-of-pictures (GOP) sizes should be adaptively adjusted according to different video content variations (VCVs), which can be extracted from temporal deviation between two consecutive frames. The authors present a simple VCV estimation to design adaptive GOP detection (AGD) and scene change detection (SCD) methods by using the obtained motion information, where the motion vectors and the sum of absolute transformed differences as VCV features are effectively used to design the AGD and SCD algorithms, respectively. In order to avoid unnecessary computation, the above VCV features are obtained only in the 4times4 inter-frame prediction mode. Simulation results show that the proposed AGD with SCD methods can increase the peak signal-to-noise ratio by 0.62 dB on average over the H.264/AVC operated with a fixed GOP size. Besides, the proposed SCD method can reach a scene change detection rate of 98%.     

Fast motion estimation using priority-based inter-prediction mode decision method in high efficiency video coding

The latest video coding standard, high efficiency video coding (HEVC), is developed to acquire a more efficient coding performance than the previous standard, H.264/AVC. To achieve this coding performance, elaborate coding tools were implemented in HEVC. Although those tools show a higher coding performance than H.264/AVC, the encoding complexity is heavily increased. Especially, motion estimation (ME) requires the most computational complexity because that is always performed on three inter-prediction modes: uni-directional prediction in List 0 (Uni-L0), uni-directional prediction in List 1 (Uni-L1), and bi-prediction (Bi). In this paper, we propose a priority-based inter-prediction mode decision method to reduce the complexity of ME caused by inter-prediction. The proposed method computes the priorities of all inter-prediction modes and decides whether ME is performed or not. Experimental results show that the proposed method reduces the computational complexity of ME up to 55.51% while maintaining similar coding performance compared to HEVC test model (HM) version 10.1.     

Lossless video coding based on pixel-wise prediction

The state-of-the-art H.264/AVC was designed for lossy video coding in the beginning. Recently, the H.264/AVC FRExt was developed by removing transformation and quantization for lossless coding. In this paper, we propose an efficient intra lossless coding method based on a pixel-wise prediction. The proposed algorithm introduces an additional intra prediction mode that employs the LOCO-I predictor of JPEG LS. We found that the proposed lossless coding algorithm achieved approximately 22.0, 2.6, and 10.7% bit saving in terms of compression ratio, compared to the H.264/AVC FRExt, lossless intra 4:4:4, and Takamura’s lossless coding methods, respectively.