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This paper provides an overview of key concepts in video coding
and describe the legacy compression standards and
capabilities of the latest generation of codecs including H.264/AVC, WMV9/VC-1
and AVS, and provide insights into compression and complexity trade-offs that
each offers. Finally, real-time implementations and key trends in
end-equipment segments are presented that may influence choices between the popular video
codecs.
In recent years, the demand for digital video products has witnessed a boom.
Some examples of popular applications are video communication, security and
surveillance, industrial automation, and the biggest of all, entertainment,
which includes DVD, highdefintion (HD) TV, satellite TV, HD set-top boxes,
Internet video streaming, digital cameras and HD video camcorders, video
jukeboxes, high end displays (LCD, Plasma and DLP) and personal video recorders.
A slew of new and exciting applications are currently in design or early
deployment. For example, HD-DVD (Blu-ray), digital video broadcast, both to the
home and the handset through terrestrial or satellite (DVB-T, DVB-H, DMB), HD
videophones, digital cinema and IP Set-top boxes. End products are also
increasingly becoming mobile and converged as a result of higher computational
power in handsets, advances in battery technology and high-speed wireless
connectivity.
Original article can be read here Video codecs tutorial: Trade-offs with H.264, VC-1 and
other advanced codecs , Jeremiah Golston and Dr. Ajit Rao, Texas Instruments.
Video compression is an essential enabler for all these exciting new video
products. Compression-decompression (codec) algorithms make it possible to store
and transmit digital video. Typically, codecs are either industry standards such
as MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264/AVC and AVS or proprietary algorithms, such as On2,
Real Video, Nancy and Windows Media Video (WMV). WMV is an exception as it was
originally a Microsoft proprietary algorithm that is now also standardized by
SMPTE as VC-1. Codec technology has continuously improved in the last decade.
The most recent codecs, H.264/AVC and VC-1, represent the third generation of
video compression technology. Both codecs are capable of squeezing very high
compression ratios utilizing the available processing horsepower in low-cost ICs
such as programmable DSPs and fixed-function ASICs. However choosing the right
codec and optimizing its real-time implementation for a specific application
remains a tough challenge. The optimal design must trade-off between compression
efficiency and the use of available computational horse-power. Obtaining the
optimal compression efficiency with limited computational horse-power is a tough
science.
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