H.

264 Video Compression

June 2007

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Agenda
About H.264 H.264 Encoder

H.264 Decoder

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Popular Video CODECs

MPEG-2 Part 2 (a common-text standard with H.262): Used on DVD, SVCD, and in most digital video broadcasting and cable distribution systems. H.263: Used primarily for videoconferencing, video telephony, and internet video. H.263 represented a significant step forward in standardized compression capability for progressive scan video. MPEG-4 Part 2: An MPEG standard that can be used for internet, broadcast, and on storage media. It offers improved quality relative to MPEG-2 and the first version of H.263. It included some enhancements of compression capability, both by embracing capabilities developed in H.263 and by adding new ones such as quarter-pel motion compensation. Like MPEG-2, it supports both progressive scan and interlaced video. MPEG-4 Part 10 (a technically aligned standard with the ITU-T's H.264 and often also referred to as AVC). This emerging new standard is the current state of the art of ITU-T and MPEG standardized compression technology, and is rapidly gaining adoption into a wide variety of applications. It contains a number of significant advances in compression capability, and it has recently been adopted into a number of company products, including for example the PlayStation Portable, iPod, the Nero Digital product suite, Mac OS X v10.4, as well as HD DVD/Blu-ray Disc.
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H.264 Profiles
Profile Baseline Profile (BP) Purpose
Primarily for lower-cost applications with limited computing resources, this profile is used widely in videoconferencing and mobile applications. Originally intended as the mainstream consumer profile for broadcast and storage applications, the importance of this profile faded when the High profile was developed for those applications. Intended as the streaming video profile, this profile has relatively high compression capability and some extra tricks for robustness to data losses and server stream switching. The primary profile for broadcast and disc storage applications, particularly for high-definition television applications (this is the profile adopted into HD DVD and BluRay Disc, for example). Decoder Complexity over MPEG-2 Estimated Improved Efficiency over MPEG-2

2.5X

1.5X

Main Profile (MP)

4X

2X

Extended Profile (XP)

3.5X

1.75X

High Profile (HiP)

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H.264 Multi-Channel Encoder Overview (CAST)

Fully compatible with the ITU-T H.264 baseline specification Profile level 4.1 Supports the entire range of common video resolutions with very low operational frequencies, for example:
Supports up to 32 frame-multiplexed video channels; each may have a different resolution and frame rate

Independent hardware encoder processes video without assistance of a microprocessor Supports YCbCr 4:2:0 16x16 block video input Flexible output:
Constant Bit Rate (CBR) for applications with limited bandwidth Variable Bit Rate (VBR) for low latency and detailed images in fast-changing scenes

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H.264 Implementation in Nextreme

eASIC Implementation of H.264 MC Encoder
165MHz+ ~40K eCells + 9 block RAMs

Resolution HDTV (1080i) HDTV (720p) VGA CIF QCIF 1920 1280 1080 720

Rate 30 30

Constant 4 4

640 352 176

480 240 120

30 30 15

4 4 4

RequiredClock Speed (MHz) 249 111 37 10 1

Cores Needed 2 1

# of Channels 1 1

1 1 1

4 16 130

165MHz Required Clock Speed for 1 channel

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H.264 Decoder (CAST)

Fully compatible with the output of the H264E encoder core Up to Profile level 4.1 can be decoded Supports up to the highest HDTV video resolution (1920x1080 @ 30 fps progressive) No CPU required for decoding Very low latency decoding Motion vector up to -32.00/+31.75 pixels down to quarter pixel resolution Support for most of intra4x4 and all intra16x16 modes Multiple slices support for better error resilience Block skipping logic for lower bitrate Deblocking filter for better quality External memory interface tolerant of high latencies and delays, ideal in a SoC system or in a shared bus with a CPU. The memory interface can be clocked at a different frequency from the core for easier integration Supports YUV 4:2:0 video output Min Clock speed = 4 x the raw pixel clock speed Simple, fully synchronous design

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H.264 Questions for Customers

Format? (HD, SD) Profile? Resolution? Frame Rate? Interlaced or Progressive? Minimum performance? # of Channels?

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