MPEG Video deployment in interactive multimedia systems: HEVC vs. AVC codec performance study

The coding efficiency of three generations of video coding standards is compared by means of PSNR and subjective testing in interactive video applications, such as video chat, video conferencing and telepresence systems. An unified approach is applied to the analysis of designs of MPEG-H HEVC/H.265, MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, and H.263 reference software implementation. The results of performance tests for selected HD720 video sequences indicate that HEVC encoders achieve equivalent objective video quality as encoders that conform to AVC when using approximately 60% less bit rate on average. Bitrate reduction BRr and coding gain CG based on PSNR measure and complexity based on encoding/decoding time of HEVC MP vs. AVC HP vs. H.263 CHC are tested at bitrates of 0.256, 0.384, 0.512, 0.850, and 1.500 Mbps using the lowdelay encoding constraints typical for real-time conversational applications. Low-delay coding are considered by selecting appropriate prediction structures and coding options in software configuration of encoders. Realtime decoding complexity where studied on personal Ultrabook x86 computer in conversational application. Key-Words: operational configuration, coding gain, subjective quality, codec complexity