Iain Richardson 
The H.264 Advanced Video Compression Standard 

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

Table of Content

About the Author.

Preface.

Glossary.

List of figures.

List of tables.

1 Chapter 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.

2 Chapter 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 Chapter 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 Chapter 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 Chapter 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 Chapter 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 Chapter 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.

9.8 References.

10 Chapter 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.

About the author

Iain Edward Richardson, The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
Dr Iain Richardson is currently a Reader in video communications and also a Lecturer in digital communications, computer networks and digital electronics in the School of Engineering at the Robert Gordon University. His research interests include video compression and transport and multimedia networking. Dr Richardson is an experienced author, having written the books H.264 and MPEG-4 Video Compression: Video Coding for Next-generation Multimedia (Wiley, 2003), and over 40 conference and journal papers. He has also been working on the development of video compression systems since 1993, and now is a convener for the Image Communication Technology Research Group, at the Robert Gordon University.