H.264 level Resolution
Frame rate
Max. compressed bit rate (non-
FRExt profile) maximum
Maximum number
of reference
frames
1
QCIF
15
64 Kb/s
4
1b
QCIF
15
128 Kb/s
4
1.1
CIF or QCIF
7.5 (CIF)/30
(QCIF)
192 Kb/s
2 (CIF)/9 (QCIF)
1.2
CIF
15
384 Kb/s
6
1.3
CIF
30
768 Kb/s
6
2
CIF
30
2 Mb/s
6
2.1
HHR (480i or 576i)
30/25
4 Mb/s
6
2.2
SD
15
4 Mb/s
5
3
SD
30/25
10 Mb/s
5
3.1
1280 × 720p
30
14 Mb/s
5
3.2
1280 × 720p
60
20 Mb/s
4
4
HD formats (720p or 1080i) 60p/30i
20 Mb/s
4
4.1
HD formats (720p or 1080i) 60p/30i
50 Mb/s
4
4.2
1920 × 1080p
60p
50 Mb/s
4
5
2k × 1k
72
135 Mb/s
5
5.1
2k × 1k or 4k × 2k
120/30
240 Mb/s
5
Table 5. Levels of H.264 standard.
3.4. The concept of video coding layer (VCL)
Video coding layer (VCL) for MPEG-4.10 (H.264/AVC) codec is in a some way similar to the
previous video codecs such as MPEG-2 [15].
Figure 3 shows a block diagram of coder.
Figure 3. Structure of H.264 video coder.
The coded video sequence in the H.264 consists of a series of encoded pictures. The coded
image may represent either the entire frame or one field, as was the case with the MPEG-2
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in Image and Video Coding
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codec. Overall, it can be considered that the video frame comprises two fields: the field at the
top and the field at the bottom. If the both fields of a given frame were taken at various time
points, the frame is called interlaced scan frame; otherwise, it is called a progressive scan frame.
4. H.265/HEVC standard
4.1. General principles of HEVC standard
Thanks to the evolution of technology, which has enabled us to have a resolution of video
material from 4K and higher reality, the evolution of video coding is inevitable, so it can keep
up the step. HEVC/H.265 video coding (
High Efficiency Video Coding) [17], is the fruit of
cooperation between ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)
and ITU-T Video
Coding Experts Group (VCEG) standardization organization, which brings better performance
than the previous coding standards, as well as H.264/AVC, and the biggest advantage of the
new standard is up to 50% more efficient compression compared to H.264 and support for 8K
UHD resolution. This means that the video material of the same quality will occupy at half
encoding less space with HEVC than the H.264/AVC coding, thanks to better algorithms and
analysis of the video material which eventually brings better coding efficiency.
Direct predecessor of this standard is H.264/MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding (AVC). HEVC
seeks to replace its predecessor by using a generic syntax that could be customized to newer
emerging applications. He wants to achieve several goals, such as code efficiency, adaptability
to different systems of transport, resilience on errors and
implementation with parallel
processing in a multiprocessor’s architecture.
