A Fast MB Mode Decision Algorithm for MPEG-2 to H.264 P-Frame Transcoding

Abstract--The H.264 standard achieves much higher coding efficiency than the MPEG-2 standard, due to its improved inter-and intra-prediction modes at the expense of higher computational complexity. Transcoding MPEG-2 video to H.264 is important to enable gradual migration to H.264. However, given the significant differences between the MPEG-2 and the H.264 coding algorithms, transcoding is a much more complex task and new approaches to transcoding are necessary. The main problems that need to be addressed in the design of an efficient heterogeneous MPEG-2/H.264 transcoder are: the inter-frame prediction, the transform coding and the intra-frame prediction. In this paper, we focus our attention on the inter-frame prediction, the most computationally intensive task involved in the transcoding process. This paper presents a novel macroblock (MB) mode decision algorithm for P-frame prediction based on machine learning techniques to be used as part of a very low complexity MPEG-2 to H.264 v...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: TCSV
• Authors: Gerardo Fernández-Escribano, Hari Kalva, Pedro Cuenca, Luis Orozco-Barbosa, Antonio Garrido
• Keywords: H.264, MPEG-2, TCSV 2008, Transcoding