A fast block mode selection approach for H.264 visual coding

Abstract

In this paper, a new fast mode-selection approach is proposed. This algorithm combines the proposed approaches of mode pre-decision and precise large-small mode decision, by selecting the best mode efficiently. Experimental results show that the proposed approach can reduce the computational cost of full search and fast multi-block motion estimation by 80 % and 45 %, respectively, with similar visual quality and bit rate. The proposed algorithm also reduces by 75 % the computational cost of the large-small mode isolation algorithm for low-motion sequence coding, and with 0.06 PSNR gain and 3.7 % reduction in bit rate.

Keywords

video coding, H.264 inter mode, optimization algorithm