An H.265/HEVC codec for UHD(3840×2160) capturing and playback

Abstract

An H.265/HEVC codec(encoder/decoder) for UHD(3840×2160) capturing and playback is presented. Implemented codec has 0.97 mm2 logic area in 20nm with 170KB internal memory. By exploiting sophisticated low-power design, 56/190 mW power consumption is achieved in UHD 30fps decoding/encoding. Maintaining UHD 30fps real-time encoding, the encoder allows about 1.0 dB quality drop compared to HM reference model. By introducing pixel cache for reference pixel read for motion estimation/compensation, the codec consumes 1.2 / 2.0 GB/s external memory bandwidth at UHD 30fps decoding/encoding.