Improved Video Coding Techniques for Next Generation Video Coding Standard

This paper describes a video coding scheme submitted in response to the joint call for proposals (CfP) on video compression for capability beyond HEVC issued by ITU-T SG16 Q.6 (VCEG) and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11(MPEG) in October 2017. It includes video coding techniques for the standard dynamic range (SDR) and high dynamic range (HDR) categories. Design of the core SDR codec in the response is based on the joint exploration model (JEM) reference software developed by the joint video exploration team (JVET). Some of key coding tools in the JEM are significantly simplified to reduce both average and worst-case complexity for hardware design with negligible coding performance loss. Furthermore, two additional coding technologies, namely multi-type tree (MTT) and decoder-side intra mode derivation (DIMD), are used to further improve coding efficiency. For the HDR category, besides the tools used in SDR category, two additional coding tools: an in-loop reshaper and a luma-based QP prediction method are used to further improve HDR coding efficiency. Simulation results demonstrate the high coding efficiency achieved by the proposed video codec at the expense of moderate coding complexity over HEVC. For random access configuration, it achieves average bit rate savings of 35.7% and 4.00% over the HM and JEM anchors with decoding time of 263% and 33%, respectively, for the SDR sequences. For the HDR sequences, the proposed in-loop reshaper is configured to maximize HDR objective metrics, it achieves average bit rate savings of 31.3% and 4.6% over the HM and JEM for wPSNRY metrics for the HDR PQ content.