HEVC Technology
High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC - officially approved as ITU-T H.265 | ISO/IEC 23008-2) is a widely deployed video-compression standard of ITU-T and ISO/IEC. It was developed by the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC) with significant contributions from Fraunhofer HHI’s Video Communication and Applications department. Compared to its predecessor H.264/AVC, HEVC achieves about 50% bit-rate reduction at the same subjective video quality.
HEVC Solutions
Fraunhofer HHI's Video Communication and Applications department developed HEVC software and hardware solutions, demonstrating the benefits of this video-coding technology.
HEVC 4K Live Software Encoder
Fraunhofer HHI has developed an encoding solution that fully exploits the unbeaten compression potential of HEVC. The Fraunhofer HHI shoot-out winning HEVC live encoder powers the field-proven Rohde & Schwarz HEVC turnkey broadcast solutions. Numerous DVB-T2 HD and DVB-C/S2 UHD broadcast channels are currently on air with the Fraunhofer HHI HEVC live encoder.
HEVC 4K Live Software Decoder
Fraunhofer HHI has developed a resource efficient, multithreaded HEVC software decoder that enables live decoding up to 10Kp60 ultra high resolution video. It perfectly suits the ever-growing need for high resolution video in applications such as mobile web streaming for panoramic video and high-quality TV broadcasting.
HEVC StatMux
Fraunhofer HHI has developed a highly efficient live Statistical Multiplexer (Statmux) for optimized bitrate allocation between multiple Fraunhofer HHI HEVC live encoders. The bitrate of each encoder is adjusted in a closed-loop Statmux to optimize the bandwidth usage and improve the video quality.
HEVC 4K Live Hardware Decoder
Fraunhofer HHI has developed a completely hardware based H.265 / MPEG-HEVC decoder IP core. Without an additional processor core, the decoder achieves real-time performance for 4K ultra high definition (UHD) video requiring only moderate clock frequencies. For evaluation purposes the design is available as an implementation for the Altera Stratix V GX Advanced Systems Development Kit (4K /UHD) and the Altera Stratix V DSP Kit (up to 1080p60).
HEVC 4K Bitstream Test Suite
To achieve high coding efficiency, the HEVC standard allows much more flexibility in encoding decisions and bitstream variations compared to previous video coding standards. For HEVC decoder products, it is important that they are developed fully conform to the standard with the aim to avoid update or replacement costs if incompatibilities are found later. The Fraunhofer HHI HEVC bitstream test suite is a set of specially crafted coded video sequences that test the functionality of all individual components of an HEVC decoder and their interactions.
References
- Flyer: HEVC Solutions (pdf)
- Press Release 2017: ZDF relies on Rohde & Schwarz and Fraunhofer HHI for the transition to DVB-T2 (pdf)
- News 2015: SES and Fraunhofer HHI demonstrate Virtual Reality via satellite
- Press Release 2014: Fraunhofer HHI technology enables broadcasting of the first live concert in 4K on television (pdf)
- 2014: end-to-end Ultra HD live broadcast of a football match (sky corporated website)
- IFA 2014 Report - Teil 2 - Interviews zu "ULTRA HD / 4K" - die Geschichte davor und in Zukunft, GROBI-TV (youtube video in German)