Real-time UHD scalable multi-layer HEVC encoder architecture

Abstract

The High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard enables meeting new video quality demands such as Ultra High Definition (UHD). Its scalable extension (SHVC) allows encoding simultaneously different versions of a video, organised in layers. Thanks to inter-layer predictions, SHVC provides bit-rate savings over an equivalent HEVC simulcast encoding. Therefore, SHVC seems a promising solution for both broadcast and storage purposes. This paper proposes a multi-layer architecture of a pipeline of software HEVC encoder to perform real-time UHD spatially-scalable SHVC encoding. Inter-layer predictions are furthermore implemented to provide bit-rate savings with a minimum impact on complexity. The proposed architecture provides a good trade-off between coding gains and coding speed achieving real-time performance for 1080p60 and 1600p30 sequences in 2× spatial scalability. Moreover, experimental results show more than a 1000× speed-up compared to the SHVC reference software (SHM) and an introduced delay only reaching 14% of the equivalent HEVC coding speed.