Video multicast over lossy channels based on distributed source coding

We present an algorithm for robust scalable video multicast based on distributed source coding techniques. Unlike prediction based coders, like MPEG, the proposed framework directly addresses the problem of drift due to packet losses. Building on the recently proposed PRISM video coding framework (R. Puri and K. Ramehandran, 2002), we show that substantial gains are possible for video multicast over lossy channels as compared to standard codecs, without a dramatic increase in encoder complexity as the number of streams increases.