HDTV subband/DCT coding: analysis of system complexity

A hybrid algorithm has been demonstrated to be an efficient way to encode high-definition television sequences, where each field of the sequence is decomposed into four subbands, with discrete cosine transform applied to the low-frequency subband. The system implementation complexity of such an algorithm and the implementation of low-order filters that perform the subband analysis and synthesis are analyzed. The authors also examine some issues in the connection of the codec to the asynchronous time multiplexing layer for transmission on the CCITT-defined H4 channel. It is shown that a low-cost implementation of the subband/DCT codec for the transmission of distribution quality compressed digital HDTV is feasible at a rate of 135 Mb/s