Low-complexity rate-distortion optimization for robust H.264 video coding

In this paper, the conventional H.264 Rate Distortion (RD) optimization algorithm is extended to improve error resilience for video transmission over error-prone channels. Novel RD cost functions are derived for both motion estimation and mode decision by separating the end-to-end distortion into independent items. The modified cost functions involve additional items which are very simple and can be easily computed in a recursive way, hence low computation complexity can be achieved. Moreover, the proposed scheme maintains complete decoder compatibility and high RD performance. Extensive simulation results show that significant performance improvements are gained over compared algorithms. The computation complexity issue is also discussed.