Performance evaluation of transcoding algorithms for H.264

The latest video coding standard H.264 has been recently approved and has already been adopted for numerous applications including HD-DVD and satellite broadcast. To allow interconnectivity between different applications using H.264, transcoding will be a key factor. This paper assesses the existing requantization techniques developed for previous MPEG standards once adapted to H.264 together with a new technique. The proposed transcoding algorithm is based on a mixed requantization technique, which gives a good compromise between complexity and quality. Those tests were used to define a plausible approach for a consumer oriented transcoder.