An efficient algorithm for H.264/AVC high definition video coding

Quality consistency has been an important issue in video applications. However, the quality fluctuation cannot be avoided in single pass video coding due to the variation of the video content, flexible coding structure, different frame types, etc. In this paper, we propose an efficient method to reduce the quality fluctuation for H.264/AVC high definition (HD) video coding. We aim to reduce the distortion variation among frames at different types. A single-pass distributed control algorithm is introduced which provides different control mechanism for different frame type. For P frame, the quantization parameter is decided by the relationship between the quantization step and the given target bit rate and the buffer status to satisfy the bit rate constraints. For B frame, the quantization parameter is determined by the relationship between the quantization step and the given target distortion to reduce the quality fluctuation between P and B frames. Extensive simulation results are provided to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method. When compared to the traditional method used in current H.264/AVC video coding, the quality fluctuations are significantly reduced. Moreover, the bit rate constraints of the high definition video coding are satisfied.