VBR rate control for perceptually consistent video quality

In contrast with traditional VBR control strategies, such as constant QP and constant PSNR, we take the characteristics of human visual system into account and propose a two-pass VBR rate control for perceptually consistent video quality, mainly for DVD like video storage applications. We employ spatial-temporal complexity to evaluate the subjective visual quality and propose a statistical quality relation between the Qstep and complexity. We further extend it to a RDO based practical Q-Complexity model to effectively guide our second-pass VBR encoding. In addition, we adopt a fast iterative search technique and a run-time bit production control mechanism to satisfy the constraint of fixed storage capacity while producing consistent perceived quality. Our experimental results from various test clips have demonstrated its efficiency and reliability, indicating a noticeable improvement on video quality.