New release of H.264/AVC reference software JM 17.1

-- this blog post is based on the email sent by Karsten Sühring to the JVT reflector

A new release of the JM reference software is available at http://iphome.hhi.de/suehring/tml/

This is a quite large maintenance release: It contains a number of bug fixes including a decoder issue that was introduced in JM 17.0 and caused a mismatch for MBAff and constrained intra prediction.

The documentation has been updated with a description of the new MVC coding mode. Many people experienced crashes when enabling MVC with the default config file. This was caused by an incompatible setting which is now prohibited for the muti-view encoding mode. We have also added a Stereo High profile example config (encoder_stereo.cfg) and a modified default file for faster encoding (encoder_fast.cfg).

The VS 2008 and XCode workspaces have been updated for better x64 architecture support. OPENMP (for parallel deblocking) is now enabled by default (also in the Makefiles).

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Changes in Version JM 17.1 (since JM 17.0)
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- decoder: fix delta_pic_order_cnt[0] in IDR frames (KS, bug #57)
- decoder: Direct mode fixes (YHE)
- encoder/decoder: various cleanups and bug fixes (AT/YHE)
- encoder/decoder: rewrite of deblocking functions (AT)
- decoder : rewrite of intra prediction functions (AT)
- encoder/decoder: MVC bug fixes (PeP/AL)
- encoder/decoder: Frame Packing SEI Message (AL)
- decoder: Minor CABAC updates (AT)
- encoder/decoder: Update work spaces for VS 2008 and XCode with x64 and OPENMP support (KS)
- encoder/decoder: Update Makefiles for OPENMP support (KS)
- encoder: avoid crashes by prohibiting incompatible tool combinations (KS/YHE)

Scalable Video Coding within DVB

Daniele Alfonso came up with this breaking news. I think/hope this will boost SVC's industry adoption.

The last issue of DVB-SCENE (the quarterly magazine of the DVB Project) includes an article by Ken McCann (Zetacast and Chairman of TM Ad Hoc Group on Audio-Visual Content, TM-AVC) entitled "Scalable Video Coding within DVB".

Here is the abstract:

The two main DVB Audio-Visual Coding specifications, for broadcast applications based on the MPEG-2 Transport Stream and for DVB applications delivered directly over IP protocols, are currently being revised to add new options to the toolboxes. Probably the most significant of these new options is Scalable Video Coding, defined by an amendment to the H.264/AVC specification. The objective is to produce an encoded signal that has the capability of being decoded to give video, albeit at reduced quality, from only part of the bit-stream.

Scalable Video Coding is a worthy addition to the DVB toolbox, applicable to a wide range of potential applications. However, as with the other tools, it should be selected for use when appropriate; it is not a 'magic bullet' that gives benefits under all circumstances.

DVB-SCENE #28 is available for download in PDF at this link.

Other articles include:

• Making the Content and Device Value Chains Work for All Stakeholders
• Synchronised Interactivity with MHP
• Mobile Return Channel
• Market Watch

MPEG got an Emmy!

At this week's MPEG meeting, MPEG celebrated the JVT receipt of the 2008 Primetime Emmy Engineering Award. They've received it for its work on the Advanced Video Coding (AVC) High Profile. The actual awards - three of them - are now hosted at the three main standardization bodies who worked on AVC, namely IEC, ISO, and ITU. However, somehow Gary Sullivan managed to get an additional Emmy statue for MPEG and presented it to Leonardo Chiariglione (MPEG convenor). The MPEG Emmy statue will travel from national body to national body based on MPEG's meeting schedule. That is, the next chance to see the Emmy statue live will be in Lausanne, CH at the 87th MPEG meeting.

During the Friday plenary I also got the chance to take a picture of/with the Emmy statue ;-) Another picture can be found here.