Perceptual bit allocation for MPEG-2 CBR video coding

In this paper we propose a novel bit allocation scheme for MPEG-2 constant bit rate (CBR) video coding using a model of the early stages of human vision. On the basis of this model we derive a measure of the macroblock activity different from the one proposed in the MPEG-2 test model 5 (TM5). Experiments, obtained by substituting the proposed perceptual activity measure to the one proposed by the MPEG-2 TM5, yield better results, among which are the improvement of the perceptual quality for a fixed bitrate and vice-versa.