A high dynamic range video codec optimized by large-scale testing

While a number of existing high-bit depth video compression methods can potentially encode high dynamic range (HDR) video, few of them provide this capability. In this paper, we investigate techniques for adapting HDR video for this purpose. In a large-scale test on 33 HDR video sequences, we compare 2 video codecs, 4 luminance encoding techniques (transfer functions) and 3 color encoding methods, measuring quality in terms of two objective metrics, PU-MSSIM and HDR-VDP-2. From the results we design an open source HDR video encoder, optimized for the best compression performance given the techniques examined.

[1]  Touradj Ebrahimi,et al.  Towards high dynamic range extensions of HEVC: subjective evaluation of potential coding technologies , 2015, SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications.

[2]  Peter G. J. Barten,et al.  Formula for the contrast sensitivity of the human eye , 2003, IS&T/SPIE Electronic Imaging.

[3]  Patrick Le Callet,et al.  HDR-VQM: An objective quality measure for high dynamic range video , 2015, Signal Process. Image Commun..

[4]  Hans-Peter Seidel,et al.  Perception-motivated high dynamic range video encoding , 2004, SIGGRAPH 2004.

[5]  Hans-Peter Seidel,et al.  Extending quality metrics to full luminance range images , 2008, Electronic Imaging.

[6]  Panos Nasiopoulos,et al.  Evaluating the Performance of Existing Full-Reference Quality Metrics on High Dynamic Range (HDR) Video Content , 2018, 1803.04815.

[7]  Gregory Ward Larson,et al.  LogLuv Encoding for Full-Gamut, High-Dynamic Range Images , 1998, J. Graphics, GPU, & Game Tools.

[8]  Donald P. Greenberg,et al.  A model of visual adaptation for realistic image synthesis , 1996, SIGGRAPH.

[9]  Panos Nasiopoulos,et al.  Compression efficiency of HDR/LDR content , 2015, 2015 Seventh International Workshop on Quality of Multimedia Experience (QoMEX).

[10]  Panos Nasiopoulos,et al.  Compression of high dynamic range video using the HEVC and H.264/AVC standards , 2014, 10th International Conference on Heterogeneous Networking for Quality, Reliability, Security and Robustness.

[11]  Harald Brendel,et al.  Creating cinematic wide gamut HDR-video for the evaluation of tone mapping operators and HDR-displays , 2014, Electronic Imaging.

[12]  Hans-Peter Seidel,et al.  Backward compatible high dynamic range MPEG video compression , 2006, ACM Trans. Graph..

[13]  Scott Miller,et al.  Perceptual Signal Coding for More Efficient Usage of Bit Codes , 2012 .

[14]  Touradj Ebrahimi,et al.  HDR image compression: A new challenge for objective quality metrics , 2014, 2014 Sixth International Workshop on Quality of Multimedia Experience (QoMEX).

[15]  Stefan Gustavson,et al.  Unified HDR reconstruction from raw CFA data , 2013, IEEE International Conference on Computational Photography (ICCP).

[16]  Eero P. Simoncelli,et al.  Image quality assessment: from error visibility to structural similarity , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing.

[17]  Tania Pouli,et al.  Evaluation of color encodings for high dynamic range pixels , 2015, Electronic Imaging.

[18]  Touradj Ebrahimi,et al.  Overview and evaluation of the JPEG XT HDR image compression standard , 2019, Journal of Real-Time Image Processing.

[19]  Panos Nasiopoulos,et al.  Rate-distortion optimization for high dynamic range video coding , 2014, 2014 6th International Symposium on Communications, Control and Signal Processing (ISCCSP).

[20]  Wolfgang Heidrich,et al.  HDR-VDP-2: a calibrated visual metric for visibility and quality predictions in all luminance conditions , 2011, ACM Trans. Graph..

[21]  Rafal Mantiuk,et al.  Display adaptive tone mapping , 2008, ACM Trans. Graph..

[22]  Pradeep Sen,et al.  A versatile HDR video production system , 2011, ACM Trans. Graph..

[23]  Touradj Ebrahimi,et al.  Comparison of compression efficiency between HEVC/H.265 and VP9 based on subjective assessments , 2014, Optics & Photonics - Optical Engineering + Applications.