Complexity optimization in H.264 and scalable extension

The state-of-the-art H.264/AVC video coding standard achieves significant improvements in coding efficiency compared to prior standards by introducing many new coding techniques. However the computation complexity is inevitably increased during both the encoding and decoding processes. In this thesis, optimization techniques specific for H.264 and H.264 scalable extension are investigated. A joint rate-distortion-complexity optimization framework is proposed to reduce the motion compensation complexity during H.264 decoding process. Considering the newly introduced Motion Compensated Temporal Filtering (MCTF) framework in the H.264 Scalable Extension, a fast ME algorithm which accounts for the MCTF characteristics is proposed. Both proposed techniques are shown to have little impact on the RD performance with significant complexity reduction