Fraunhofer’s (Hall 8. B80) broadcasting research institute, the Heinrich Hertz-Institut (HHI), has been at the forefront of MPEG compression ever since it developed the MPEG I Level 3 Audio compression, better known as MP3.
It has now launched its encoder for live 4K compression, using the HEVC, or H.265 codec.
At last year’s show, Fraunhofer demonstrated live compression of HD (1080P) content using its software encoder running on PCs.
Benjamin Bross, HEVC programme lead at HHI and one of the authors of the HEVC standard document, affirmed they could combine four HD encoders to compress a live 4K signal.
Furthermore, in April, HHI, together with Rohde & Schwarz, demonstrated live 4K compression of the broadcast of the German Cup Final between Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen by Sky Deutschland. They did so using a mixture of software hardware to convert the images from the camera to an HEVC signal.
HEVC accomplishes its efficiency gain over MPEG 4 AVC/H.264, roughly halving the bit rate requirement at a set image quality level, through a higher complexity.
The main difference, according to Fraunhofer, lies in the macro block size, which is now variable, upt o 64 pixels by 64 pixels per block compared to the 16 by 16 limit of H.264. This requires the encoder to select a block size for each and every single image.
In addition to the live encoder, Fraunhofer will show the complete 4K workflow from camera to decoder, which can be included in a set-top box or display.