Sarnoff-DTV/MPEG-2-Software-En - Sarnoff Corporation

SARNOFF DTV / MPEG-2 ENCODER TECHNOLOGY

• For TV and movie studios that need high-quality software encoders to compress source material for

VBR and CBR digital storage media

• For video-editing equipment companies that need a flexible software encoder to perform manual

fine-tuning for high quality encoding

Sarnoff DTV/MPEG -2

Software Encoder

SARNOFF ENCODER BENEFITS

• Reduces Cost and Increases Speed

• Offers More Program Channels

• Supports Multiple Profiles & Applications

• Facilitates Plug-in Capability

MAJOR APPLICATIONS

• DVD and VCD

• Studio

• Web Server

• Personal Authoring

HOW THE SARNOFF ENCODER WORKS

Sarnoff Corporation has incorporated several proprietary tools into this encoder to enhance the coding

efficiency and visual quality of its DTV / MPEG-2 video-encoding process. Sarnoff has over a dozen

patents or patents pending behind these technologies. Below are the functions which enable the

Sarnoff Software MPEG-2 Encoder to reach new heights in encoding performance:

MOTION ESTIMATOR: A Binary Pyramid

Motion Estimator provides over 2,000 times

less search complexity for significant savings in

memory, memory bandwidth, and computation.

MODE DECISION: The new Mode Decision

scheme uses joint optimization of both motion

vector bits and residual variance, with negligible

increase in implementation complexity. Compared

with the MPEG-2 TM 5, Sarnoff's mode decision

achieves more than 0.5 dB improvement in

picture quality at 2 Mbps and 1 dB improvement

at 1.1Mbps.

NOISE REDUCTION FILTER: A non-linear

interlaced Noise Reduction prefilter is applied

to remove/ reduce random and impulse noise

originating in the camera or studio. This yields

more than one dB improvement in video quality

in noisy images.

RATE CONTROLLER: An improved Rate Control

Scheme (RCS) allows more accurate target bit

allocation and reduced Video Buffer Verifier (VBV)

buffer fluctuation. Based on a more accurate model

of encoding complexity, our RCS improves visual

quality by more than 0.5 dB at around 2 Mbps,

compared with TM5 implementations.

3:2 PULLDOWN: The new 3:2 Pulldown

approach handles any combination of film and

NTSC material adaptively and robustly. An

improvement of more than one dB in noise sensi-

tivity is achieved in sequences with significant

motion.

SCENE CHANGE DETECTOR: This preprocessing

module detects scene changes based on luminance

change, then notifies the rate control module for

appropriate action. More than one dB of video

quality improvement is achieved.

For more information, contact:

Sarnoff Corporation

CN 5300, Princeton, NJ 08543

(609) 734-2553, Fax: (609) 734-2443

www.sarnoff.com

Sarnoff Corporation reserves the right to change these specifications without notice.

FEATURES

MULTIPLE ENCODING PROFILES

The Sarnoff DTV/MPEG-2 encoder can produce

the following output profiles:

nMPEG-1

nStandard Definition (SDTV): all common formats

nMPEG-2: Main Profile @ Main Level (MP@ML)

nHigh Definition (HDTV): All ATSC formats,

Main Profile @ High Level (MP@HL) and

4:2:2@ML

CHOICE OF INPUT FORMATS

The encoder accepts digital video input in the

form of:

nAVI files

nCCIR 601

nVGA and SVGA

nProgressive scan: 24 or 30 fps

nInterlaced scan: 60 Hz

nMovie material

nPPM

nConstant or variable bit rates (CBR or VBR)

M-Coder can be interfaced with standard

elementary stream codecs for audio.

MODULAR AND EXTENSIBLE

Modularity. The Sarnoff encoder’s modular structure

lets it grow to meet your needs. It is available at

three levels of performance, each of which is

upgradable to the next.

nBase Level: for Video Compact Disk or

MPEG-1 encoding.

nSD Level: Broadcaster and SDTV encoding,

MP@ML

nHD Level: High Definition, supports all 18 ATSC

formats for HDTV

Extensibility. The encoder’s modular, partitioned

structure permits easy performance enhancement

by plugging in your own algorithms.

SPEED AND QUALITY

Sarnoff DTV/MPEG-2 encoder technology pro-

duces an outstanding balance of speed, picture

quality, and features. Other products that encode

at comparable speed cannot match its picture

quality. A parallel processor delivers substantial

speed gains on certain platforms. Speeds on all

platforms are expected to improve over present

levels in future versions.

MEMORY REQUIREMENTS

16MB RAM is recommended for Standard

Definition video. More RAM can boost processing

speed, depending on platform.

PLATFORMS

M-Coder is available in versions for today’s leading

platforms such as Solaris (Sun), IRIX (Silicon

Graphics), Windows NT and Windows 95.

MULTIPLE PLATFORMS

The encoder is available in versions for the Solaris

(Sun), IRIX (Silicon Graphics), Windows NT, and

Windows 95.

RAM: 16 MB recommended for SD video. More

RAM can boost processing speed, depending on

platform.

Processor Speed: 200 MHz or greater recommended

Disk Space: Sufficient disk space for video storage.

Encoder itself fits on a single 1.44 MB floppy.

LICENSING TERMS

Sarnoff offers site licenses for each of the

DTV/MPEG-2 encoder's three performance levels.

Comprehensive service contracts and upgrade

policies are also available. Contact Sarnoff for

more details.

Sarnoff will also develop arrangements for

resellers and companies who wish to bundle the

encoder with their products.