H.265 Video Format Is Now Official | TechTree.com

H.265 Video Format Is Now Official

High-quality video streaming will be available on low bandwidth and at half the bit rate. Movies using the format would be visible in greater detail at smaller file sizes.

 

A new video codec standard, the H.265 has been finalized and will succeed the popular H.264 as it uses half the bit rate, yet offer better video quality. The H.264/MPEG-4 AVC (Advanced Video Coding) standard currently the best known video file-format, and is the codec standard for High Definition across platforms like Blu-ray Discs, online video streaming and HDTV broadcasts. The H.264 codec was standardised for high quality videos as it provided good video quality at lower bit rates than H.263 or MPEG-2.

The H.265 HEVC standard will feature double the data compression ratio of H.264 and support resolutions up to 8192x4320 (8K UHD). This means streaming of high quality videos (which accounts for 80% of online videos worldwide) will now be easier on low bandwidth networks. For context, even the 82-inch 4K UHD TV isn't widely available yet. So its main application will be in making current video sizes even smaller. If you had to download a 170 MB (mkv) file per TV episode from your legitimate video provider, the same could now be achieved with just an 85 MB video file. You could potentially rip your Blu-Ray discs for backup at a sufficiently good quality of video detail, and yet have a file size of only 700 MB.

The H.265 video codec format was in the works since 2010 but the final draft was made only in 2012, and was ratified by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as an international standard on 25th January 2013. The new video standard was developed by ITU Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) in collaboration with ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and is officially known as ITU-T H.265 / ISO/IEC 23008-2 HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding).

The team is working on support for 12-bit videos along with 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 chroma formats. We may also see 3D video encoding support with this new standard file format. The new video format standard will currently have three profiles:

  • 'Main' profile: support for 8-bit 4:2:0 videos
  • 'Main 10' profile: support for 10-bit videos and
  • 'Main Still Picture' profile for high quality still image encoding.


You May Also Want To Read:
Samsung Shows Off World’s Largest 110" 4K LED TV
Sony Launches 4K Home Theatre Projector
TechTree 2012 Wrap-Up: Televisions highly interesting, with falling prices and newly introduced technologies.
Wikipedia entry for Ultra high definition television at 4K resolution and 8K resolution


TAGS: Swagatam

 
News Corner
IMP IMP IMP
##