In the ever-evolving video industry, we see the major tech players fighting over consumers' attention on screens.
However, there is a new contender in the market which tech giants Microsoft and Apple have been supporting. It will likely change the video landscape when it takes off, provide intense competition, and shape the future of codecs.
The high-efficiency video coding or HEVC format has been much discussed recently. It's because of its capability to produce high-definition videos in the ranks of 4k. There is more likely an 8k HDR in the foreseeable future. Because of its potential, this new breed of codec has been supported by Apple through its macOS High Sierra and Premiere Pro and FCP X of professional NLEs. Other vendors are following suit every month as of this writing.
So, what is this HEVC format that people have been raving about? Keep reading to be in on the latest.
Getting to know your HEVC format
If you know the H.264 codec, then the HEVC format is no stranger to you because it came right after. The former can give Rec. 7209 HD SDR deliverables while the latter can provide a broader color spectrum with UHD SDR. Moreover, HEVC needs substantially less storage compared to the H.264, but your CPU has to be more powerful to run it.
Industry Trend
In choosing a codec, your decision is most often influenced by the type of hardware you have available. Over the last several years, CPUs have become increasingly better and can deliver more excellent value for your money. Nowadays, the trend is to go after computation through CPUs instead of depending on hard drives for your storage space.
What you see now with the introduction of the HEVC format is a continuation of this industry trend. It’s no longer surprising to see DNxHR or ProRes digital intermediates transformed into H.264 in broadcast or the web.
Storage Data
In more precise terms, what does this mean for all of us? Well, your videos, which are currently run by your Rec. 7209 HD SDR in your network, will now provide you with significantly greater data with the HEVC format. It translates to more resonant resolutions, a broader gamut of colors, and an increased range of dynamics.
This setup will not necessarily need greater bandwidth, so don't worry yet. The CPUs that power our mobile phones, gadgets, and smart TVs can take this more extensive data with the current bandwidth.
So far, people have been finding it difficult to believe that the HEVC format can perform as promised in terms of data compression in the video codecs, let alone deliver a substantially better video quality. However, some studies support it.
Research Support
In 2013-2016, research was done to evaluate if HEVC can truly and significantly enhance compression instead of its predecessor, H.264. The study involved synthetic and natural content, which were stacked vis-à-vis each other and tested for video quality with the HEVC format. The natural content were photos taken with a camera from the natural environment while the synthetic content were images generated by the Blender app for 3D graphics from the movie, "Sintel."
At the end of the study, the results showed a positive outcome. The HEVC format could bring down bit rate by as much as 51-74% for the natural content and by 75% with the synthetic. It was able to achieve this without affecting video quality in any way.
Patenting
The regulating body for H.264, MP3, and MPEG-2, including the HEVC, is the MPEG or Moving Pictures Experts Group. They supervise the creation of codecs and the entire complicated process surrounding it. Some organizations and companies are involved, and they form a "patent pool" to recover all the expenses related to the development of such formats.
This patenting method issues the license for the use of these codecs. Everyone, including the software developers and manufacturers of hardware, has to buy the license before integrating the product into their own. The pricing of their devices typically considers the licensing cost.
With all the fantastic features of the HEVC, you will want to know how it can deliver. Let’s talk about how it works, then.
How does the HEVC format work?
If you're wondering how the HEVC can give unaltered video quality but allow for lower bit rates, let's dig deep and learn. If you want to get highly technical, there are resources on the web that can help you. You can try reading magazines by the IEEE Consumer Electronics, particularly the issue last July2012, which precisely talked about this. Samsung's Madhukar Budagavi and MIT’s Vivienne Sze also created some material you can read through on the topic, which is available online.
But if you keep reading, you will also learn what compression procedures HEVC uses to achieve this mighty feat. We will compare it with the H.264 to better understand how it was significantly enhanced to do more.
Intra prediction modes
In its predecessor, the H.264, the intraframe compression only has up to 8 methods per block to get surrounding pixels. Because HEVC is more sophisticated in computational power, it has 35 multiple strategies to accomplish the same task.
CTUs and macroblocks
The big difference between the H.264 and the HEVC format is how they break down an image to smaller units. The H.264 does so in pixel squares called "macroblocks," while the HEVC in CTUs or" coding tree units."
Why is this distinction important? It’s essential to note because CTUs can attain up to 64x64 pixels while the H.264’s macroblocks can only have either intraframe or interframe prediction but will not have both. The interframe compression happens you get pixels from nearby frames while the intraframe is borrowing pixels within a frame.
On the other hand, with HEVC format, the CTUs can do both intraframe and interframe compression. What it translates to is that HEVC can do so much more in keeping the video's quality, especially in images that have rich detail.
If you've ever heard of "macro blocking," you will understand how, at times, the H.264 could not deal with gradients like clouds that need to reflect luminance and clear skies that change color subtly. With only 16x16 squares, the H.264 cannot produce detail as fine as these particular textures.
With HEVC, the CTUs have greater flexibility with the compression methods, and the squares don't even need to be squares to achieve the same quality of the images.
Filtering types
Apart from what has already been mentioned earlier, the HEVC also has new filtering types to eliminate artifacts. These are ALF or adaptive loop filtering and SAO or sample adaptive offset, and they will work significantly to improve on the very things that H.264 is lacking.
What is the HEVC format made for?
The HEVC format was born out of the need for substantial improvement from the H.264. The present conditions in the video industry today also played a role. Let's discover the various ways that HEVC was made for in several areas.
In the home
If you think that this highly complex format is only for the tech giants, you're far from the truth. We all know how people have been finding more and more ways to make their living rooms or "movie" room to be the best media consumption area at home.
In this respect, the HEVC format has so far been making its way toward the homes, and broadcasters of television have been very supportive of HEVC, pushing the TV manufacturers to learn about the codec to take advantage of it.
LG, Sony, and Samsung have all started to manufacture and ship out television sets that can organically run HEVC format for a fantastic 4k content delivery. Also, video streaming services like Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Netflix have all been supporting HEVC. Hulu has played UHD via HEVC format, Amazon has adopted the HEVC codec too, and Netflix has been trying out the HEVC encoder (open source), x265.
In companies
As expected, tech giants have shown support for HEVC format to ride the trend and maximize the benefits.
Apple
Apple has so far given support for HEVC format in various ways, and one is by providing tools to encode it. There are Apple devices that can run HEVC if they have updated their iOS to version 11. If your Apple gadget has the A10 Fusion chip, it can handle HEVC content at 8-bit. However, for newer Apple devices, the HEVC hardware is already in-built, and the update on High Sierra even upgraded to 10-bitsoftware encoding for HEVC.
Throughout the range of Apple products, you will see support for the HEVC format in every way so that you can enjoy high-definition and high-quality videos every time.
Microsoft
Microsoft has unsurprisingly followed suit to support HEVC format but not in the same capacity as Apple. In Windows 10, the HEVC format is inherently supported, but Microsoft has recently let go of this feature and set it up as a downloadable option, an extension to Windows 10.Despite this, it's good to know that the company allows Windows users to enjoy HEVC content.
With Apple and Microsoft showing this much sustainability for HEVC format, the codec has so far obtained 700 million PC and mobile device users worldwide.
In the TV industry
The transition to ATSC or Advanced TV System Committee version 3.0 will greatly benefit HEVC to be pushed even in the TV broadcast industry. This upgrade on the technical standards in broadcasting will require HEVC format as the primary codec. There are presently networks that can comply with this prerequisite, and so they can start playing 4k content.
If and when the ambitious 8k content will be mainstream in the future, it will not be difficult to upgrade if you already have the HEVC codec in place. Some telltale signs that show that HEVC will takeoff very quickly, especially for broadcast, include the 2 billion devices poised to handle HEVC content because their hardware can support it.
This reality is such a massive incentive for networks to deliver content ready for this enormous consumer base. The PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games last 2018 and the World Series for 2016 are widely famous technical showcase moments for HEVC content.
Where do we see HEVC format in post-production?
Just because a vast majority is already adopting HEVC format and its technical prowess has already been spreading around the world doesn’t mean that everyone can start enjoying it immediately. In reality, the HEVC format has not yet reached the level of universal support.
Post-production applications are yet to find capabilities for decoding and encoding HEVC to run all its technical complexities. But you only need to stretch your patience out a bit since upgrades are continually being rolled out. Sooner rather than later, HEVC will be enabled in every device in the world.
Some updates include the following:
DaVinci Resolve
The Blackmagic Design of the DaVinci Resolve can decode HEVC format in the macOS since April of 2016.
Avid Media Composer
Users of the Avid Media Composer have to transition to DNxHD to run HEVC format.
Adobe Premiere Pro
The Adobe Premiere Pro can accommodate imported media in HEVC format up to 8192x4320resolution, and it can also export 10-bit, 8-bit, 8k, 4k, 1080p, and 720p accordingly.
Apple’s FCP X
Last December 2017, Apple announced that the High Sierra operating system could support the HEVC format in its Final Cut Pro X version 10.4. In this app was the HEVC format first released into the public.
As evident in the discussion above, the HEVC format has already taken the video industry landscape by storm and is rapidly gaining ground in the world's media market. As a result, its direct competitors, the AV1 and VP9, are taking steps to retaliate.
It will be unfair to the other players in the market if we don't examine the HEVC format in light of other existing high-capability ones available today. Despite the headway that HEVC created as far as the next-generation codec is concerned, others have worked their way towards the same direction. Let's take a look at them in greater detail.
AV1
The AOM or Alliance for Open Media is a group that hosts several well-known businesses in its fold, such as Facebook, Hulu, Bitmovin, NVIDIA, ARM, AMD, Netflix, Mozilla, Microsoft, Intel, Google, Cisco, and Amazon. They have joined AOM across the years and has strengthened the alliance.
A surprising event happened in July of 2017, when Apple, thought to be the leading promoter for HEVC, joined AOM. The decision was quietly executed, and the greater public had no clue as to the action and the repercussions.
AV1 is quite a strong competitor to the HEVC because of the massive support from AOM. However, HEVC is still considered an indomitable contender because of its head-start in terms of technical capabilities. Compared to HEVC that has gained so much backing both in hardware and software, AV1needed to start from square one to keep up.
With these codec types, it will be impossible to roll out the technicalities without the hardware assistance, so there must be customized support primarily designed for both AV1 and HEVC for them to work. With software, it may be easier to do upgrades and alterations into the system, but it will take years to build such accommodation with hardware.
MPEG chairman and founder Leonardo Chiariglione shared that the trend is winding down for both MPEG and AOM, and it may be tough to provide the research support and the development funding for such ventures.
VP9
The closest competitor to the HEVC format is VP9. In 2010, Google acquired a company that does video compression like theVP8, the alternative to H.264.When its subsidiary YouTube opened theVP8 in its WebM container, people began using it without licensure. Consequently, in 2015, YouTube also is not willing to buy the license for HEVC, so they moved on to VP9.
Final verdict
Because of the considerable support from the AOM, the AV1 may be the likely choice for the video streaming industry. Netflix, Hulu, Apple, Amazon, and
Google were shown to have taken steps towards adopting AV1 into their systems. The HEVC may then be the codec of choice of TV broadcasting networks who want to follow the ATSC 3.0 standards.
In March of 2018, the AV1 has already been released into the public. While the industry keeps up with the supply chain, HEVC is continually progressing. In the future, you may be able to see TV broadcasts that have HEVC format by default. As of this writing, AV1 is 100x less capable in terms of speed than HEVC in playing live media and 4k content, so this market segment is still for HEVC, while AV1 dominates the streaming sector for now.
Though the open source versus licensing concerns impact the choice between available codecs, it ultimately boils down to who can deliver the best video quality and gain continuing support from the tech industry as far as who wins in this format battle.
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