Improving Video Quality with NVIDIA Video Codec SDK 12.2 for HEVC

Summary: Enhancing Video Quality with NVIDIA Video Codec SDK 12.2 for HEVC

NVIDIA has released the Video Codec SDK 12.2, which significantly improves video encoding quality for HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding). This update introduces several new features, including lookahead level, temporal filtering, higher bit-depth encoding, unidirectional B-frames, and ultra-high quality (UHQ) tuning info. These enhancements aim to reduce bit rates and enhance overall performance, particularly for natural video content.

Improving Video Quality with NVIDIA Video Codec SDK 12.2

The latest iteration of NVIDIA’s Video Codec SDK, version 12.2, brings substantial improvements to video encoding quality, especially for HEVC. This update includes several new features designed to enhance video quality and reduce bit rates.

Key Features of Video Codec SDK 12.2

Lookahead Level: This feature increases lookahead analysis to optimize coding efficiency, particularly for HEVC. It allows for better bit allocation across frames by using coding tree units (CTUs) and other encoding statistics. There are four different lookahead levels, each with varying trade-offs between performance and quality.
Temporal Filtering: Designed to filter out noise and improve compression efficiency, this feature uses motion estimation to reduce the bit rate required for encoding natural video content. It is implemented using a CUDA kernel for filtering and the NVIDIA encoder (NVENC) hardware for motion estimation, offering an average coding gain.
Higher Bit-Depth Encoding: This feature enables the encoding of 8-bit content as 10-bit, improving correlation and resulting in better compression for both HEVC and AV1. The conversion happens within the NVENC driver using CUDA for HEVC and hardware for AV1, with negligible performance penalties.
Unidirectional B-Frames: These frames improve quality by using predictions only from past frames, making them useful for low-latency encoding scenarios. They predict from the two previous frames, offering better performance compared to P-frames.
Ultra High Quality (UHQ) Tuning Info: This feature provides the best quality for latency-tolerant use cases by combining lookahead level and temporal filtering optimally. It fixes the number of B-frames to five and disables adaptive I and B-frames, using a fixed GOP structure.

Detailed Feature Insights

Lookahead Level: This feature uses CTUs and other encoding statistics to improve rate control. It offers four different lookahead levels, each with varying trade-offs between performance and quality. Settings include enableLookahead to turn on the feature, LookaheadDepth to determine the number of frames buffered for analysis, and LookaheadLevel to set the level of analysis.
Temporal Filtering: This feature reduces noise in natural video content by using patches from neighboring frames. It is implemented using a CUDA kernel for filtering and the NVENC hardware for motion estimation, offering an average coding gain.
Higher Bit-Depth Encoding: By encoding 8-bit content as 10-bit, this feature provides coding efficiency gains. The conversion happens within the NVENC driver using CUDA for HEVC and hardware for AV1, with negligible performance penalties.
Unidirectional B-Frames: These frames predict from the two previous frames, offering better performance compared to P-frames. This feature is particularly useful for low-latency encoding and can be enabled by setting enableUniDirectionalB to 1.
UHQ Tuning Info: This feature combines lookahead level and temporal filtering to provide optimal settings for various presets, especially for latency-tolerant encoding. It fixes the number of B-frames to five and disables adaptive I and B-frames, using a fixed GOP structure.

Getting Started with Video Codec SDK 12.2

The Video Codec SDK 12.2 offers significant improvements in video encoding quality for HEVC, with new features designed to reduce bit rates and enhance overall performance. Users can download Video Codec SDK 12.2 to get started and join discussions in the NVIDIA Developer forums. For more insights into the new capabilities, see the NVIDIA Technical Blog.

Comparison of Key Features

Feature	Description	Benefits
Lookahead Level	Increases lookahead analysis to optimize coding efficiency.	Better bit allocation across frames.
Temporal Filtering	Filters out noise to improve compression efficiency.	Reduces bit rate required for encoding natural video content.
Higher Bit-Depth Encoding	Encodes 8-bit content as 10-bit.	Improves correlation and results in better compression.
Unidirectional B-Frames	Predicts from past frames only.	Useful for low-latency encoding scenarios.
UHQ Tuning Info	Combines lookahead level and temporal filtering for optimal settings.	Provides best quality for latency-tolerant use cases.

Conclusion

NVIDIA’s Video Codec SDK 12.2 brings significant improvements to video encoding quality for HEVC, introducing new features like lookahead level, temporal filtering, higher bit-depth encoding, unidirectional B-frames, and ultra-high quality (UHQ) tuning info. These enhancements aim to reduce bit rates and enhance overall performance, particularly for natural video content. By leveraging these features, developers can achieve better video quality and efficiency in their applications.