H.264 rate-distortion analysis using subjective quality metric

Abstract

In this paper we provide an analysis of rate-distortion (R-D) relationship in an H.264 codec using as quality metric Structural Similarly Information (SSIM). This study focus on the quantization parameter, namely rate-quantization (R-Q) functions and distortion-quantization (D-Q) functions. Together, these functions allow a better understanding of the rate-distortion (R-D) behaviour of an H.264 video codec, which is the key issue of optimum bit allocation. Initial results are presented and discussed. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.