EBU and ITU evaluate replacement for H.264

The EBU has teamed up with the ITU and other bodies to evaluate technologies submitted as part of a plan to develop a new high-efficiency video codec (HVC) to replace the now industry standard H.264.

The EBU, together with the technical group ITU-T VCEG (video coding experts group), has formed a joint collaborative team to conduct standardisation work for HVC. EBU Technical, together with the the EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) and FUB (Fondation Ugo Bordoni) will conduct the subjective quality evaluations for the different technologies submitted.

The HVC is expected to deliver significant bandwidth gains over H.264, supporting coding of video with a resolution ranging from QVGA to ultra high-definition 8K video. EBU Technical will evaluate currently used HDTV formats 1080p and 720p that are more relevant to its membership base.