[x264-devel] MSU MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Video Codec Comparison 2012

[Dmitriy Vatolin]

Dear H.264 Codecs Developers,

Moscow State University Graphics & Multimedia Laboratory
starts next eighth annual H.264 video codecs comparison.

New this year features:
----------------------------
*GPU codecs will be analyzed: Nvidia, AMD, and Ivy Bridge based 
encoders. 

This year we want to make GPU-encoders analysis more 
interesting and complex. For this analysis we plan to use top GPUs,
 e.g. Nvidia and AMD and also to analyze Intel Ivy Bridge (Intel HD 
Graphics 4000) based encoder. Developers can send us 
GPU-accelerated or GPU-based encoder with or without CPU-based 
encoder!

*We plan to include new codecs that did not participate in previous 
comparison by choosing presets for them ourself. 

For that task we will use option analysis. So we will be glad to 
have a direct contact with codec developers. The main benefit of 
direct participation for developers is that developer could help us 
to choose correct settings for better results and additionally 
developers receive Enterprise version of comparison free of charge.

*Videoconference encoding analysis will be more complex comparing 
to previous comparison.

*New video sequences including professional video sequences for 
video codec analysis

Important Dates
---------------

February, 17 - Deadline for receipt of a H.264 codec with required 
presets
February, 28 - Deadline for settling technical problems with codec's 
functioning
April, 24 - Draft version of report that will be sent to all 
participants
May, 5 - Deadline for reception of comments to the draft
May, 15 - Comparison report release


The full text of Call for Codecs is available at
http://compression.ru/video/codec_comparison/call_for_codecs_12.html

Variants of Participation
-------------------------

There are two variants for companies to participate in our comparison:


1. Participation for free. All results of your codec will be 
   published, except special cases of measurements 
   problems due to codec instability.

2. Private participation. A special report will be prepared only
   for your  company. This report contains:
   * Your codec results and all material from the free version
   * Special additional analysis of your codec

   If you are interested in the private participation, 
   please contact us  for details.


Useful Links
------------

* Call for codecs-2012
  http://compression.ru/video/codec_comparison/call_for_codecs_12.html

* Seventh Annual MSU MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Video Codec Comparison
  http://www.compression.ru/video/codec_comparison/h264_2011

* Options Analysis of MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Codec x264
  http://compression.ru/video/codec_comparison/x264_options_analysis_08_en.html

-- 
Best regards,
 Dmitriy Vatolin  
  Ph.D, Head of Video Group                        
   mailto:dmitriy at graphics.cs.msu.ru