Tag: h.265 h.264

Recording standards H.265 and H.264 (MPEG4)

Recording standards H.265 and H.264 (MPEG4)

H.264 H.265

Compression standards for video have been around since the advent of the IP Internet Protocol and are used in a variety of areas, from Internet video conferencing and broadband communications networks to digital TV, video surveillance, and mobile IP networks.

H265/HEVC - what you need to know - Createinmotion

At the moment, the most widespread and popular digital video encoding format is H.264, but manufacturers and consumers are paying more and more attention to the H.265 or HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) compression standard. Let’s take a look at its advantages and disadvantages.

H.264 and H.265 compression standards

What is the advantage of H.265?

The H.265 compression format uses only half the bit rate of the H.264 format, which means that you can transfer more information over the same bandwidth and reduce the cost of hardware “hardware”.

But despite this clear advantage, the H.265 format is still far from mainstream adoption. Can you do anything with the H.264 format so far? In fact, taking into account the growth of modern technologies and the popularity of video content, the bandwidth requirements of the channel and the amount of data stored are also growing.

The popular H.264 codec now doesn’t stand still, and its bitrate is optimized in three ways: predictive encoding, noise suppression, and “long-term” bitrate control. As a result, we managed to reduce the occupied video memory by up to 75%, which means that the H.264 codec will compete with the new H.265 codec for a long time.

H.265 Complexities

Since the H.264 codec is being finalized and has been used for a long time, manufacturers are in no rush to invest in equipment modernization. And according to the results of tests of the Н.265 codec by various teams, the conclusions turned out to be ambiguous. In a real comparison, the codecs did not differ much in the size of the video stream. But many gamers had trouble playing the new codec. The difference in video quality was noticeable only at the minimum setting (200 kbps). The H.265 image turned out to be more detailed, which can be useful in video surveillance to recognize license plates at the entrance.

An additional difficulty in the implementation of the H.265 codec is the higher cost of the patent, which means that the cost of the final product will also increase for the consumer, not everyone is ready for this. Modern video equipment is constantly evolving, the quality of the video signal is improving, and the cost of components is increasing.

Enhanced H.264 codec

Another reason for postponing H.265 was the introduction of optimized H.264 encoding technologies by popular manufacturers, using various modern technologies.

Optimized H.264 Technologies

Optimized H.264 technologies use predictive coding to reduce the bit rate spent on an unchanging background image.

Predictive coding

In a simplified version, this encoding is explained in the image. The static background is separated from moving objects and simplified, the bit rate is significantly reduced, the optimized encoding reduces the volume of video transmission.

H.264 + technology

Hikvision has developed a next-generation H.264 + compression standard. The video camera detects the moving parts of the frame and encodes them with higher bit rate content; less bit rate is assigned to static parts. In addition, the standard H.264 / AVC codec is used, with which you can view and store videos on compatible devices. The only thing is, H.264 + can’t add or subtract keyframes automatically.

Noise reduction

H.264 encoding can effectively suppress various noises that occur during signal recording and transmission. This could be unwanted electrical signals, blurry pixels caused by fluctuations in light, temperature, or other external interference. By intelligently coding foreground objects, the image becomes sharper and more accurate in color.

So is H.264 encoding better than H.265?

With the above in mind, let’s draw conclusions: H.264 encoding offers nothing less than the offerings of the H.265 standard. Also, H.264 is compatible with all existing systems, is more common, and costs less.

As a result, the H.265 standard offers up to a 50% advantage in video streaming compression: you will save on hard drive size or increase drive life.

Which video codec to choose? H264 or H265?

When we finish editing our issues in our editing software, the first hurdle we face (due to lack of hard disk space …) is often the format in which we decided to export our video. Digital or physical. We are faced with a list of video codec names that are sometimes difficult to enter. And which many amateur cameramen are also afraid of.

h.264 h.265

Which internet user has never searched for a codec or codec package to play a video. And if not, at best you only heard the sound … As I wrote in another article, the video codec mainly depends on the medium in which your video is broadcast. In fact, it is not as simple as the photo, which is often enough to export in jpeg or other format so it can be seen everywhere. Video has this major drawback, which is choosing the right codec based on the streaming platform.

H.264 VS H.265

The concept of containers and codecs.

To illustrate what a container and a codec are, imagine a jar (the container) that contains letters (the codec). The video player that will “decode” this file can be compared to a person who has the key to the pot. And who will put the letters together to make words and then make meaningful sentences? In fact, the container is the file that can be related to a box or jar where the video codec, audio codec and sometimes even the subtitle file are found. If you have a video in .avi or .mp4 or .mov or even .mkv, the container will end after the period. What videographers also call ‘video format’.

For example, for .mp4, the container is MP4. So far so good. And so in this container there can be Mpeg4, H264 or x264 which are video codecs.

Accompanied by the audio track which can be in mp3, AC3 or AAC, but we’ll return to the audio codecs in another article. And since we don’t like doing things in the video, these video codecs can also be found in other containers …

Yes, otherwise it would be too easy.

So the biggest concern in the video is this famous lack of compatibility that ALL multimedia platforms have. Play a video file if no codec package is installed yet. In fact, every codec has affinity with this or that manufacturer (Windows, Apple, etc.).

About H265 (HEVC)

Let’s be clear, this is tomorrow’s codec, which will replace the H264 very soon. Why ? One is made for UHD (4K) but also for 8K (Super Ultra HD?). It also supports HDR, which the H264 does not. And two because it offers a more optimized encryption algorithm than H264. This allows you to deliver as beautiful, if not more beautiful and more detailed, H264 image quality to a file with almost the same bit rate … but with two obvious advantages: size and quality!

Example: for a 2 hour movie in Full HD encoded with 6 Mbs in H264, you get a file of about 8-9 GB, while with the H265 codec you are at a lower bit rate (for example 5 Mbs) a file of 5 GB with the same image quality or even better! A bit rate of 10 Mbs in H265 is enough to get high quality 4K video. You will understand that the algorithm is completely different from H264. It allows streaming services to deliver 4K content without needing too much bandwidth.

But all this comes at a price …

The disadvantage of H.265 is that it consumes a lot of resources when encoding. You need a very good computer configuration to edit or export with this codec. The algorithm requires a lot of processor resources.

Another detail, it is compatible with YouTube. That was not the case before.