1 =============================================
2 Snow Video Codec Specification Draft 20080110
3 =============================================
7 This specification describes the Snow bitstream syntax and semantics as
8 well as the formal Snow decoding process.
10 The decoding process is described precisely and any compliant decoder
11 MUST produce the exact same output for a spec-conformant Snow stream.
12 For encoding, though, any process which generates a stream compliant to
13 the syntactical and semantic requirements and which is decodable by
14 the process described in this spec shall be considered a conformant
20 MUST the specific part must be done to conform to this standard
21 SHOULD it is recommended to be done that way, but not strictly required
23 ilog2(x) is the rounded down logarithm of x with basis 2
30 u unsigned scalar value range coded
31 s signed scalar value range coded
44 if(keyframe || always_reset)
47 version u header_state
48 always_reset b header_state
49 temporal_decomposition_type u header_state
50 temporal_decomposition_count u header_state
51 spatial_decomposition_count u header_state
52 colorspace_type u header_state
54 chroma_h_shift u header_state
55 chroma_v_shift u header_state
57 spatial_scalability b header_state
58 max_ref_frames-1 u header_state
62 update_mc b header_state
64 for(plane=0; plane<nb_plane_types; plane++){
65 diag_mc b header_state
66 htaps/2-1 u header_state
67 for(i= p->htaps/2; i; i--)
68 |hcoeff[i]| u header_state
71 update_qlogs b header_state
73 spatial_decomposition_count u header_state
78 spatial_decomposition_type s header_state
80 mv_scale s header_state
82 block_max_depth s header_state
85 for(plane=0; plane<nb_plane_types; plane++){
86 quant_table[plane][0][0] s header_state
87 for(level=0; level < spatial_decomposition_count; level++){
88 quant_table[plane][level][1]s header_state
89 quant_table[plane][level][3]s header_state
97 for(y=0; y<block_count_vertical; y++)
98 for(x=0; x<block_count_horizontal; x++)
102 mvx_diff=mvy_diff=y_diff=cb_diff=cr_diff=0
106 if(level!=max_block_depth){
107 s_context= 2*left->level + 2*top->level + topleft->level + topright->level
108 leaf b block_state[4 + s_context]
110 if(level==max_block_depth || leaf){
111 intra b block_state[1 + left->intra + top->intra]
113 y_diff s block_state[32]
114 cb_diff s block_state[64]
115 cr_diff s block_state[96]
117 ref_context= ilog2(2*left->ref) + ilog2(2*top->ref)
119 ref u block_state[128 + 1024 + 32*ref_context]
120 mx_context= ilog2(2*abs(left->mx - top->mx))
121 my_context= ilog2(2*abs(left->my - top->my))
122 mvx_diff s block_state[128 + 32*(mx_context + 16*!!ref)]
123 mvy_diff s block_state[128 + 32*(my_context + 16*!!ref)]
142 for(level=0; level<spatial_decomposition_count; level++){
153 nb_plane_types = gray ? 1 : 2;
160 this MUST NOT change within a bitstream
163 if 1 then the range coder contexts will be reset after each frame
165 temporal_decomposition_type
168 temporal_decomposition_count
171 spatial_decomposition_count
180 this MUST NOT change within a bitstream
183 log2(luma.width / chroma.width)
184 this MUST NOT change within a bitstream
187 log2(luma.height / chroma.height)
188 this MUST NOT change within a bitstream
194 maximum number of reference frames
195 this MUST NOT change within a bitstream
198 indicates that motion compensation filter parameters are stored in the
202 flag to enable faster diagonal interpolation
203 this SHOULD be 1 unless it turns out to be covered by a valid patent
206 number of half pel interpolation filter taps, MUST be even, >0 and <10
209 half pel interpolation filter coefficients, hcoeff[0] are the 2 middle
210 coefficients [1] are the next outer ones and so on, resulting in a filter
211 like: ...eff[2], hcoeff[1], hcoeff[0], hcoeff[0], hcoeff[1], hcoeff[2] ...
212 the sign of the coefficients is not explicitly stored but alternates
213 after each coeff and coeff[0] is positive, so ...,+,-,+,-,+,+,-,+,-,+,...
214 hcoeff[0] is not explicitly stored but found by subtracting the sum
215 of all stored coefficients with signs from 32
216 hcoeff[0]= 32 - hcoeff[1] - hcoeff[2] - ...
217 a good choice for hcoeff and htaps is
220 an alternative which requires more computations at both encoder and
221 decoder side and may or may not be better is
227 minimum of the number of available reference frames and max_ref_frames
228 for example the first frame after a key frame always has ref_frames=1
230 spatial_decomposition_type
232 0 is a 9/7 symmetric compact integer wavelet
233 1 is a 5/3 symmetric compact integer wavelet
235 stored as delta from last, last is reset to 0 if always_reset || keyframe
238 quality (logarthmic quantizer scale)
239 stored as delta from last, last is reset to 0 if always_reset || keyframe
242 stored as delta from last, last is reset to 0 if always_reset || keyframe
243 FIXME check that everything works fine if this changes between frames
247 stored as delta from last, last is reset to 0 if always_reset || keyframe
250 maximum depth of the block tree
251 stored as delta from last, last is reset to 0 if always_reset || keyframe
257 Highlevel bitstream structure:
258 =============================
259 --------------------------------------------
261 --------------------------------------------
262 | ------------------------------------ |
266 | | ......... intra? | |
267 | | : Block01 : yes no | |
268 | | : Block02 : ....... .......... | |
269 | | : Block03 : : y DC : : ref index: | |
270 | | : Block04 : : cb DC : : motion x : | |
271 | | ......... : cr DC : : motion y : | |
272 | | ....... .......... | |
273 | ------------------------------------ |
274 | ------------------------------------ |
277 --------------------------------------------
278 | ------------ ------------ ------------ |
279 || Y subbands | | Cb subbands| | Cr subbands||
280 || --- --- | | --- --- | | --- --- ||
281 || |LL0||HL0| | | |LL0||HL0| | | |LL0||HL0| ||
282 || --- --- | | --- --- | | --- --- ||
283 || --- --- | | --- --- | | --- --- ||
284 || |LH0||HH0| | | |LH0||HH0| | | |LH0||HH0| ||
285 || --- --- | | --- --- | | --- --- ||
286 || --- --- | | --- --- | | --- --- ||
287 || |HL1||LH1| | | |HL1||LH1| | | |HL1||LH1| ||
288 || --- --- | | --- --- | | --- --- ||
289 || --- --- | | --- --- | | --- --- ||
290 || |HH1||HL2| | | |HH1||HL2| | | |HH1||HL2| ||
291 || ... | | ... | | ... ||
292 | ------------ ------------ ------------ |
293 --------------------------------------------
304 | | LL0 subband prediction
307 ------------------- \ |
308 | Reference frames | \ IDWT
309 | ------- ------- | Motion \ |
310 ||Frame 0| |Frame 1|| Compensation . OBMC v -------
311 | ------- ------- | --------------. \------> + --->|Frame n|-->output
312 | ------- ------- | -------
313 ||Frame 2| |Frame 3||<----------------------------------/
323 The implemented range coder is an adapted version based upon "Range encoding:
324 an algorithm for removing redundancy from a digitised message." by G. N. N.
326 The symbols encoded by the Snow range coder are bits (0|1). The
327 associated probabilities are not fix but change depending on the symbol mix
332 ---------+-----------------------------------------------
333 0 | 256 - state_transition_table[256 - old_state];
334 1 | state_transition_table[ old_state];
336 state_transition_table = {
337 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27,
338 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42,
339 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 56, 57,
340 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73,
341 74, 75, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88,
342 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103,
343 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118,
344 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 133,
345 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149,
346 150, 151, 152, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164,
347 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179,
348 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 190, 191, 192, 194, 194,
349 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 202, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 209,
350 210, 211, 212, 213, 215, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 220, 222, 223, 224, 225,
351 226, 227, 227, 229, 229, 230, 231, 232, 234, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240,
352 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 248, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0};
357 Range Coding of integers:
358 -------------------------
364 left and top are set to the respective blocks unless they are outside of
365 the image in which case they are set to the Null block
367 top-left is set to the top left block unless it is outside of the image in
368 which case it is set to the left block
370 if this block has no larger parent block or it is at the left side of its
371 parent block and the top right block is not outside of the image then the
372 top right block is used for top-right else the top-left block is used
376 level, ref, mx and my are 0
379 Motion Vector Prediction:
380 =========================
381 1. the motion vectors of all the neighboring blocks are scaled to
382 compensate for the difference of reference frames
384 scaled_mv= (mv * (256 * (current_reference+1) / (mv.reference+1)) + 128)>>8
386 2. the median of the scaled left, top and top-right vectors is used as
387 motion vector prediction
389 3. the used motion vector is the sum of the predictor and
390 (mvx_diff, mvy_diff)*mv_scale
394 ======================
395 the luma and chroma values of the left block are used as predictors
397 the used luma and chroma is the sum of the predictor and y_diff, cb_diff, cr_diff
398 to reverse this in the decoder apply the following:
399 block[y][x].dc[0] = block[y][x-1].dc[0] + y_diff;
400 block[y][x].dc[1] = block[y][x-1].dc[1] + cb_diff;
401 block[y][x].dc[2] = block[y][x-1].dc[2] + cr_diff;
402 block[*][-1].dc[*]= 128;
408 Halfpel interpolation:
409 ----------------------
410 halfpel interpolation is done by convolution with the halfpel filter stored
413 horizontal halfpel samples are found by
414 H1[y][x] = hcoeff[0]*(F[y][x ] + F[y][x+1])
415 + hcoeff[1]*(F[y][x-1] + F[y][x+2])
416 + hcoeff[2]*(F[y][x-2] + F[y][x+3])
418 h1[y][x] = (H1[y][x] + 32)>>6;
420 vertical halfpel samples are found by
421 H2[y][x] = hcoeff[0]*(F[y ][x] + F[y+1][x])
422 + hcoeff[1]*(F[y-1][x] + F[y+2][x])
424 h2[y][x] = (H2[y][x] + 32)>>6;
426 vertical+horizontal halfpel samples are found by
427 H3[y][x] = hcoeff[0]*(H2[y][x ] + H2[y][x+1])
428 + hcoeff[1]*(H2[y][x-1] + H2[y][x+2])
430 H3[y][x] = hcoeff[0]*(H1[y ][x] + H1[y+1][x])
431 + hcoeff[1]*(H1[y+1][x] + H1[y+2][x])
433 h3[y][x] = (H3[y][x] + 2048)>>12;
444 F-------F-------F-> H1<-F-------F-------F
448 F-------F-------F-> H1<-F-------F-------F
459 unavailable fullpel samples (outside the picture for example) shall be equal
460 to the closest available fullpel sample
463 Smaller pel interpolation:
464 --------------------------
465 if diag_mc is set then points which lie on a line between 2 vertically,
466 horiziontally or diagonally adjacent halfpel points shall be interpolated
467 linearls with rounding to nearest and halfway values rounded up.
468 points which lie on 2 diagonals at the same time should only use the one
469 diagonal not containing the fullpel point
473 F-->O---q---O<--h1->O---q---O<--F
481 h2-->O---q---O<--h3->O---q---O<--h2
489 F-->O---q---O<--h1->O---q---O<--F
493 the remaining points shall be bilinearly interpolated from the
494 up to 4 surrounding halfpel and fullpel points, again rounding should be to
495 nearest and halfway values rounded up
497 compliant Snow decoders MUST support 1-1/8 pel luma and 1/2-1/16 pel chroma
498 interpolation at least
501 Overlapped block motion compensation:
502 -------------------------------------
507 Each sample in the LL0 subband is predicted by the median of the left, top and
508 left+top-topleft samples, samples outside the subband shall be considered to
509 be 0. To reverse this prediction in the decoder apply the following.
510 for(y=0; y<height; y++){
511 for(x=0; x<width; x++){
512 sample[y][x] += median(sample[y-1][x],
514 sample[y-1][x]+sample[y][x-1]-sample[y-1][x-1]);
517 sample[-1][*]=sample[*][-1]= 0;
518 width,height here are the width and height of the LL0 subband not of the final
529 Snow supports 2 wavelet transforms, the symmetric biorthogonal 5/3 integer
530 transform and an integer approximation of the symmetric biorthogonal 9/7
533 2D IDWT (inverse discrete wavelet transform)
534 --------------------------------------------
535 The 2D IDWT applies a 2D filter recursively, each time combining the
536 4 lowest frequency subbands into a single subband until only 1 subband
538 The 2D filter is done by first applying a 1D filter in the vertical direction
539 and then applying it in the horizontal one.
540 --------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
541 |LL0|HL0| | | | | | | | | | | |
542 |---+---| HL1 | | L0|H0 | HL1 | | LL1 | HL1 | | | |
543 |LH0|HH0| | | | | | | | | | | |
544 |-------+-------|->|-------+-------|->|-------+-------|->| L1 | H1 |->...
545 | | | | | | | | | | | |
546 | LH1 | HH1 | | LH1 | HH1 | | LH1 | HH1 | | | |
547 | | | | | | | | | | | |
548 --------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
553 1. interleave the samples of the low and high frequency subbands like
554 s={L0, H0, L1, H1, L2, H2, L3, H3, ... }
555 note, this can end with a L or a H, the number of elements shall be w
556 s[-1] shall be considered equivalent to s[1 ]
557 s[w ] shall be considered equivalent to s[w-2]
559 2. perform the lifting steps in order as described below
562 1. s[i] -= (s[i-1] + s[i+1] + 2)>>2; for all even i < w
563 2. s[i] += (s[i-1] + s[i+1] )>>1; for all odd i < w
565 \ | /|\ | /|\ | /|\ | /|\
566 \|/ | \|/ | \|/ | \|/ |
568 /|\ | /|\ | /|\ | /|\ |
569 / | \|/ | \|/ | \|/ | \|/
573 Snow's 9/7 Integer filter:
574 1. s[i] -= (3*(s[i-1] + s[i+1]) + 4)>>3; for all even i < w
575 2. s[i] -= s[i-1] + s[i+1] ; for all odd i < w
576 3. s[i] += ( s[i-1] + s[i+1] + 4*s[i] + 8)>>4; for all even i < w
577 4. s[i] += (3*(s[i-1] + s[i+1]) )>>1; for all odd i < w
579 \ | /|\ | /|\ | /|\ | /|\
580 \|/ | \|/ | \|/ | \|/ |
582 /|\ | /|\ | /|\ | /|\ |
583 / | \|/ | \|/ | \|/ | \|/
584 (| + (| + (| + (| + -1
585 \ + /|\ + /|\ + /|\ + /|\ +1/4
586 \|/ | \|/ | \|/ | \|/ |
587 + | + | + | + | +1/16
588 /|\ | /|\ | /|\ | /|\ |
589 / | \|/ | \|/ | \|/ | \|/
593 following are exactly identical
594 (3a)>>1 == a + (a>>1)
595 (a + 4b + 8)>>4 == ((a>>2) + b + 2)>>2
597 16bit implementation note:
598 The IDWT can be implemented with 16bits, but this requires some care to
599 prevent overflows, the following list, lists the minimum number of bits needed
602 A= s[i-1] + s[i+1] 16bit
607 s[i-1] + s[i+1] 17bit
610 3*(s[i-1] + s[i+1]) 17bit
616 finetune initial contexts
618 try to use the wavelet transformed predicted image (motion compensated image) as context for coding the residual coefficients
619 try the MV length as context for coding the residual coefficients
620 use extradata for stuff which is in the keyframes now?
621 implement per picture halfpel interpolation
622 try different range coder state transition tables for different contexts
625 compare the 6 tap and 8 tap hpel filters (psnr/bitrate and subjective quality)
626 spatial_scalability b vs u (!= 0 breaks syntax anyway so we can add a u later)
637 GPL + GFDL + whatever is needed to make this a RFC