Of itu-t sg16 wp3 and iso/iec jtc1/SC29/WG11

3Project development, status, and guidance

3.1Communication to and by parent bodies

Additional inputs to the parent body level were noted to include MPEG docs m27696 (FRNB), m28030 (SENB), m28095 (ITNB) expressing positive support for the Main 10 profile, which is already in the HEVC draft text and thus did not need review by JCT-VC.

CANNB comments on HEVC

(Note: The document number JCTVC-L0409 was a duplicate, and another doc appeared under this number later – refer to MPEG doc m28033 for the CANNB doc).

This contribution indicates satisfaction with the specification of the Main 10 profile, and requests not to plan to create another 10 bit 4:2:0 profile in the absence of strong justification. No action was needed on this, as our plans are already in accord with the advocated statements.

This contribution requests a 6-month longer timeline for RExt development (i.e. completion in June 2014 rather than January 2014), in consideration of the inclusion of specification of the Main 10 profile in version 1 which can fulfil some of the short-term needs that were envisioned when the RExt schedule was established. This would not affect the ITU-T approval schedule unless an interim WP3/16 meeting is held between SG16 meetings. This may be a matter primarily for the parent bodies to consider.

See also notes on ballot comments.

JCTVC-L0415 UKNB Comment on Main 10 Profile of HEVC [UK National Body] [late]

This contribution supports the specification of the Main 10 profile. No action needed, since we already plan to specify this profile.

WG 11 NB ballot comments noted

Regarding support in Main 10 profile for unequal bit depths for luma and chroma – mixed opinions were expressed. No action (allow unequal bit depths).

Regarding profile_idc, see notes under L0363.

Regarding the request to split the SEI message specification into a separate standard, the concerns expressed by the contributor were adequately addressed by the other actions taken, including in-line specification rather than referencing of AVC and the review of which aspects of SEI messages would be included.

Regarding the request to express Main Still Picture using a compatibility flag rather than profile_idc (see also L0363), a 10 bit still image profile has not been specified (in this version of the standard). A future such profile may be likely to include other incompatible aspects, such as 4:4:4 support. No action was therefore deemed necessary.
JCTVC-L0451 Request for developing a lossless coding profile for graphics and text with motion [H. Yu, R. Cohen, A. Luthra, T. Lin, P. Topiwala, E. Francois, W. Wan, D. Hoang, A. Segall, Y. Chiu, M. Budagavi] [late]

As a profile development proposal, this document is primarily a parent-body matter. It was presented in a joint meeting with MPEG Requirements (Monday 21 15:00-17:00) with future study planned to flesh out the application requirements to clarify what may be needed.

JCTVC-L0456 AHG4: Use cases and requirements for HEVC for Joint Still and Moving Pictures [D. Nicholson (Vitec)] [late]

This contribution originated from MPEG AHG requirements discussions and was a late document registered and uploaded on last day of JCT-VC meeting. It was a Powerpoint presentation discussing use cases in which the use of both still and moving picture. It was not discussed in depth in JCT-VC.

3.2Conformance test set development

JCTVC-L0157 Editor's proposed draft HEVC conformance spec [T. Suzuki, G. Sullivan, W. Wan]

This document is a proposed draft 2 of conformance test of HEVC from the editors.

It was ntoed that we need to identify the Level for the bitstreams. We need more 10 bit bitstreams and Still Picture bitstreams. It was suggested to have a software tool to produce/extract Still Picture bitstreams from Main profile bitstreams.

MD5 checksums for both the decoded pictures and the bitstreams were agree to be necessary.

JCTVC-L0158 Guideline to generate conformance bitstreams [T. Suzuki (Sony), W. Wan (Broadcom)] [late]

This document summarizes guidelines to prepare conformance bitstreams for HEVC.

The e-mail reflector [[e-mail]] is used. To receive email, please subscribe to the e-mail reflector: http://mailman.rwth-aachen.de/mailman/listinfo/jct-vc. For e-mail exchange, it is recommended to put [AHG5] in the subject line for easy grouping.

The ftp site at ITU-T is used to exchange bitstreams. The ftp site for downloading bitstreams is,

ftp://ftp3.itu.ch/jctvc-site/bitstream_exchange/

The spreadsheet to summarize the status of bitstream exchange, conformance bitstream generation is available at this directory. It includes the list of bitstreams, codec features and settings, and status of verification.

The ftp site for uploading bitstream file is as follows: ftp://ftp3.itu.ch/jctvc-site/dropbox/ (user id: avguest)

Once a bitstream is uploaded to the dropbox, send an email to [e-mail] or [e-mail]. Then it will be moved to the downloading area of the ftp site.

Volunteers should upload the bitstream, short description, trace file, decoded image, md5 checksum in a zip archive. All files inside the zip archive should have the same base name. Only the extension is changed in the following way:

• 
  *.bit - bitstream (mandatory)
  
• 
  *.txt - description (mandatory)
  
• 
  *_yuv.md5 - MD5 check sum of the complete decoded yuv file (mandatory)
  
• 
  *.md5 – MD5 check sum of the bitstream file (mandatory)
  
• 
  *.trc - tace file (optional)
  
• 
  *.yuv - decoded image (optional)
  
• 
  Checksum SEI in a bitstream: (optional)
  

Note: Trace file is useful for debugging and it is recommend to include short trace file. Full trace is optional. MD5 checksum of a decoded yuv file (for entire frames), MD5 of a bistream file are mandatory and must be included in the zip file. Since file size becomes large, inclusion of yuv file is not recommended.

In a short bitstream description, the following information should be provided.

• 
  Bitstream file name
  
• 
  Conformance point (HM9.1, HM10.1, etc)
  
• 
  Explanation of bitstream features
  
• 
  Minimum level of this bitstream (or picture size)
  
• 
  Frame rate
  
• 
  Picture size and frame rate is necessary to check HRD conformance of the bitstreams.
  

The following naming convention should be used: FeatureCode_BistreamID_Source_VersionLetter (FeatureCode is summarized in Sec. 2 of the report).

For example, if an archive is named "feature_A_companyA_1.zip", the files would be named

• 
  feature_A_companyA_1.bit
  
• 
  feature_A_companyA_1.txt
  
• 
  feature_A_companyA_1.trc
  
• 
  feature_A_companyA_1.md5
  
• 
  feature_A_companyA_1.yuv
  

The uploaded bitstreams should be verified by at least two organizations. The following aspects should be verified.

• 
  Confirm if bitstream is decoded with perfect match
  
• 
  Confirm if all intended features are included in the bitstream
  

The features of bitstreams and its verification status will be summarized in Excel spreadsheet. This is available at the “bitstream exchange” directory at the ftp site.

The text for each bitstream specification text for conformance spec must be provided by the volunteer. The latest version of the conformance specification is available at the “bitstream exchange” directory at the ftp site. An example of the text is as follows. Similar description for each bitstream should be provided.

"Test bitstreams #IPRED_A, IPRED_B, IPRED_C

Specification: All slices are coded as I slices. Each picture contains one slice. All intra prediction modes (35 modes for each of luma 32x32, luma 16x16, luma 8x8, luma 4x4, chroma 16x16, chroma 8x8 and chroma 4x4 for a total 245 modes) are used.

Functional stage: Test the reconstruction process of I slice.

Purpose: Check that decoder can properly decode I slices with all intra prediction modes."

To generate bitstreams, only the test sequences allowed for this purpose must be used.

(Note: need to check if all CTC test sequences are OK to use for this purpose)

The schedule to prepare conformance bitstreams is as follows.

• 
  Collect missing descriptions and information of bitsretams.
  
• 
  Verify all bitstreams at the ftp site are correct.
  
• 
  Release the conformance draft by March 22.
  
• 
  When HM10 is released, start to revise all bitstreams based on the final specification of HEVC.
  
• 
  The revised bitstreams should be ready by the 13rd JCT-VC meeting (April, 2013).
  

Volunteers and planned bitstreams were listed.