Tuesday, February 12, 2013

HEVC/H.265 Bistream Analysis Tools

Currently in markets, there are few good HEVC/H.265 data analysis tools for developers, such as Vega HEVC,  Elecard HEVC Analyzer, Parabola Explorer,Zond 265, CodecVisa, and HevcVisa Cloud.

Vega HEVC

Similar to Vega H.264 analysis tool which has been very useful to H.264 developers, Vega HEVC is a HEVC/H.265 visual file-based media analyzer. It features includes complete parsing and decoding, frame by frame navigation, analytical graphs, H.264 and HEVC encoding comparison, powerful reporting, and error messages at all structural levels.

It features
  • Comprehensive, easy to navigate visuals with intuitive information display - High level Picture information down to thumbnail structure
  • Summary information for all levels at a single click - Stream summary, sequence summary, NAL Summary, Picture Summary, and more
  • Analytical graphs to provide bird eye view of the complete stream: Frame distribution, NAL distribution, Compression Ratio, QP, DPB Occupancy, Ratio of coding unit data, Prediction data, Transform data
  • HEVC and H.264 encoding comparison - Bit rate, QP data, Buffer occupancy, Motion vectors, and more
  • Error messages at all levels - NAL, SPS, PPS, APS, CU, TU, PU - to enable accurate examination of standard violation
  • Overlay of picture with CU, TU and PU partitions
  • CTB View that displays splitting of CU, PU and TU blocks
  • Powerful reporting feature - Save reports, Distribute reports
  • Utilities for continued assurance of compliance and interoperability - Buffer analysis, Trace viewer, YUV viewer
  • Efficient and high-performance analysis – Multi-core support, Fast Analysis, Partial analysis

Elecard HEVC Analyzer

Elecard HEVC Analyzer is based HM9.2. It provides display of information includes frames types and sizes, coded units data, visualization of slice and tile boundaries, partition, motion vectors, types, bit sizes, quantizers etc along with a quick-to-capture summary of encoded data against the reference raw data. It costs $844.00.


The features include
  • Display of  decoded, predicted and unfiltered frame data (YUV and single plane)
  • Display of SPS, PPS and APS slice headers with offsets and bit size indication
  • Display of reference frames
  • Display of Coded Unit data: position, dimension, size, type
  • Visualization of slice and tile boundaries, partition, motion vectors, types, bit sizes, quantizers
  • Navigation via chart bar or thumbnails
  • Navigation in stream, display, I, P, B, IP and key frames mode
  • Hex viewer
  • Viewing of reference raw data
  • Metrics calculation
  • Visual comparison against reference raw data: subtraction, compare, block PSNR modes
Parabola Explorer

Parabola Explorer Demo

It is a HEVC Bitstream Analyzer and fearures

  • Multi-faceted analysis and visualisation of video bitstream characteristics from inter-picture relationships down to individual bits and CABAC bins 
  • Video frame display with zoom and pan facility to examine key decode pipeline stages: predicted, reconstructed and final output 
  • Select from a multitude of informative picture overlays 
  • Temporal and spatial bit allocation graphics with more detailed statistics available 
  • Visualise entire codec state including headers, DPB and CABAC context variables at any point during the parsing and decoding processes 
  • Syntax and semantics terminology entirely consistent with HEVC specification text 
  • Multithreaded / multi-process architecture optimized for multi-core processors  
Zond 265

screen01.jpg

Zond 265 is the tool for the visual in-depth analyzing of HEVC/H.265 video bitstreams. It Features
  • Convenient frame-by-frame navigation based on the frame bars in decoding or the display order
  • Frames size histogram and color highlighting of different kinds of frames (I, B, P). Marking of reference frames for the current picture
  • Easy-to-use visual presentation of data from all levels of a video stream and decoding stages
  • All headers with content. Headers sizes and offsets within a stream
  • Highlighting of slice and related headers (SPS, PPS, etc.) that belong to a current frame
  • Pixels to be predicted, reconstructed, after deblocking and adaptive loop filtration 
  • Coding units (CU): coordinates, dimension, and bit-size. Color highlighting different types of CUs (Inter, Intra)
  • Prediction units (PU). A spatial prediction mode of intra PU luma and chroma components. Inter PU’s motion vectors, reference lists, reference indexes. 
  • Transform units (TU): dimension and offset within CU. Luma and chroma coefficients before de-quantization. 
  • Overlay a frame with a CU, PU, or TU grid and motion vectors
  • Gathering and visual presentation of bits distribution statistics to be used while encoding CU, PU, and TU data (skip_mb_flag, merge_flag, mvd, cbf_luma, etc.).  
  • Displaying results as a pie chart and table

CodecVisa

H264Visa screenshot

It is an analyzer for H.265/HEVC, H.264/AVC/MVC, GOOGLE VP9/VP8, MPEG2 Video and YUV video codecs. It can analyze H.265/HEVC, H.264/AVC/MVC, GOOGLE VP8/VP9, MPEG2 Video on different formats. Features
  • In depth analysis of H.265/HEVC, H.264/AVC/MVC and GOOGLE VP9/VP8.
  • I/P/B mb insight analysis, including ref list, mb type, intra/inter prediction info, LP filter strength info, etc.
  • MB pixel info and display in all decoding stages including Final, Pre LP-filter, Predicted and Residual data and IDCT Coefficient.
  • Encoding Statistics including encoding rate, average QP, mb bits for each type, etc.
  • Header element tree
  • YUV Component Analysis
  • Info Dump on decoded YUV output/MB info/Header info.
  • MP4/3GP, MPEG2 Transport/Program Stream, FLV, MKV/Webm file formats analysis.
  • Playback on Display and Decoding order.

HevcVisa Cloud

HevcVisa Cloud is the first cloud based HEVC(H.265) video analyzer. Its is free. Its main features includes
  • Easy navigation through frame thumbnails.
  • Detailed analysis of Coding Unit, including location in file, total bits and bits for PU and TU, etc.
  • Detailed analysis of Coding Unit prediction.
  • In-depth picture statistics, including bits distribution, CU type distribution, average CU size etc.
  • Overlay display for Coding Unit structure, type, temperature(bits), motion vectors, as well as slice boundary.
  • Stream and slice headers.
  • Decoded Pixels in each stage: Coefficients, Residual, Predicted, Reconstructed, and Final values.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Semiconductors May Grow 7.5% in 2013

by BillJewell in Semiwiki.com

The world semiconductor market in 2012 was $292 billion – down 2.7% from $300 billion in 2011, according to WSTS. The 2012 decline followed a slight gain of 0.4% in 2011. Fourth quarter 2012 was down 0.3% from third quarter. The first quarter of the 2013 will likely show a decline from 4Q 2012 based on typical seasonal patterns and the revenue guidance of key semiconductor companies.

The semiconductor market forecasts are shown as follows.


See more detail in Semiwiki.com.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

December 2012 U.S. Smartphone Subscriber Market Share

Yesterday comScore reported December 2012 U.S. smartphone subscriber market share data. Apple was the top smartphone manufacturer with 36.3% market share, while Google's Android operating system was the No.1 smartphone platform with 53.4% share. Apple's market share rose 2 % from September to December. Samsung's share was up 2.3 % (from 18.7% to 21%) in the same time period.

Smartphone OEM Market Share

Top Smartphone OEMs
3 Month Avg. Ending Dec. 2012 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Sep. 2012
Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Age 13+
Source: comScore MobiLens
Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
Sep-12Dec-12Point Change
Total Mobile Subscribers100.0%100.0%N/A
Apple34.3%36.3%2.0
Samsung18.7%21.0%2.3
HTC12.0%10.2%-1.8
Motorola9.8%9.1%-0.7
LG6.6%7.1%0.5

Smartphone Platform Market Share

Top Smartphone Platforms
3 Month Avg. Ending Dec. 2012 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Sep. 2012
Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Age 13+
Source: comScore MobiLens
Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
Sep-12Dec-12Point Change
Total Smartphone Subscribers100.0%100.0%N/A
Google52.5%53.4%0.9
Apple34.3%36.3%2.0
Blackberry8.4%6.4%-2.0
Microsoft3.6%2.9%-0.7
Symbian0.6%0.6%0.0

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Samsung Silicon Valley innovation center and "Next Big Thing"

While Samsung has been one of the world's largest consumer electronics company, and has become the leading seller of smartphones, Young Sohn, Samsung's president and chief strategy officer, formally unveiled a new Silicon Valley innovation center (SSIC) and two funds worth $1.1 billion, which are intended to help find the "next big thing" in tech. Initially, the center will focus on big data, cloud infrastructure, mobile privacy, the Internet of Things, human interface, and mobile health, according to LA Times.

Young Sohn, Samsung's chief strategy officer, discusses plans for the company's new Silicon Valley innovation center.

In addition, the SSIC will be a place where entrepreneurs can build partnerships with Samsung's nine product divisions as they seek to develop their own ideas and turn them into products. The center will also be part the company's strategy to expand its mergers and acquisitions activity by identifying companies and technologies that can fill various product gaps.  The innovation centers seem in part meant to address the company's practical needs to tap more innovative ideas, but also to enhance its reputation as a place that innovates.

Later this year, Samsung will host a competition for artists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and other innovators to pitch their best ideas for how to improve lives with technology,  called as "$10-million SamsungCreate Challenge".

Young Sohn started at Samsung in August 2012. He has spent a long career leading several successful Silicon Valley semiconductor and storage companies after founding Intel’s PC chipset business, including Oak Technologies Inc which was acquired by Zoran Corp, then CSR PLC. Samsung bought CSR's wi-fi and bluetooth mobile chip tech last summer.

Friday, February 1, 2013

HEVC / H.265 Approved

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) or H.265 is the current joint video coding standardization project of ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (ITU-T Q.6/SG 16) and ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 11). It was approved officially on January 25, 2013.

The design of HEVC, the next generation of video compression standards, incorporates the latest state-of-the-art technologies and algorithmic advances to address the persistent demand for broader usage of video content, video migration to broadband networks, diversification of mobile devices, ever-higher resolutions for cameras and displays, and increasingly high video quality.


HEVC is the latest in the series of video compression standards to be developed jointly by VCEG and MPEG. The HEVC project was formally launched in January 2010 following studies by both MPEG and VCEG to assess the readiness and availability of technology simultaneously with an analysis of industry needs for a new standard, and approval by the SC 29 and SG 16 higher-level committees to launch the JCT-VC. The major goal of the project is to develop the next generation video coding standard that could achieve the same level of video quality with a substantial savings (e.g. reduction by half) relative to the bit rate required by AVC. Initial measurements of the capability of HEVC, at this stage, indicate that its performance is already meeting or exceeding the targets set by this goal.


According to the ITU press release, "ITU-T H.265 / ISO/IEC 23008-2 HEVC will provide a flexible, reliable and robust solution, future-proofed to support the next decade of video. The new standard is designed to take account of advancing screen resolutions and is expected to be phased in as high-end products and services outgrow the limits of current network and display technology."

Companies including Cisco, ATEME, Broadcom, Cyberlink, Ericsson, Fraunhofer HHI, Mitsubishi, NHK, NTT DOCOMO and Qualcomm have already showcased implementations of HEVC. The new standard  includes a ‘Main’ profile that supports 8-bit 4:2:0 video, a ‘Main 10’ profile with 10-bit support, and a ‘Main Still Picture’ profile for still image coding that employs the same coding tools as a video ‘intra’ picture.
"The ITU/ISO/IEC Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC) (formerly JVT) will continue work on a range of extensions to HEVC, including support for 12-bit video as well as 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 chroma formats. Another important element of this work will be the progression of HEVC towards scalable video coding. The three bodies will also work within the Joint Collaborative Team on 3D-Video (JCT-3V) on the extension of HEVC towards stereoscopic and 3D video coding."

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