Project: Trancoders Of the FUture Television
The future of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) is expected for 2018. Higher definition, lower bitrate, more channels and new services are part of the expected improvements. After the recent finalisation of HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) in January 2013, video compression has the right tool to prepare this evolution. However, in the early stages this new standard will only provide new contents if the right transcoders are designed: it will be straightforward to transcode and probably upscale the current HD videos, from H.264 to HEVC. As content productions, including Digital Cinema industry and broadcast contribution networks are using different profiles, codecs (e.g. JPEG 2000, XAVC…) and colour spaces, it will be necessary to develop adapted conversion tools.
In TOFu TV, after a first work-package dedicated to specifications and data collection, we will study the transcoding possibilities between AVC/H.264 and HEVC, as well as between JPEG 2000 and HEVC. Existing compressed data such as motion vectors, transformed coefficients or image partition will be re-used as much as possible to increase the transcoding performances.
These processes will be evaluated considering quality preservation and colour space optimisation. The transcoders will be driven by quality metadata, either included inside the original stream or computed on the go. Automatic transfer of a watermark from one standard to the other will also be studied.
New services will be evaluated and suggested for the future TV. These include automatic indexation, for example allowing replacing advertisement with new ones that are up-to-date or adjusted to the time of the day while playing a recorded program. Second screen applications will be studied, providing additional information to the user depending on his attention to the program he’s watching.
The project demonstrators will feature all the technological breakthroughs, illustrating the transcoding capabilities and their enhancements by quality and colour optimisations, as well as the new services with automatic video indexation and second screen applications.
The TOFu TV consortium consists of three innovative SMEs backed by two universities and one research institute.
Ektacom, the project leader, have been providing video services for 12 years, including transmission of 100 French TV channels from the Metropole to the overseas departments and massive video digitisation and archive solutions for INA (Institut National de l'Audiovisuel).
Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) research topics include image and video compression, evaluations of visual quality and quality of experience, and video analysis. It is very active in standardisation activities (including HEVC, JPEG 2000).
The Institut Mines-Telecom is made up of prestigious French Grandes Ecoles in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). It will bring its expertise regarding innovative algorithms for transcoding, as well as the visual quality assessement of the transcoding solution.
intoPIX is an independent image technology company which benefits from world-class expertise and knowledge in image processing & compression, cryptography and micro-electronics. Since 2005 intoPIX has become the reference provider of JPEG 2000 tools for Digital Cinema and Broadcast.
MULTITEL a.s.b.l. is a Belgian private, non-profit research centre. Multitel scientific skills range from low-level features extraction to high-level analysis and decision making, applied to intelligent video surveillance, through multimedia applications to machine vision and non-destructive testing system.
VITEC is a leader in digital video technology and is developing and manufacturing original multimedia products at the point where micro-computing and video technology meet. Its business has been MPEG and only MPEG for more than 20 years.
The project results are expected to increase the Ps competitivity in digital television, where HEVC adoption should start in 2015, with a massive transition around 2018. The broadcast world is the obvious target of the project, but Digital Cinema, or even Surveillance are also part of the potential product lines that will benefit from the research carried out during TOFu TV. The project outcomes will propel the consortium SMEs among the first in Europe to provide HEVC solutions and reinforce the academic Ps leading positions regarding video compression and processing.
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Acronym
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TOFu TV
(Reference Number: 8307)
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Duration
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01/10/2013 - 31/12/2015
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Project Topic
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TOFu TV will study and implement transcoders, between HEVC and both H.264 and JPEG2000, dedicated to the future of digital television (ultra HD, better quality, more numerous video streams). Quality preservation, colour spaces optimisation, stream security and new services will also be considered.
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Network
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Eurostars
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Call
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Eurostars Cut-Off 10
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Project partner
