3D Video: From Capture to Diffusion

Chapter 10

Multiview Video Coding (MVC)

10.1. Introduction

Compression is today a fundamental part of digital communications. Different technological advances in screen devices, both in terms of their resolution (increasing use of ultra HD formats) and their refresh rate, have produced increasingly large volumes of data. This phenomenon is even more significant given the appearance of 3DTV which allows viewers to watch stereoscopic (two views) or multiview (N views) media.

To demonstrate the indispensable nature of compression within the context of multiview video (MVV), we will use a simple example. We will consider a video sequence of eight views in full HD resolution (1,920 × 1,080), at 30 images per second with a duration of 5 min in which each pixel is coded on 24 bits. The memory required for this multiview sequence is therefore (8 × 1,920 × 1,080 × 30 × 300 × 24)/8 = 417.13 Go with a rate of 11 Gbits/s. It is soon apparent that, without this crucial compression stage, disseminating and storing these kinds of sequences is almost completely impossible.

However, one of the fundamental characteristics of multiview media is the fact that there is a strong correlation between each view. This correlation is therefore used by compression schemes using 3D formats (for both stereoscopy and multiview) and specific coding techniques. This chapter is designed to present 3D formats and coding techniques for stereoscopic vision as well as for multiview examples.

10.2. Specific approaches ...