BBC VC-2: anyone ?

PatchWorKs · 16th June 2021, 07:49

After long time, I recently surfed the BBC R&D website and discovered their new VC-2 Video Compression project.

Does anyone tested/builded/compared it ?

https://github.com/bbc/vc2-reference

SeeMoreDigital · 16th June 2021, 10:01

BBC R&D: https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/projects/vc-2
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirac_...n_format)#VC-2

benwaggoner · 16th June 2021, 18:32

VC-2 is a I-frame only subset of the Dirac wavelet codec, which never got much market traction. Dirac had no hardware encoders or decoders, nor any production-grade software encoders. It wasn't as good as H.264/x264 as an interframe codec back then. No wavelet-based interframe codec has ever been competitive against block-based codecs of its era, although intraframe-only wavelets have been popular in codecs like Cineform and J2K. I don't recall any indication that VC-2 had any substantive enough advantage over J2K to merit switching to it.

As an I-frame only codec, VC-2's use cases were archives, mezzanines and transport. I'm not aware of any production implementations of VC-2, however, and it's been the better part of a decade since I've heard of any further development of either Dirac or VC-2.

Newer technologies like JPEG XS are superior at addressing J2K and VC-2 for transport. Most mezzanine/archive stuff gets done in ProRes or J2K these days, with some high end using ACES.

Blue_MiSfit · 16th June 2021, 20:02

From what I understand, Open Broadcast Systems (Kieranrk here on doom9 is their CEO) uses VC-2 in certain cases in production on their live encoding solution for transport.

16th June 2021, 07:49	#1 \| Link
PatchWorKs Registered User Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Italy Posts: 318	BBC VC-2: anyone ? After long time, I recently surfed the BBC R&D website and discovered their new VC-2 Video Compression project. Does anyone tested/builded/compared it ? https://github.com/bbc/vc2-reference

16th June 2021, 10:01	#2 \| Link
SeeMoreDigital Life's clearer in 4K UHD Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Notts, UK Posts: 12,295	BBC R&D: https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/projects/vc-2 Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirac_...n_format)#VC-2 __________________ \| I've been testing hardware media playback devices and software A/V encoders and decoders since 2001 \| My Network Layout & A/V Gear \| Last edited by SeeMoreDigital; 16th June 2021 at 10:05.

16th June 2021, 18:32	#3 \| Link
benwaggoner Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 4,944	VC-2 is a I-frame only subset of the Dirac wavelet codec, which never got much market traction. Dirac had no hardware encoders or decoders, nor any production-grade software encoders. It wasn't as good as H.264/x264 as an interframe codec back then. No wavelet-based interframe codec has ever been competitive against block-based codecs of its era, although intraframe-only wavelets have been popular in codecs like Cineform and J2K. I don't recall any indication that VC-2 had any substantive enough advantage over J2K to merit switching to it. As an I-frame only codec, VC-2's use cases were archives, mezzanines and transport. I'm not aware of any production implementations of VC-2, however, and it's been the better part of a decade since I've heard of any further development of either Dirac or VC-2. Newer technologies like JPEG XS are superior at addressing J2K and VC-2 for transport. Most mezzanine/archive stuff gets done in ProRes or J2K these days, with some high end using ACES. __________________ Ben Waggoner Principal Video Specialist, Amazon Prime Video My Compression Book

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16th June 2021, 20:02	#4 \| Link
Blue_MiSfit Derek Prestegard IRL Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 5,998	From what I understand, Open Broadcast Systems (Kieranrk here on doom9 is their CEO) uses VC-2 in certain cases in production on their live encoding solution for transport.