New Error Containment Schemes for H.264 Decoders

This paper focuses on new error containment schemes for the H.264 advanced video codec (AVC). A lossless flexible macroblock ordering (FMO) removal scheme that allows playback of FMO-encoded videos on any H.264 player and a novel error concealment method have been developed. H.264 introduces powerful error resilience tools such as FMO to mitigate the effect of errors on the decoded videos. However, many commercial H.264 players cannot handle FMO. We have developed a new method to remove the FMO structure, thereby allowing the video to be decoded on any commercial player. We also present a model that accurately predicts the average overheads incurred by our scheme. At the same time, we developed a new error concealment method for I-frames to enhance video quality without relying on channel feedback. This method is shown to be superior to existing methods, including that from the JM reference software.