A rate control algorithm for ×264 high definition video conferencing

Current rate control algorithms developed in the H.264 encoder are unable to address High Definition video streaming requirements over best effort networks such as the Internet. We propose a rate controller (RC) for H.264 high definition video conferencing (HDVC), specifically developed in the x264 codec: an open source and high performance H.264/AVC encoder. Called the Dynamic Constant Rate Factor (DCRF), our RC tries to provide the best possible quality in terms of the current bandwidth available at a given instance of video streaming. The proposed method is analyzed from different aspects including network bandwidth, frame size, PSNR and SSIM measurements. In addition to the objective tests, DCRF is evaluated by human observers for subjective performance evaluation. The results prove that DCRF provides better results than current RC methods for HDVC.