Low compute complexity BU-based rate control algorithm for H.264/AVC encoder

Rate Control plays an important role for video coding especially in video streaming applications with bandwidth constraints. In this paper we propose a new H.264 Basic-Unit (BU)-level rate control algorithm facilitating low power hardware realization. The goal of the proposed algorithm is to achieve low computational complexity while maintaining comparable video quality at low bitrates, which reduces up to 96% of computational complexity as compared to H.264 reference software JM. The proposed algorithm is very suitable for the realization in both embedded systems as a software solution and low power systems as a hardware solution.