Observations on error detection in H.264

This paper investigates the effect of bit errors on H.264 decompression when context-based adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC) entropy coding is used. A set of simulations examines how often a single bit error in an H.264 slice causes a semantic error to be detected. This is called the error detection probability (EDP). A high EDP implies a high certainty that, when no error is detected, there are no bit errors in the slice. A second set of simulations examines how long it takes for a semantic error to be detected when a bit error occurs. This measure is called the error detection delay (EDD). The results of the simulations show the probability of the EDD as a function of bit distance. A third set of simulations examines the effect of undetected bit errors on decompression. The results show that undetected bit errors do not cause noticeable video quality degradation. The results of the three simulations may be used in an H.264 transmission scheme that uses semantic information as an indication of slice correctness.