DVB first to add VVC protocol for 8K video

Technology News | February 23, 2022

The European DVB Project has added Versatile Video Coding (VVC, also called H.266) to its core specification for the use of video and audio coding in broadcast and broadband applications. This makes DVB first standards body of its kind to add a next generation video codec to its media specification.Read More

By Nick Flaherty

The European DVB Project has added Versatile Video Coding (VVC, also called H.266) to its core specification for the use of video and audio coding in broadcast and broadband applications.

This makes DVB first standards body of its kind to add a next generation video codec to its media specification.

VVC, published in November 2020, is the latest member of the family of video coding standards developed jointly by ISO/IEC MPEG and ITU-T VCEG. According to results from MPEG, it is capable of encoding video in half the bitrate of the HEVC codec today with the same quality.

This makes VVC one of the most efficient video coding technologies currently available and a key technology for next generation 8K displays as well as for accelerating the adoption of 4K UHD. The addition of VVC, with further codecs to follow, is intended to make sure DVB can provide a comprehensive and flexible toolbox for these next generation television services via broadcast and broadband. This can also help to reduce the power consumed for existing video services throughout the network.

The new revision of the DVB-AVC specification has been approved by the DVB Steering Board and is available now asDVB BlueBook A001r19.

The technical work to add next generation video codecs to DVB’s specifications has been undertaken by the TM-AVC group over the last eight months. The group is now looking at adding the AVS3 codec with AV1 next in line for evaluation.

The revised DVB-AVC specification includes four conformance points for VVC, the minimum requirement being a baseline receiver capable of supporting resolutions up to 4K (3840×2160) with HDR. The three additional conformance points cover the support of high frame rates (HFR), and resolutions up to 8K (7680×4320).

www.dvb.org