Fast mode selection for H.264 video coding standard based on motion region classification

H.264/AVC achieves higher compression efficiency than previous video coding standards. However, the process of selecting the optimal coding mode for each macroblock (MB) results in extremely high computation complexity, which make it difficult for practical use. In this paper, an efficient algorithm is proposed to reduce the complexity of MB mode selection. The proposed algorithm identified the interior region of the motion object by using the motion vectors information firstly. For the interior region surrounded by the identical motion vectors, we skip the mode selection of the MBs and then treat them with large block size modes directly. We also discuss the specific examples in this region. For the boundary region, we classify them into different types according to the coded mode information. After that we process the different regions with different mode set distinctly. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can save the encoding time up to 46% on average compared to the conventional method in the JVT JM8.6 reference encoder with only 0.12 dB performance degradation.