Just Noticeable Distortion-Based Perceptual Rate Control in HEVC

In this paper, we propose a just noticeable distortion (JND)-based perceptual rate control method for high efficiency video coding (HEVC). First, the JND factor of a coding unit has been mathematically shown to be an approximation of the average pixel-level JND weight, which means that it can also be used as a weight for bitrate allocation. Second, rate-distortion (R-D) modelling is conducted based on the JND factor. Finally, the proposed R-D model is integrated into an existing rate control framework to improve the coding efficiency, and the proposed algorithm is implemented in the newest video coding standard. As the experimental results reveal, compared with HEVC reference software, our algorithm achieves significantly improved coding performance, subjective coding quality and bitrate accuracy.