Inter-Picture Prediction in HEVC

Inter-picture prediction in HEVC can be seen as a steady improvement and generalization of all parts known from previous video coding standards, e.g. H.264/AVC. The motion vector prediction was enhanced with advanced motion vector prediction based on motion vector competition. An inter-prediction block merging technique significantly simplified the block-wise motion data signaling by inferring all motion data from already decoded blocks. When it comes to interpolation of fractional reference picture samples, high precision interpolation filter kernels with extended support, i.e. 7/8-tap filter kernels for luma and 4-tap filter kernels for chroma, improve the filtering especially in the high frequency range. Finally, the weighted prediction signaling was simplified by either applying explicitly signaled weights for each motion compensated prediction or just averaging two motion compensated predictions. This chapter provides a detailed description of these aspects of HEVC standard and explains their coding efficiency and complexity characteristics.