DCT Based Fast INTRA Mode Decision Method for HEVC Coding

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) can significantly improve coding efficiency by using 35 intra prediction modes, which lead to a substantial increase in coding complexity yet. In this paper, a fast intra mode decision method for HEVC based on DCT is proposed. The algorithm estimates the texture direction of the prediction block (PB) by using discrete cosine transform and reduces the number of candidate INTRA modes by using the texture direction of the PB. Experimental results show that in the high speed condition, the algorithm can achieve averagely 42.68% coding time saving, 2.89% BDRate increasing and 0.166dB BD-PSNR degradation; in the high quality condition, the algorithm can achieve averagely 24.69% coding time saving, 0.92% BD-Rate increasing and 0.0515dB BD-PSNR degradation.