What is HEVC [H.265], and why does your production need it?

There’s no denying the advantage of the next generation standard HEVC though, capable of offering the same quality at half the bandwidth. This modern codec performs better on all fronts, including macroblock sizes, and motion prediction. In practical terms, this brings the bandwidth required for a 1920x1080/25p stream down from 6 Mbps, down to 3 Mbps.

Why H.265?

In this age of ultrafast 4G coverage, and fibre to the premises delivering high bandwidth, affordable connections, is there a need to change?

In your studio or control room, probably not. H.264 still offers incredible compression and minimal overheads, which is why desktop encoders such as the NVS-33 still exist. Sadly, however, most remote locations still deal with strangled broadband, with either high contention on domestic lines or patchy 4G coverage. Even in a bustling metropolitan city like London uploads speeds can be restrictive (I’m currently getting 5.5 Mbps on my FTTC line). If your contributors are working from rural locations or on metered connections, optimising your compression has enormous benefits in getting the best quality, or even getting an image at all.

H.265 is a great solution, offering the same video quality at half the bitrate. In other words, HD video over poor data links. Even where bandwidth is good, with multiple contributors, the bandwidth savings scale up, so switching to HEVC cameras like the AW-UE4, or the latest generation of Teradek’s Cube HEVC encoders, could make a real difference in the quality and continuity of your production.

Here and Now

HEVC (H.265) is already supported by many products on the marketing including:

HEVC Encoders and Decoders

• Teradek Cube HDMI and SDI mini encoders and decoders
• Teradek Slice rack-based Encoder / Decoder
• Teradek T-Rax encoder and decoder cards
• Teradek Vidiu Go streaming encoder
• Teradek Bond bonded cellular backpack

HEVC Cameras

• Datavideo BC-50 HD block camera
• Lumens A61P UltraHD PTZ Camera
• Lumens A71P 50P UltraHD PTZ Camera 
• Lumens BC701 50P UltraHD box camera
• Panasonic CX350 4K camcorder
• Panasonic CX10 4K handheld camcorder
• Panasonic EVA-1 4K cine camera
• Panasonic UE4 ePTZ

HEVC Capture and Playback

• Blackmagic Design Duplicator 4K SD card recorder
• Blackmagic Design Extreme 8K HDR recorder / player