3D high definition video coding on a GPU-based heterogeneous system

• An efficient algorithm for 3D HD video coding, based on a heterogeneous system.
• An efficient parallelization of the Inter prediction is the key for reducing the H.264/MVC encoding time.
• The approach developed is based on a dynamic balance of the computational tasks and on breaking the encoding dependences.
• The total encoding time and energy consumption are highly reduced when compared with the reference sequential approach.

H.264/MVC is a standard for supporting the sensation of 3D, based on coding from 2 (stereo) to N views. H.264/MVC adopts many coding options inherited from single view H.264/AVC, and thus its complexity is even higher, mainly because the number of processing views is higher. In this manuscript, we aim at an efficient parallelization of the most computationally intensive video encoding module for stereo sequences. In particular, inter prediction and its collaborative execution on a heterogeneous platform. The proposal is based on an efficient dynamic load balancing algorithm and on breaking encoding dependencies. Experimental results demonstrate the proposed algorithm’s ability to reduce the encoding time for different stereo high definition sequences. Speed-up values of up to 90× were obtained when compared with the reference encoder on the same platform. Moreover, the proposed algorithm also provides a more energy–efficient approach and hence requires less energy than the sequential reference algorithm.