Encoder power consumption comparison of distributed video codec and H.264/AVC in low-complexity mode

This paper presents a power consumption comparison of a novel approach to video compression based on distributed video coding (DVC) and widely used video compression based on H.264/AVC standard. We have used a low-complexity configuration for H.264/AVC codec. It is well-known that motion estimation (ME) and CABAC entropy coder consume much power so we eliminate ME from the codec and use CAVLC instead of CABAC. Some investigations show that low-complexity DVC outperforms other algorithms in terms of encoder side energy consumption. However, estimations of power consumption for H.264/AVC and DVC stated in this paper show that for current implementations of DVC these statements could be disputed from a power consumption/compression efficiency point of view when comparing to compression algorithms based on differential frame coding (with zero search radius for ME).