Joint bit-rate allocation strategy for parallel HDTV video encoder

This paper presents a joint bit allocation strategy for parallel HDTV video encoders. The basic idea is to partition a HDTV picture into six smaller sub-pictures, then compress each sub-picture using a cheap MPEG-2 MP@ML encoder. Without coordination among sub-encoders, these encoded sub-pictures may have unequal picture qualities. To maintain a uniform quality HDTV picture, the HDTV video encoder uses the joint bit allocation strategy based on the following two issues: (1) scene change detection and (2) picture complexity.