In this paper we propose a real-time selective video encryption solution in the scalable extension of High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard, referred to as SHVC. The proposed scheme encrypts a set of sensitive SHVC parameters with a minimum delay and complexity overheads. The encryption process is performed at the CABAC binstring level and fulfils both constant bitrate and format compliant video encryption requirements. In addition, it preserves all SHVC functionalities, including bitstream extraction for mid-network adaptation and error resilience. We compare the performance of three selective SHVC encryption schemes: the first scheme encrypts only the lowest SHVC layer, the second encrypts all layers and the last scheme encrypts only the highest layer. The performance of the proposed schemes is assessed over different video encryption criteria, at different scalability configurations and various High Definition (HD) video sequences. Experimental results showed that encrypt only the lowest layer or all layers enables a high security level, while encrypting only the highest layer leads to a perceptual encryption solution, by slightly decreasing the highest layer quality. Moreover, the processing complexity of the proposed solution is assessed in the context of a real-time SHVC decoder. The complexity overhead remains low and does not exceed 6% of the real-time decoding of SHVC video sequences.

Video compression and content quality have become one of the most research topic in the recent years. Predominantly, trends obviously signpost that the video usage over the Internet is on the upsurge. Simultaneously, users' requirement for enlarged resolution and higher quality is rising. Consequently, a huge effort has been made for video coding technologies and quality monitoring. In this paper, we present a subjective-based comparison as well as an objective measurement between the newest Versatile Video Coding (VVC) and the well-known High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standards. Several videos of various content are selected as tested sequences. Both High Definition (HD) and Ultra High Definition (UHD) resolutions are used in this experiment. An extensive range of bit-rates from low to high bit-rates were selected. These sequences are encoded using both HEVC reference software (HM-16.2) and the latest reference software of VVC (VTM-5.0). Obtained results have shown that VVC outperforms consistently HEVC, for realistic bit rates and quality levels, in the range of 40% on the subjective scale. For the objective measurements, using PSNR, SSIM and VMAF as quality metrics, the quality enhancement of VVC over HEVC is ranging from 31% to 40%, depending on video content and spatial resolution.

With the growing data consumption of emerging video applications and users' requirement for higher resolutions, up to 8K, a huge effort has been made in video compression technologies. Recently, versatile video coding (VVC) has been standardized by the moving picture expert group (MPEG), providing a significant improvement in compression performance over its predecessor high efficiency video coding (HEVC). In this paper, we provide a comparative subjective quality evaluation between VVC and HEVC standards for 8K resolution videos. In addition, we evaluate the perceived quality improvement offered by 8K over UHD 4K resolution. The compression performance of both VVC and HEVC standards has been conducted in random access (RA) coding configuration, using their respective reference software, VVC test model (VTM-11) and HEVC test model (HM-16.20). Objective measurements, using PSNR, MS-SSIM and VMAF metrics have shown that the bitrate gains offered by VVC over HEVC for 8K video content are around 31%, 26% and 35%, respectively. Subjectively, VVC offers an average of around 41% of bitrate reduction over HEVC for the same visual quality. A compression gain of 50% has been reached for some tested video sequences regarding a Student's t-test analysis. In addition, for most tested scenes, a significant visual difference between uncompressed 4K and 8K has been noticed.