AVC-Intra

AVC-Intra [cite web|url=ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/pub/Panasonic/Drivers/PBTS/papers/WP_AVC-Intra.pdf|title=AVC-Intra (H.264 Intra) Compression, Technical Overview|accessdate=2008-01-29] is type of video coding developed by Panasonic that is fully compliant with [cite web|url=ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/pub/Panasonic/Drivers/PBTS/papers/FAQ_AVC-Intra.pdf|title=AVC-Intra FAQ|accessdate=2008-01-29] the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC standard and additionally follows the SMPTE RP 2027-2007 [cite web|url=http://www.google.com/search?q=%22RP+2027-2007%22+site%3Asmpte.org|title=SMPTE RP 2027-2007, "AVC Intra-Frame Coding Specification for SSM Card Applications"] recommended practice specification. AVC-Intra is available in a number of Panasonic's high definition broadcast products, such as, for example, their P2 card equipped broadcast cameras. [cite web|url=ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/pub/Panasonic/Drivers/PBTS/brochures/B_AJ-HPX2000.pdf|title=AJ-HPX2000 brochure|accessdate=2008-01-29]

Panasonic has announced AVC-Intra codec support in April 2007. The use of AVC-Intra provides production quality HD video at bit rates more normally associated with ENG (Electronic news gathering) applications, permitting full resolution, 10 bit field capture of high quality HD imagery in one piece camera-recorders.

AVC-Intra is intended to serve needs of video professionals, who have to store HD digital video on digital storage media for editing and archiving purposes. It defines 10-bit intra-frame only compression, which is easy for editing and preserves maximum video quality. The new standard significantly outperforms the older HDV (MPEG2 based) and DVCPRO HD (DV based) formats, allowing the codec to maintain better quality in 2x less storage.

Technical details

There are two classes;
* AVC-Intra 50:
** nominally 50 Mbit/s
** CABAC entropy coding only.
** 1920x1080 formats are High 10 Intra Profile, Level 4
** 1280x720 formats are High 10 Intra Profile, Level 3.2
** chrominance sampling
** frames are horizontally scaled by 3/4 (1920x1080 is scaled to 1440x1080. 1280x720 is scaled to 960x720)
* AVC-Intra 100:
** nominally 100 Mbit/s
** CAVLC entropy coding only.
** All formats are High 4:2:2 Intra Profile, Level 4.1
** chrominance sampling
** frames are not scaled

Common to both classes;
* Frame rates: 1920x1080 (23.98p / 25p / 29.97p / 50i / 59.94i), 1280x720 (23.98p / 25p / 29.97p / 50p / 59.94p)
* 10 bit luma and chroma

Third Party Support

* Apple's Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 provides support via the ProRes 4.2.2 codec [cite web|url=http://blog.ear.net/journal/2007/11/15/apple-announces-avc-intra-support-with-final-cut-pro-602-upd.html|title=Apple Announces AVC-Intra Support with Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 Update]
* MainConcept offer an AVC-Intra encoder and decoder as part of their Codec SDK [cite web|url=http://www.google.com/search?q=codec+sdk+AVC-Intra+Video+Encoder+site%3Amainconcept.com|title=MainConcept Codec SDK components]
* Harris Corporation announced AVC-Intra support for the NEXIO AMP line of video servers at NAB 2008
* Omneon Inc have announced AVC-Intra support for their Spectrum and MediaDeck products [cite web|url=http://www.ibeweb.com/product-news/server-support-panasonics-advanced-avc-intra-hd-format|title=Omneon Server support for Panasonic's Advanced AVC-Intra HD format]
* Quantel demonstrated AVC-Intra workflow at NAB 2007 [cite web|url=http://quantel.com/site/en.nsf/HTML/8AD99D55C4ACFF7E802572CD002D4FA8|title=Quantel demonstrates AVC-Intra]
* Thomson Grass Valley have announced native support for AVC-Intra in EDIUS 4.5 [cite web|url=http://www.thomsongrassvalley.com/news/2007/20070414-EDIUS_4.5.html|title=Thomson's Grass Valley Boosts EDIUS Capabilities and User Interface]

References

Codecs

* [https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/pro-av/support/cs/csregistp2m/soft/p2v/avci.exe AVC-Intra codec for PC (decoder)]
* [https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/pro-av/support/dload/qtime/avcintradecoder_v1.1.pkg.zip AVC-Intra codec for Mac (decoder)]