Video Compression using Vector Quantization

This report presents some results and findings of our work on very-low-bit-rate video compression systems using vector quantization VQ. We have identified multiscale segmentation and variable-rate coding as two important concepts whose effective use can lead to superior compression performance. Two VQ algorithms that attempt to use these two aspects are presented one based on residual vector quantization and the other on quadtree vector quantization. Residual vector quantization is a successive approximation quantizer technique and is ideal for variable-rate coding. Quadtree vector quantization is inherently a multiscale coding method. The report presents the general theoretical formulation of these algorithms, as well as quantitative performance of sample implementations.