*H.265 Codec

Owned by Tom Polman
Last updated: Sept 21, 2022
2 min read

Configuration Article | CA-20200930-TP-05

VDG Sense | H.265 Codec

H.265, also known as High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) and MPEG-H Part 2, is a video compression standard, one of several potential successors to the widely used H.264. In comparison to H.264, H.265 offers about double the data compression ratio at the same level of video quality, or substantially improved video quality at the same bit rate. It supports resolutions up to 8192×4320, including 8K UHD.

H.265 was developed with the goal of providing twice the compression efficiency of the previous standard, H.264. Although compression efficiency results vary depending on the type of content and the encoder settings, at typical consumer video distribution bit rates H.265 is typically able to compress video twice as efficiently as H.264. You can take advantage of improving the visual quality of your video or maintain the quality and increase your retention (or some combination of both):

  • At an identical level of visual quality, H.265 enables video to be compressed to a file that is about half the size (or half the bit rate) of H.264, or

  • When compressed to the same file size or bit rate as H.264, H.265 delivers significantly better visual quality.

At the moment, H.265 is only available in the RTSP camera driver (VDG Sense 2.5.5+). The codec is visual for other drivers but may not be implemented yet, and is there not working yet. For adding H.265 support to specific camera drivers, please contact us.

ONVIF
ONVIF Profile S uses the original ONVIF Media Service Specification, which allows only MJPEG, H.264, and MPEG-4. The newer Media2 Service does not limit which video formats may be used. Future codecs which may be used in surveillance may be easily added, making the Media2 service more flexible than its older counterpart. ONVIF is working on a new profile, Profile T, which will use the Media2 service and expand some features not found in Profile S. However, this profile is in early stages and not expected for final release until 2018.