An Efficient Mode Selection Algorithm for H.264

H. 264 video coding standard introduces motion estimation with multiple block sizes to achieve a considerably higher coding efficiency than other video coding algorithms. However, this comes at the greatly increased computing complexity at the encoder. In this paper, a method is proposed to eliminate some redundant coding modes that contribute very little coding gain based on analysis of macroblock detail-level and texture directions. The simulation results show that the algorithm can remarkably decrease the complexity at the encoder while keeping satisfying coding efficiency.