Water Bottom Video Challenge 2018

[Outline]

In April 2010 the standardization of MPEG-H HEVC had started. Exactly eight years later, in April 2018, the Next-Generation Video Coding Standard, MPEG-I VVC (Versatile Video Coding) has started. This has triggered to explore new video coding technologies worldwide. One of the challenges for conventional video coding technologies are "water scenes", which does not fit well with translational, affine nor projective motion model. Picture Coding Symposium of Japan (PCSJ) / Image Media Processing Symposium (IMPS) 2018 proudly hosts Water Bottom Video Challenge (WBVC) 2018 which targets such water scene, in particular water bottom video, and compete video processing techniques to maximize the coding efficiency. The sole criteria is objective and simple, i.e., Bjøntegaard Delta (BD)-Rate. Winners will be awarded at PCSJ/IMPS 2018. We expect that participants will enjoy tweaking video processing algorithms which greatly affect coding efficiency.

note1: Since the codec is provided and shall be used as is., detailed coding knowledge is not needed to participate.

note2: WBVC2018 participation only (for free) is OK and subject to be awarded, however, paper submission or attendance to PCSJ/IMPS2018 (Nov. 19-21, Gotenba, Japan) is very much welcome.

[The Task]

Several water bottom video sequences, VTM (VVC Test Model) version 1.1-based encoder source code and an Excel spreadsheet to calculate BD-Rate are provided. Participants are required to generate one still picture from each of video sequences, encode and put results (PSNR and bit-rate) to the spreadsheet to obtain the performance. The encoder shall be treated as a black-box (as is). The only requirement is the skill of video processing, not much of video coding. Besides generating a still picture, participants are asked to compile the software, encode and collect data.

[Schedule]

• June 2018 WBVC page open
• July 10 WBVC material open, registration open
• (September 7 PCSJ/IMPS presentation application due)
• (October 12 PCSJ/IMPS manuscript submission due)
• (November 3 PCSJ/IMPS early-bird registration due)
• End of October WBVC results submission due, winners notification
• November 19-21 (PCSJ/IMPS symposia) WBVC award ceremony, final ranking, brief description open

[Application Procedures]

[How to participate]

After agreeing to the "Agreement form", send an E-mail message with subject "registration" plus following information to the Secretariat. The URL of the material and the password to decrypt the zip file (both private, not to be disclosed) will be sent back within two business days.

1. Declaration that the applicant has agreed to the Agreement form
2. Team name & member names
3. Contact person's name, affiliation, e-mail address

[What we will provide (the material)]

1. Modified Video Codec Software based on Versatile Video Coding Test Model 1.1 (VTM1.1)
2. Water bottom video Sequences (1920x1080, 8-bit YUV4:2:0, 300 frames, fixed camera)
3. Cropped version (512x512) of above Sequences (for quick-evaluation purpose only)
4. Generated Image examples (1920x1080 / 512x512)
5. BD-Rate Evaluation Excel Sheet

Please be noted that we have revised the configuration file.

[What you submit]

Zip and send following materials to the Secretariat with subject "submission". Your submission can be revised any number of times before the deadline. Top scores may be posted to the Leader board page.

1. PDF file of brief algorithm description (free format, 1-2 pages. winner's description will be exhibited in this page. can be omitted before the final submission)
2. Completed Excel Sheet
3. Generated YUV420 images with your algorithm (not decoded frames. for reproductive experiment. can be omitted before the final submission.)
4. Encoding log

[Secretariat]

Dr. Seishi Takamura wbvc2018@googlegroups.com

Any questions, inquiries, suggestions are welcome.