This electrical and computer engineering-specific (ECE-specific) technical elective covers the wonders of video compression – the art and science of representing sequences of moving pictures using as few bits as possible, while maintaining good picture quality. We also explore additional topics like still image compression, stereo imaging for 3D and basic image processing. It prepares students for advanced graduate studies in digital video processing and compression as well as lucrative positions at companies like:
- Meta (Facebook and Instagram) – video streaming is core to their platforms.
- Google/YouTube – platforms depend on high quality compressed video
- Apple – a pioneer in digital multimedia, and active in video coding standardization.
- Netflix – entire business depends on streaming compressed video
- NVIDIA – video processing and compression are core functions built into GPUs.
- AMD – has been one of the leaders in providing real-time desktop video features.
Click here for the average salary for digital video processing careers within the United States.
Specifically, students who take this course will learn about:
- The basics of human vision
- Conveying depth information
- Linear and non-linear image filtering
- Quantization
- Information and entropy
- Transforms, especially DCT, DST and WHT
- Motion compensated prediction
- Video coding standards, history, details of MPEG-2 and HEVC
Faculty from The College of New Jersey are well known and have published multiple peer-reviewed research papers in the field of video compression.
- Dr. Larry Pearlstein was the Chairman of the ATSC Video Specialists Group on Video Coding, which produced the standard for digital high definition television in the US, Canada, Mexico, and South Korea. He contributed to the MPEG and H.264/265 standards, and holds over 70 patents in the field.
- Pearlstein, Larry, Skyler Maxwell, and Alex Aved. “Adaptive prediction resolution video coding for reduced DRAM bandwidth.” Elsevier Integration 62 (2018): 382-394.