Book Review

The Essential Guide to Video Processing

Al Bovik, 778 pp., ISBN 13: 978-0-12-374456-2, Academic video processing and compression, focusing on methods for
Press, 共2009兲, $89.95 paperback. motion detection and motion estimation 共five algorithms are de-
scribed in the text, based on various models, estimation criteria,
Reviewed by Amit Singhal, Kodak Research Labs, Eastman and search strategies兲. Chapter 4 describes methods for en-
Kodak Company, Rochester, New York. hancing and restoring corrupted video and image sequences,
including detection and removal of impairments such as noise,
Wikipedia describes the field coding artifacts, blotches, scratches, vinegar syndrome, flicker,
of video processing as a par- and moiré. The techniques and tools described in Chapter 4,
ticular case of signal process- while focused on the detection and removal of the aforemen-
ing, where the input and out- tioned impairments, are general in nature and can be used to
put signals are video files or develop enhancement and restoration methods for other types
video streams. This is, per- of degradation.
haps, an overly simplified Chapter 5 covers the topics of video stabilization, registra-
statement—while technically tion, and video mosaicing. Video stabilization refers to the com-
correct, it does not do justice pensation of motion of pixels in a recorded sequence of images
to one of the most interesting captured from a moving camera. Mosaicing refers to the con-
and timely topics in electrical struction of high-resolution images from video sequences based
engineering and computer sci- on registration of image frames in the video sequence. Chapter
ence today. Digital video is 6 describes various techniques for segmentation, focusing pri-
fast becoming, if not already, marily on extracting objects present in a video sequence, or
ubiquitous in our life today, from television broadcast to the In- separating the regions of a video sequence into objects versus
ternet, and in consumer electronics such as cameras. It is fast background regions. Chapter 7 builds upon the fundamentals of
becoming the cornerstone of various applied fields such as sur- motion estimation in Chapter 3 and extends them into 2-D and
veillance and security, medicine, and entertainment, among oth- 3-D object-tracking algorithms. Object tracking concerns itself
ers. The Essential Guide to Video Processing, edited by Al Bo- with deriving the trajectory over time of moving objects in a
vik, serves as a comprehensive resource for learning about video sequence.
digital video processing, whether you’re a novice or an expert in Digital video inherently requires handling of high volumes of
the field. The book is a compendium of 21 chapters, authored by data. This makes work in the area of video compression ex-
leading experts in each area of the field, and covers topics rang- tremely important to a video-processing engineer. Chapters 8
ing from the basics of video processing to advanced topics such through 13 cover various aspects of video compression, includ-
as the H.264 standard and applications of digital imaging to sur- ing coding schemes and the various standards for video coding
veillance and mobile imaging. in the industry. Chapter 8 is an introduction to video compres-
The book is roughly organized into four sections: fundamen- sion and covers the fundamental techniques and methods used
tals of video processing 共Chapters 1–7兲, video coding and stan- in every standard video-compression algorithm. Chapter 9 cov-
dards 共Chapters 8–13兲, video communications 共Chapters 14– ers two of the early video-coding standards developed by the
18兲, and applications 共Chapters 19–22兲. In organizing the book Moving Picture Experts Group, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2. MPEG-1
in this manner, Bovik has produced a complete reference to the and MPEG-2 standards are primarily used for coding of videos
vast field of digital video imaging. Each of the four sections is a transmitted over the Internet and for DVD releases, respectively.
complete and independent study of that subtopical area, and Chapter 10 continues the discussion from Chapter 9, describing
even the chapters within each section can be read indepen- the MPEG-4 suite of video-coding standards, including H.264.
dently of each other. Given that the book is over 750 pages long, H.264 is considered to be one of the greatest advances in video
this is a very good thing. If your interest is in the field of video compression and error resilience and is fast becoming the cod-
encoding, you can skip the beginning chapters and start with ing standard of choice for all digital video applications. Chapter
Chapter 8, “Basic Transform Video Coding.” If you are an expert 11 goes beyond the MPEG video-coding standards and de-
in that field and are interested in learning more about embedded scribes a family of motion-compensated subband/wavelet cod-
video coding, you can skip straight to Chapter 13. Each of the ers that exploit temporal correlation and are highly scalable in bit
Chapters in the book is written by leaders in that subtopical rate, resolution, and frame rate.
area, drawing upon the expertise of almost 50 individuals and As evidenced by the discussions on video coding techniques
their associated research groups, laboratories, departments, and standards in Chapters 9 through 11, there are a large num-
universities, and companies. ber of format options available to a video-processing engineer.
The first section of the book is a comprehensive overview of This has resulted in significant diversity of content and associ-
digital video-processing techniques, beginning with an introduc- ated coding schemes. However, most receiving devices only
tion to the field in Chapter 1, and including topics such as video support a subset of these coding schemes, requiring the use of
sampling, motion estimation and tracking, video enhancement, video-transcoding algorithms that convert unsupported video
stabilization, and segmentation. Following the introductory formats to one supported by the receiver. Chapter 12 provides
chapter, Chapter 2 covers the basic ideas of sampling and in- an overview of some of the techniques used to transcode videos
terpolation of time-varying imagery, such as video signals. from one format to another, primarily using bit-rate control algo-
Chapter 3 provides a discussion of motion from a perspective of rithms. This is a highly active area of research, with many open

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 questions, many of which are posed to the reader, along with each of these application areas, focusing not just on video im-
information on resources available to fully understand this fast- aging, but also on other topics that are essential to the pursuit of
changing field. Finally, Chapter 13 describes embedded video- these technologies.
coding schemes that describe how to implement the techniques According to Bovik, the objectives of this guide are, primarily,
and algorithms covered in the previous chapters on special- to serve as a complete and comprehensive resource in video
purpose processors or digital signal processing 共DSP兲 chips. processing for a diverse group of users, from novices to experts,
The third section loosely covers the area of video communi- from various technical backgrounds and disciplines. In that
cations, including topics in privacy and security, wireless trans- sense, the guide format adopted for this book is ideally suited to
mission, archival and retrieval, etc. Chapter 14 describes vari- the independent reference manual this book represents. The
ous methods used to measure the quality of videos based on reader does not need to read the book cover to cover, or even in
some quantitative metric. The chapter covers the most common chapter order, and can instead access the specific material he
of these methods, those based on the human visual system, but or she is interested in. A secondary objective of this book is to
also includes extensive discussion of newer feature-based and serve as a textbook for upper-level undergraduate and graduate
motion-based visual-quality-assessment algorithms. Chapter 15 classes. The topical organization of this book 共video-processing
addresses the problem of archival, search, and retrieval in large techniques, video-coding schemes and standards, and video
databases of video content including multimodal analysis, rep-
communications兲 certainly lends itself to coursework focused in
resentation, summarization, indexing, and browsing of video
those three areas. A course instructor would have to do some
collections. Most of the techniques described focus on visual-
work to create appropriate exercises and supplementary mate-
based methods for organizing and working with videos. Chapter
rial to aid the student’s understanding of the topics. However,
16 focuses on efficient transmission and routing of video
the extensive list of references provided at the end of each
streams over a variety of communication networks based on
different protocols. Lastly, Chapter 17 covers the very important chapter makes this book ideally suited for graduate reading
topic of security and privacy, addressing the concern that multi- seminars and similar discussion formats.
media information be accessed only by authorized users and for
authorized purposes. Topics include encryption for confidential- Amit Singhal received his MS and PhD in computer science
ity and access control, authentication for content integrity, and from the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York. He is a
watermarking for tracing misuse and illicit distribution of content. principal research scientist with the Kodak Research Labs at
The final chapters in the book describe a diverse set of Eastman Kodak Company. He is also an adjunct faculty member
video-application areas. These include video surveillance of computer science at the University of Rochester. His current
共Chapter 19兲, face tracking and recognition 共Chapter 20兲, medi- research interests include 3-D and stereo imaging, image un-
cine 共Chapter 21兲, and the use of video for speech processing derstanding, and knowledge engineering. He has authored over
共Chapter 22兲. These chapters provide a detailed overview of 40 journal and conference papers and holds 5 patents.

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