Introducing V-Nova’s VC-6
V-Nova VC-6 is a comprehensive SDK enabling encoding and decoding of the latest production mezzanine codec standard, SMPTE VC-6 ST-2117 across a range of device platforms. VC-6 is an innovative new format providing the ultimate flexibility for accelerated production workflows.
How VC-6 works
VC-6 is fundamentally different to most industry mezzanine codecs because it’s based on repeatable s-tree structures rather than block-based DCT or Wavelet transforms. It works by creating a number of different resolutions of an image and then encodes the residual differences between them with a uniquely low-complexity approach. These simple tree structures provide intrinsic capabilities that are well suited to modern computing techniques like massive parallelism.
Multi-resolution decoding
VC-6’s unique hierarchical structure means that it is possible to only decode up to the resolution required from the different layers within the file. Critically this provides key benefits for today’s workflows.
Reduced bandwidth
Reduced bandwidth requirements when working with remote content and faster transfer times.
Efficient storage usage
Keep your full masters in cold storage but work against lower resolutions in hot storage.
Built-in proxies
VC-6 removes the need to separately encode proxies or other preview renditions saving compute time and simplifying file management.
Region-of-interest decoding
Many image processing applications involve multiple servers decoding images which are often down-scaled to reduce data transfer costs. However, VC-6’s unique pyramidical and specific regions of interest tackle these challenges head-on.
A feature-rich image format too
VC-6 is also a compelling format for image-only use cases including consumer applications. Whilst today many different image formats are used for different purposes, VC-6 includes all of the key features needed to power fast and responsive user experiences including progressive decode, transparency and region of interest all in a format delivering lower file sizes and faster performance than JPEG, PNG or others.
How to deploy VC-6
Whether you’re a production software vendor or running custom video applications within your organisation, the comprehensive VC-6 SDK enables software and solution vendors to add support for VC-6 quickly and easily and the codec is compatible with major interchange standards like MXF. The VC-6 SDK is compatible across Windows. Mac and Linux for x86, ARM or GPU architectures.
