Cluster-based optimized parallel video transcoding

Video transcoding is a popular technique for delivering video content of varying quality and size to diverse audiences. In this paper an analytical approach to the optimization of a large collection of parallel transcoding techniques based on temporal partitioning, is pursued. The key elements in the design of such techniques are identified, allowing them to be enumerated and classified. Closed-form solutions to the partitioning/scheduling problem (and optimum operation sequencing where necessary) are derived for the most important of these methods, under CBR input media conditions. Subsequently, appropriate heuristics allow the solution of the partitioning problem under VBR input media conditions. The paper is concluded by an extensive battery of tests for the most significant strategies, on several feature-length video streams. The tests reveal not only how one of the proposed strategies, namely NPWFVBR, strikes a nice balance between efficiency and distortion minimization on heterogeneous platforms, but also allow us to derive guidelines for transcoding solution deployment. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.