Adaptive merge list construction for 3D-HEVC fast encoder

Adaptive merge list construction for the fast encoder of three-dimensional high efficiency video coding (3D-HEVC) scheme is proposed in this Letter. The encoder complexity of 3D-HEVC has been unavoidably very high in comparison with HEVC, because it should handle the multiple view images and their corresponding depth images. Proposed method is designed to reduce the encoder-side computational complexity of the 3D-HEVC merging process through a fast decision with early termination arranged by two conditions. Simulation results show that the proposed method can reduce overall encoding time by 9.7% without coding losses in comparison with the recent 3D-HEVC HTM-14.0 fast encoder that consisted of every encoder optimisation algorithm informatively adopted in both HEVC and 3D-HEVC standardisation activities.