JVET-P0388 On VVC Conformance [J. Boyce, I. Moccagatta (Intel), L. Litwic (Ericsson), A. Stein (Technicolor), S. McCarthy, W. Husak, B. Lee (Dolby)]

Discussed in plenary Sunday 6 October 1645 (GJS & JRO)

Successful market adoption of VVC will be facilitated by timely availability of conformance bitstreams and a conformance specification for VVC.

This contribution proposes to form an ad hoc group on VVC conformance with the following mandates:

• Study the requirements of VVC conformance testing to ensure interoperability.
• Draft a work plan, including timeline, for preparation of a conformance specification.
• Study potential testing methodology to fulfill the requirements of VVC conformance testing.
• Draft a work plan, including timeline, for preparation of a conformance bitstream.

The above mandates are adapted from the initial mandates of the ad hoc group on HEVC conformance (JCTVC-I_Notes_dI, Geneva, 2012).

The first version of VVC is expected to include capabilities that were not included in the first version of HEVC, but were added in later HEVC extensions. Some of these VVC capabilities are not included in the JVET common test conditions. It is noted that the conformance specifications for some of the HEVC extensions were significantly delayed relative to the corresponding specification text and reference software. Therefore, this contribution also proposes a provisional timeline for delivery of initial and final conformance bitstreams, which is proposed to include identification of responsible experts for providing bitstreams to test particular tools prior to finalization of the VVC standard.

Preliminary timeline agreement:

• 16th meeting Oct. 2019: Form ad hoc group on VVC conformance, first draft list of conformance bitstreams
• 17th meeting Jan. 2020: Preliminary guidelines for bitstream preparation (e.g., naming conventions), improved list of conformance bitstreams
• 18th meeting Apr. 2020: Final guidelines for bitstream preparation and improved list of conformance bitstreams with identified responsible experts, initial bitstreams provided
• 19th meeting July 2020: Confirmed list of bitstreams to be included in v1, collection of bitstream candidates for CD ballot at next meeting
• 20th meeting Oct. 2020: CD of conformance specification
• 21st meeting Jan. 2021: Final bitstreams provided, DIS ballot in ISO/IEC
• 22nd meeting April 2021: No action pending DIS ballot
• 23rd meeting July 2021: Final conformance specification