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Tutorial Zond 265

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  By Olga Krovyakova - modified October 9, 2023, created March 21, 2019.

 

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Table of Contents

        File menu
            Options menu
        Toolbar
            Picture type
            Color components
            Transform partitions
            Compression details
            Video window scale
            Navigation order
        Details window
            Bitstream
            Frame stats
            Frame info
            CU
            TU
            Stream stats
            Quality
        Hint window
        Hex data window
        Timeline window
            Frame size bar chart
            Buffer size statistics
 

Zond 265 interface

Zond 265 main window

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File menu

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Item Description
 
Open a video file
 
Display list of recently opened files
 
Opened file path
 
Copy current file path to clipboard
 
Open current file location
 
Compatibility warning. This warning informs you that the software is compatible with HEVC test model (HM) version 14.0 and previous, starting from 10.01. Previous versions of HM are not supported.
 
Zond 265 options menu
 
Zond 265 help menu

Controls "Display list of recently opened files", "Copy current file path to clipboard", and "Open current file location" are not available when running Zond 265 on a remote computer.

Options menu

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Item Description
Split Intra PU as TU When this option is enabled, each intra prediction unit dimension coincides with the corresponding tranform unit (if it appears)
About Zond 265 Display Zond 265 version

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Item Description
View help Open this help page

Toolbar

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Item Description Shortcut key
 
Picture type  
 
Color components  
 
Slice boundaries  
 
Tile boundaries  
 
Prediction partitions.
Red blocks on the decoded picture window mean intra prediction units, blue blocks mean inter uniprediction units, green blocks mean inter biprediction units, white blocks mean inter skip predictrion units
 
 
Transform partitions.
White blocks on the decoded picture window mean luma sample transform blocks, blue blocks mean blue-difference chroma sample transform blocks, red blocks mean red-difference chroma sample transform blocks
 
 
Motion vectors.
Red lines mean vectors from list 0, blue lines mean vectors from list 1
 
 
Compression details  
 
Video window scale  
 
Hand tool  
 
Decoding order frame index. You can edit this value manually Ctrl + Shift + S
 
Output order frame index. You can edit this value manually Ctrl + Shift + D
 
Frame time. You can edit this value manually Ctrl + Shift + T
 
First frame Home
 
Previous frame Left
 
Start/pause play  
 
Next frame Right
 
Last frame End
 
Navigation mode  

Controls "Picture type", "Color components", "Transform partitions", "Compression details", "Video window scale", and "Navigation mode" show drop-down lists with options listed below.

Picture type

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Item Description
Final Final picture after all steps of decoding (prediction, transforms, deblocking and sample-adaptive offset filters)
After deblock Decoded picture after deblock filter (prediction, transforms, deblocking filter)
Before deblock Decoded picture before deblock filter (prediction, transforms)
Residual Residual picture
Predict Decoded picture after prediction

Color components

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Item Description
YCbCr All color components of a decoded picture
Y Only luma component of a decoded picture
Cb Only blue-difference chroma component of a decoded picture
Cr Only red-difference chroma component of a decoded picture

Transform partitions

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Item Description
Y Transform partitions for luma samples, white blocks on decoded picture window
Cb Transform partitions for blue-difference chroma samples, blue blocks on decoded picture window
Cr Transform partitions for red-difference chroma samples, red blocks on decoded picture window

Matrices of transform coefficients are placed on the TU tab of the details window.

Compression details

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Item Description
RefIdx Reference indexes of inter prediction units. The first number is a frame index from the list 0, and the second is from list 1. The color of a block on the decoded picture window coincides with the color of a frame reference mark on the timeline window
Quant Quantization parameters of transform blocks
Bits Coded unit sizes in bits

These parameters are also presented on the CU tab of the details window.

Video window scale

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These commands set a scale of the decoded picture window.

Navigation order

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Item Description
Decoding order Step forward/backward in decoding order
Output order Step forward/backward in output order
Key frame Step forward/backward by key frames
I frame Step forward/backward by I frames
IP frame Step forward/backward by I and P frames
IBP frame Step forward/backward by I, P and B frames

Details window

There are six tabs in the details window: "Bitstream", "Frame stats", "Frame info", "CU", "TU", "Stream stats", and "Quality".

Bitstream

The tab contains information about all of the NAL units of the file.

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Item Description
 
Data type of the NAL unit. All possible colors are listed below
 
NAL unit offset in the file in bytes
 
Data type of the NAL unit in a text string
 
Frame index in decoding order
 
NAL unit size in bytes

By clicking a row of the "Bitstream" tab you can see the parameters of the unit.

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The meanings of the row colors are listed in the following table. All NAL units belonging to the current frame are highlighted by a brighter color.

Color Description
 
NAL units that contain video parameter sets (VPS), sequence parameter sets (SPS), picture parameter sets (PPS), supplemental enhancement information (SEI)
 
NAL units that contain intra (I) slices
 
NAL units that contain predictive (P) slices
 
NAL units that contain bi-predictive (B) slices

Frame stats

The tab contains the following statistical data about the decoding process of the current frame: bit distribution (mvd, residuals, merge_idx etc.), number of intra and inter pixels, distribution of predicted units and transformation block sizes, data about compression efficiency (compression ratio, bits per pixel, motion vectors per pixel, etc.).

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The meaning of the first two columns of the "Elements" table is listed below.

Item Description
 
Sample of the distribution line of a bit on the statistical graph in the timeline window
 
Show the distribution line of a bit on the statistical graph in the timeline window

Frame info

The tab contains data about all the NAL units belonging to the current frame.

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CU

The tab contains more detailed information about a coded unit than available in the decoded picture window.

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Item Description
 
Mode of intra prediction for the intra prediction unit of the luma and chroma samples
 
Motion vector (MV), motion vector difference (MVD), motion vector predictor (MVP) for the list 0 and for the list 1. There is a reference index shown in the brackets.
 
Coding tree unit raster scan order
 
Coding tree unit raster scan order
 
Coding unit z-scan order
 
Coding unit position in luma samples related to a coded tree unit

TU

The tab contains more detailed information about all of the transform blocks of the highlighted coded unit than what is available in the decoded picture window.

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Item Description
 
Color component
 
Transform coefficients matrix dimension
 
Transform block position in the coded unit in luma samples
 
Transform coefficients. The red color stands for positive numbers, the gray stands for zeroes, and the blue stands for negative numbers.

Stream stats

The tab contains the following statistical data about the decoding process of the file as a whole: General data of the file such as bitrate, average frame sizes, resolution, number of frames, as well as statistical data for all of the frames such as bit distribution (mvd, residuals, merge_idx, etc.), number of intra and inter pixels, distribution of prediction units and transformation block sizes, data about compression efficiency (compression ratio, bits per pixel, motion vectors per pixel, etc.).

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The meaning of the first two columns of the "Elements" table is listed below.

Item Description
image Sample of the distribution line of a bit on the statistical graph in the timeline window
image Show the distribution line of a bit on the statistical graph in the timeline window

A sample of a distribution line in the timeline window is shown in the figure below.

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Quality

The tab contains some information about the video quality of a file in comparison with a reference YUV file.

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Item Description
image Open a reference YUV video file
image Display list of recently opened reference files
image Show PSNR values calculated for each prediction unit in a frame. They can be seen as overlay immediately on a decoded picture, and the values are displayed by moving your mouse over the layer in a tooltip. White color means that the number for Luma samples is better, blue color means that the number for Cb samples is better, and red color means that the number for Cr samples is better.
image Opened reference file path
image Sample of the line of a video quality graph in the timeline window
image Show the line of a video quality graph in the timeline window

Samples of quality lines in the timeline window are shown in the figure below.

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Hint window

The window contains HEVC specification quotes for most syntax elements. To get them, just press the Ctrl key and hover your mouse pointer over any element name. To have the ability to open a specification at the necessary part, the PDF file should be downloaded from the ITU server from the link and placed into Zond 265 folder, Specs subfolder on your computer.

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Item Description
image Move the hint window
image Fix the hint window position. When the window position is not fixed it follows the mouse pointer
image Close the hint window. It can be opened again by clicking the "Show/hide hint window" item of the help menu

Hex data window

The window contains hex data for all the NAL units of a file. The hex data corresponding to elements from the "Bitstream tab" are highlighted when moving your mouse over the tab.

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Item Description
image Get hex data from the specified position of a file
image Find hex data in a file
image Show/hide binary data
image Move the hex data window
image Hex data offset in a file
image Binary data
image Hex data

Timeline window

There are two tabs on the timeline window: "Frame size bar chart" and "Buffer size statistics".

Frame size bar chart

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Item Description
image Show the frame size bar chart window. When the frame size bar chart window is shown, the control displays a popup menu that allows you to show/hide all lines of the "Bit distribution" and "Quality" graphs.
image Show buffer size statistics window
 
Display frame numbers in decoding order at the top of the frame bars
 
Display time stamps at the top of the frame bars
 
Label the frame sizes in bytes with a maximum of all the frames placed at the top
 
Frame bar sizes.
Red bars mean frames that contain only intra slices, blue bars mean frames that contain inter uniprediction slices, and green bars mean frames that contain inter biprediction slices. By clicking a bar you can navigate to the frame with the number displayed at the top of that specific bar.
image Marks of reference frames.
The color depends on the distance from the current frame. Near frames are colored with green hues, more remote frames are colored with yellow hues, and the most remote frames are colored with red hues. These colors are the same as on the RefIdx layer of the decoded picture window. Reference frames of the current coded unit are marked by an arrow.

Additional information about frames is placed on the "Bitstream", "Frame stats", "Frame info", "Stream stats" and "Quality" tabs of the details window and on the layers of the decoded picture window.

Buffer size statistics

The tab contains a buffer fullness plot for a hypothetical reference decoder when decoding a video of a given frame rate transmitted at a given bit rate using a given initial delay and buffer size. Overflow and underflow areas are shown in red.

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Item Description
 
Display frame numbers in the buffer fullness plot
 
Display frame time stamps in the buffer fullness plot
 
Buffer size of a hypothetical reference decoder in bytes
 
Bit rate at which the given video is transmitted in kilobits per second
 
Frame rate of the given video in frames per second
 
Initial delay when decoding video in milliseconds
 
Rebuild the plot
 
Buffer fullness before decoding the current frame, size of the next frame
 
Fit the plot to the window
 
Reset scale of the plot

The values of controls "Buffer size", "Bit rate", "Frame rate", and "Initial delay" can be edited manually. If you have a doubt about one of the values, you can set a zero value and Zond 265 will try to calculate it on the basis of the given video.

Zond 265 start options

All possible command line parameters are listed below. Some of them can be used in both graphic and command line interfaces, and another part can only be used in the command line interface.

zond265.exe [[-i] FilePathName [pid="ProgramID"]]
    [-iref ReferenceFilePathName]
    [-port PortNumber]
    [-runclient {0|1}]
    [-browser {Chrome|FireFox|Opera}]
    [-log]
    [-decode [o="OutputFilePathName"] [picture_type="PictureType"]]
    [-report [t="ReportTypes"] [qm="QualityMetrics"] [SplitIntraPuAsTu={1|0}]
        [start_f="FrameNumber"] [stop_f="FrameNumber"] [et="EntryTypes"]
        [o="OutputFilePathName"] [format="FormatType"]
        [hrd_buffer_size="BufferSize"] [hrd_bit_rate="BitRate"]
        [hrd_frame_rate="FrameRate"] [hrd_initial_delay="InitialDelay"]]
    [-nowait]
    [-nogui]

Item Description
-i Input file path
-iref Reference file path
-port Port number
-runclient The parameter specifies if a browser is started automatically by Zond 265
-browser Specifies in which browser Zond 265 will start.
Available values: "Chrome", "FireFox", "Opera".
Default value: "Chrome", if not installed - default browser.
-log Enables logging

Using Zond 265 as a command line tool

Item Description
-h Print the command line usage help message
-nogui Start Zond 265 as a command line tool
-nowait Do not wait keyboard input
-report Create a report for the input files FilePath and ReferenceFilePath
-decode Decode the input file FilePath to the file OutputFilePath

Report arguments

Item Description
t=ReportTypes Available values: "Quality", "StatFrame", "FileInfo", "PuInfo" (HEVC only), "CuInfo" (HEVC only), "CtuInfo" (HEVC only), "Errors" (HEVC only), "MbInfo" (AVC only), "BitstreamHeaders", "HrdTimelineParameters" (HEVC only), "HrdTimeline" (HEVC only), "ManualHrdTimelineParameters" (HEVC only), "ManualHrdTimeline" (HEVC only), "All".
Multiple values can be specified separated by comma.
Default value: "All".
qm=QualityMetrics Available values: "PSNR", "SSIM", "VMAF".
Multiple values can be specified separated by comma.
Default value: "PSNR, SSIM".
start_f=FrameIndex The parameter specifies a start frame index of the segment being analyzed. By default, it is equal to "0".
stop_f=FrameIndex The parameter specifies a stop frame index of the segment being analyzed. By default, it is equal to the number of frames in the input file.
et=EntryType The parameter specifies the report table entry type.
Available values: "frame", "pu" (prediction unit).
Default value: "frame".
o=OutputFilePath The parameter specifies the output file
SplitIntraPuAsTu={0,1} The parameter specifies the splitting mode of Intra PU
format=FormatType The parameter specifies the format of the report file.
Available values: "CSV", "JSON".
Default value: "CSV"
Parameters used only for ManualHrdTimelineParameters and ManualHrdTimeline reports
hrd_buffer_size=BufferSize Specifies the size of HRD buffer in bytes
hrd_bit_rate=BitRate Specifies the bitrate value of HRD buffer in bites per second
hrd_frame_rate=FrameRate Specifies the frame rate value of HRD buffer in frames per second. This may be a floating point value.
hrd_initial_delay=InitialDelay Specifies the initial delay of HRD buffer in milliseconds.

Decode arguments

Item Description
o=OutputFilePathName The parameter specifies the YUV output file name. By default, it equals "decoded.yuv"
picture_type=PictureType The parameter specifies the type of output picture.
Available values: "final", "after_deblock", "before_deblock", "residual", "predicted".
Default value: "final"

 

Examples of usage

1. Create reports of all possible types:
zond265.exe "Video\hm140_randaccess.265" -iref "Video\hm_randaccess.yuv" -report
 
 
2.Create a report about PSNR video quality for frames from 5 to 10 and save the result to the file "report.csv":
zond265.exe "Video\hm140_randaccess.265" -iref "Video\hm_randaccess.yuv" -report t="quality" qm="PSNR" start_f="5" stop_f="10"
 
 
3. Create a report about PSNR video quality for each prediction unit of frames from 5 to 10 and save the result to the file "report.csv":
zond265.exe "Video\hm140_randaccess.265" -iref "Video\hm_randaccess.yuv" -report t="quality" qm="PSNR" start_f="5" stop_f="10" et="pu"
 
 
4. Saves syntax elements of bitsrteam and dumps in JSON format:

zond265_x64.exe video.265 -report o="video_bs.json" t=statstream,BitstreamHeaders format=json

 
 
5. Saves decoded residual frames into the output file:

zond265_x64.exe -i "video.265" -decode o=residual.yuv picture_type=residual

 

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 About the author

imageOlga Krovyakova is the Technical Support Manager in Solveig Multimedia since 2010.

She is the author of many text and video guidelines of company's products: Video Splitter, HyperCam, WMP Trimmer Plugin, AVI Trimmer+ and TriMP4.

She works with programs every day and therefore knows very well how they work. Сontact Olga via support@solveigmm.com if you have any questions. She will gladly assist you!