Sample adaptive offset control

Offset values, such as Sample Adaptive Offset (SAO) values in video coding standards such as the High Efficiency Video Coding standard (HEVC), may be improved by performing calculations and operations that improve the preciseness of these values without materially affecting the signal overhead needed to transmit the more precise values. Such calculations and operations may include applying a quantization factor to a video sample and at least some of its neighbors, comparing the quantized values, and classifying the video sample as a minimum, maximum, or one of various types of edges based on the comparison. Other sample range, offset mode, and/or offset precision parameters may be calculated and transmitted with metadata to improve the precision of offset values.