Techniques are discussed herein for providing mechanisms for coding and transmitting high definition video, e.g., over low bandwidth connections. In particular, foreground-objects are identified as distinct from the background of a scene represented by a plurality of video frames. In identifying foreground-objects, semantically significant and semantically insignificant movement (e.g., non-repetitive versus repetitive movement) is differentiated. For example, the swaying motion of a tree's leaves being minor and repetitive, can be determined to be semantically insignificant and to belong in a scene's background. Processing of the foreground-objects and background proceed at different update rates or frequencies. For example, foreground-objects can be updated 30 or 60 times per second. By contrast, a background is updated less frequently, e.g., once every 10 seconds. In some implementations, if no foreground-objects are identified, no live video is transmitted (e.g., if no motion is detected, static images are not configured to be repeatedly sent). Techniques described herein take advantage of the realization that, in the area of surveillance and wireless communications, updating video of semantically significant movement at a high frame rate is sufficient.