Adjusting forward error correction with quality scaling for streaming MPEG

Abstract

Packet loss can severely impact streaming video quality. Repair techniques protect streaming video from packet loss but at the price of a reduced effective transmission rate when streaming a flow in a capacity constrained situation. This paper proposes an algorithm that optimizes the choice of Forward Error Correction (FEC) to repair packet loss for streaming MPEG videos under a capacity constraint with quality scaling. An analytic model is developed to estimate the video quality of streaming MPEG given a quality scaling level and a specific FEC strength. Given network conditions in terms of packet loss rate, the model searches the total variable space to find the combination of FEC and scaling that yields the optimal quality under the capacity constraint. Analysis over a range of network conditions indicates that adjusting FEC with quality scaling provides significant performance improvement.