On the impact of quality adaptation in SVC-based P2P video-on-demand systems

Abstract

P2P Video-on-Demand (VoD) based on Scalable Video Coding (SVC) (the scalable extension of the H.264/AVC standard) is gaining momentum in the research community, as it provides elegant adaptation to heterogeneous resources and network dynamics. The major question is, how do the adaptation algorithms and designs affect the overall perceived performance of the system? Better yet, how can the performance of an SVC-based VoD system be defined? This paper explores the impact and trade-offs of SVC-based quality adaptation with focus on the SVC layer selection algorithms, which are performed at different streaming stages. We carry out extensive experiments to evaluate the performance in terms of session quality (start-up delay, video stalls) and delivered SVC video quality (layer switches, received layers), and find out that these two metrics exhibit a trade-off. Our analysis and conclusions give multimedia providers insights on how to design and fine-tune their VoD system in order to achieve best performance.