Subjective assessment of display stream compression for stereoscopic imagery

Abstract

AbstractHigh‐resolution display bandwidth requirements often now exceed the capacity of display link channels necessitating compression. The goal of visually lossless compression codecs such as VESA DSC 1.2 is that viewers perceive no difference between the compressed and uncompressed images, maintaining long‐standing expectations of a lossless display link. Such low impairment performance is difficult to validate as artifacts are at or below sensory threshold. We have developed a 3D version of the ISO/IEC 29170‐2 flicker paradigm and used it to compare the effects of image compression in flat images presented in the plane of the screen (2D) to compression in flat images with a disparity offset from the screen (3D). We hypothesized that differences in the location and size of the compression errors between the disparate images in the 3D case would affect their visibility. The results showed that artifacts were often less visible in 3D compared to 2D viewing. These findings have practical applications with respect to codec performance targets and algorithm development for 3D movie, animation, and virtual reality content. In particular, higher compression should be attainable in stereoscopic compared to equivalent 2D images because of increased tolerance to artifacts that are binocularly unmatched or have disparity relative to the screen.