Subjective video quality assessment applied to scalable video coding and transmission instability

Abstract

This paper presents a study of subjective quality of scalable video sequences, coded using the scalable extension of the H.264 standard (SVC). A group of experiments was performed to measure, primarily, the effects that the transmission instability has in the video quality and the relationship between the three scalability methods (spatial, temporal and quality) in terms of subjective quality. The decisions taken to model the tests were based on layered transmission systems that use protocols for adaptability and congestion control. To run the subjective assessments we used the ACRHRR methodology and recommendations given by ITU-R Rec. BT.500 and ITU-T Rec. P.910. The results show that the instability modeled does not cause signifficant alterations on the overall video quality when compared to a stable video and that temporal scalability usually produces videos with worse quality than spatial and quality scalabilities, the latter being the one with the better quality.