A Method of Codec Comparison and Selection for Good Quality Video Transmission Over Limited-Bandwidth Networks

Abstract

Finding a proper balance between video quality and the required bandwidth is an important issue, especially in networks of limited capacity. The problem of comparing the efficiency of video codecs and choosing the most suitable one in a specific situation has become very important. This paper proposes a method of comparing video codecs while also taking into account objective quality assessment metrics. The author shows the process of preparing video footage, assessing its quality, determining the rate–distortion curves, and calculating the bitrate saving for pairs of examined codecs. Thanks to the use of the spline interpolation method, the obtained results are better than those previously presented in the literature, and more resistant to the quality metric used.

Keywords

• video quality assessment
• dynamic adaptive streaming
• MPEG DASH
• coding efficiency
• codec comparison
• spline interpolation