Reduced reference image and video quality assessments: review of methods

With the growing demand for image and video-based applications, the requirements of consistent quality assessment metrics of image and video have increased. Different approaches have been proposed in the literature to estimate the perceptual quality of images and videos. These approaches can be divided into three main categories; full reference (FR), reduced reference (RR) and no-reference (NR). In RR methods, instead of providing the original image or video as a reference, we need to provide certain features (i.e., texture, edges, etc.) of the original image or video for quality assessment. During the last decade, RR-based quality assessment has been a popular research area for a variety of applications such as social media, online games, and video streaming. In this paper, we present review and classification of the latest research work on RR-based image and video quality assessment. We have also summarized different databases used in the field of 2D and 3D image and video quality assessment. This paper would be helpful for specialists and researchers to stay well-informed about recent progress of RR-based image and video quality assessment. The review and classification presented in this paper will also be useful to gain understanding of multimedia quality assessment and state-of-the-art approaches used for the analysis. In addition, it will help the reader select appropriate quality assessment methods and parameters for their respective applications.

A Motion Estimation based Algorithm for Encoding Time Reduction in HEVC

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) is a video compression standard that offers 50% more efficiency at the expense of high encoding time contrasted with the H.264 Advanced Video Coding (AVC) standard. The encoding time must be reduced to satisfy the needs of real-time applications. This paper has proposed the Multi- Level Resolution Vertical Subsampling (MLRVS) algorithm to reduce the encoding time. The vertical subsampling minimizes the number of Sum of Absolute Difference (SAD) computations during the motion estimation process. The complexity reduction algorithm is also used for fast coding the coefficients of the quantised block using a flag decision. Two distinct search patterns are suggested: New Cross Diamond Diamond (NCDD) and New Cross Diamond Hexagonal (NCDH) search patterns, which reduce the time needed to locate the motion vectors. In this paper, the MLRVS algorithm with NCDD and MLRVS algorithm with NCDH search patterns are simulated separately and analyzed. The results show that the encoding time of the encoder is decreased by 55% with MLRVS algorithm using NCDD search pattern and 56% with MLRVS using NCDH search pattern compared to HM16.5 with Test Zone (TZ) search algorithm. These results are achieved with a slight increase in bit rate and negligible deterioration in output video quality.

Research on Video Quality Evaluation of Sparring Motion Based on BPNN Perception

The quality of boxing video is affected by many factors. For example, it needs to be compressed and encoded before transmission. In the process of transmission, it will encounter network conditions such as packet loss and jitter, which will affect the video quality. Combined with the proposed nine characteristic parameters affecting video quality, this paper proposes an architecture of video quality evaluation system. Aiming at the compression damage and transmission damage of leisure sports video, a video quality evaluation algorithm based on BP neural network (BPNN) is proposed. A specific Wushu video quality evaluation algorithm system is implemented. The system takes the result of feature engineering of 9 feature parameters of boxing video as the input and the subjective quality score of video as the training output. The mapping relationship is established by BPNN algorithm, and the objective evaluation quality of boxing video is finally obtained. The results show that using the neural network analysis model, the characteristic parameters of compression damage and transmission damage used in this paper can get better evaluation results. Compared with the comparison algorithm, the accuracy of the video quality evaluation method proposed in this paper has been greatly improved. The subjective characteristics of users are evaluated quantitatively and added to the objective video quality evaluation model in this paper, so as to make the video evaluation more accurate and closer to users.

Adaptive Computation Offloading for Mobile Augmented Reality

Augmented reality (AR) underpins many emerging mobile applications, but it increasingly requires more computation power for better machine understanding and user experience. While computation offloading promises a solution for high-quality and interactive mobile AR, existing methods work best for high-definition videos but cannot meet the real-time requirement for emerging 4K videos due to the long uploading latency. We introduce ACTOR, a novel computation-offloading framework for 4K mobile AR. To reduce the uploading latency, ACTOR dynamically and judiciously downscales the mobile video feed to be sent to the remote server. On the server-side, it leverages image super-resolution technology to scale back the received video so that high-quality object detection, tracking and rendering can be performed on the full 4K resolution. ACTOR employs machine learning to predict which of the downscaling resolutions and super-resolution configurations should be used, by taking into account the video content, server processing delay, and user expected latency. We evaluate ACTOR by applying it to over 2,000 4K video clips across two typical WiFi network settings. Extensive experimental results show that ACTOR consistently and significantly outperforms competitive methods for simultaneously meeting the latency and user-perceived video quality requirements.

User Quality of Experience (QoE) Satisfaction for Video Content Selection (VCS) Framework in Smartphone Devices

Video streaming is widely available nowadays. Moreover, since the pandemic hit all across the globe, many people stayed home and used streaming services for news, education, and entertainment. However, when streaming in session, user Quality of Experience (QoE) is unsatisfied with the video content selection while streaming on smartphone devices. Users are often irritated by unpredictable video quality format displays on their smartphone devices. In this paper, we proposed a framework video selection scheme that targets to increase QoE user satisfaction. We used a video content selection algorithm to map the video selection that satisfies the user the most regarding streaming quality. Video Content Selection (VCS) are classified into video attributes groups. The level of VCS streaming will gradually decrease to consider the least video selection that users will not accept depending on video quality. To evaluate the satisfaction level, we used the Mean Opinion Score (MOS) to measure the adaptability of user acceptance towards video streaming quality. The final results show that the proposed algorithm shows that the user satisfies the video selection, by altering the video attributes.

A Video Quality Testing : Review of Human Visual Aspect

Various types of video player applications have been widely used by the community. The emergence of the latest version and a variety of features make people need to make a choice to use a video player application with a good visual level. The type of video that is often played is a file with an MP4 extension. This file type is not heavy but is usually intended for long file durations such as movies. In this paper, we will use a dataset in the form of a movie file with an MP4 extension. The video player applications used include VLC, Quick time, Potplayer, KMPLayer, Media Player Classic (MPC), DivX Player, ACG Player, Kodi, MediaMonkey. Through various empirical calculations, such as Mean Square Error (MSE), Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Structutral Similarity Index Measurement (SSIM), Threshold F-ratio, Visual Signal to Noise Ratio (VSNR), Visual Quality Metric (VQM), and Multiscale - Structutral Similarity Index Measurement (MS-SSIM) has analyzed the visual capabilities of each video player application. Experimental results prove that the KMPlayer application gets the best visual results compared to other selected applications.