Impact of Frame Loss Position on Transmitted Video Quality: Models and Improvements

This paper addresses the question of whether or not the specific packet/frame lost, and in particular, its relative position toward the I-frames influences the quality of transmitted compressed video. We focus on the QCIF size video frame, one of the most pervasive video formats across the Internet and cellular systems. Using the average Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) of the received coded video to measure the amount of distortion, we demonstrate that the interval between the lost frame and the last I-frame does have a significant effect on the resulting quality. Further, after investigating the probability of different burst loss lengths in noisy environments, where the duration of data loss is almost constant, we propose a method to improve performance of video streaming over the noisy channels based on packet scheduling, without requiring an increase in the bit rate.