Impact of Packet Losses on the Quality of Video Streaming

Abstract: In this thesis, the impact of packet losses on the quality of received videos sent across a network that exhibit normal network perturbations such as jitters, delays, packet drops etc has been examined. Dynamic behavior of a normal network has been simulated using Linux and the Network Emulator (NetEm). Peoples’ perceptions on the quality of the received video were used in rating the qualities of several videos with differing speeds. In accordance with ITU’s guideline of using Mean Opinion Scores (MOS), the effects of packet drops were analyzed. Excel and Matlab were used as tools in analyzing the peoples’ opinions which indicates the impacts that different loss rates has on the transmitted videos. Statistical methods used for evaluation of data are mean and variance. We conclude that people have convergence of opinions when losses become extremely high on videos with highly variable scene changes