High-Quality Video Streaming in Congested Networks

High-Quality Video Streaming in Congested Networks

January 17, 2011 By Mark Elson - Senior Editor

According to members of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and staff at Princeton University, ever-increasing video programs-all of which compete within limited Internet bandwidth-are deteriorating the quality of the video. This is something every computer user has encountered.

One of the solutions proposed is "Content-Aware Distortion-Fair (CAF). This algorithm allocates available bandwidth during periods of high congestion by applying a frame-drop distortion metric, which maximizes video playback. When sharing resources-such as bandwidth, the video clips can help each other to get a fair quality-of-service or less-perceived distortion (i.e., lazy sequence helps out busy sequence).

The Streaming Media Systems Group, a collaboration between Hewlett-Packard Labs and Stanford University, is also working on an advance in streaming technology called "Rate-Distortion Optimized" (RaDiO). The goal: to maximize video quality at the receiver end while overcoming frame loss and buffering delays.

To read the Princeton White Paper, click here and bring your calculator: