Encoder-Quantization-Motion-based Video Quality Metrics

Abstract

In an adaptive bitrate streaming application, the efficiency of video compression and the encoded video quality depend on both the video codec and the quality metric used to perform encoding optimization. The development of such a quality metric need large scale subjective datasets. In this work we merge several datasets into one to support the creation of a metric tailored for video compression and scaling. We proposed a set of HEVC lightweight features to boost performance of the metrics. Our metrics can be computed from tightly coupled encoding process with 4% compute overhead or from the decoding process in real-time. The proposed method can achieve better correlation than VMAF and P.1204.3. It can extrapolate to different dynamic ranges, and is suitable for real-time video quality metrics delivery in the bitstream. The performance is verified by in-distribution and cross-dataset tests. This work paves the way for adaptive client-side heuristics, real-time segment optimization, dynamic bitrate capping, and quality-dependent post-processing neural network switching, etc.Comment: Accepted at Picture Coding Symposium 202