Metrics

alt

Updated Lessons for Video Quality Metrics Course

Moscow State University's Video Quality Measurement Tool analyzing five files. This program is featured in our video quality metrics course.

We’ve updated several lessons in our Video Quality Metrics course, including some relating to the Moscow State University Video Quality Measurement Tool.  The Moscow State University (MSU) Video Quality Measurement Tool (VQMT) is a tool that I use almost every day to analyze and compare encoded files. Our course, Computing and Using Video Quality Metrics: A Course for Encoding Professionals, …

Read More »

Free “Must-Have” Applications for Video Engineers

Here are the free “must-have” apps I install on every Windows computer (and three for-fee tools for deeper analysis).  I just received a new Dell Precision 7820 server and had to prepare it for video transcoding and analysis. Here are the tools I installed to get up and running. I present the list and links first and then a list …

Read More »

Additions and Updates to Video Quality Metrics Course

New lessons detail how to use FFMetrics; updated lessons on what VMAF is, how to compute VMAF with FFmpeg, and how to interpret VMAF scores. Just a quick note to let you know about new additions and updates to our course, Computing and Using Video Quality Metrics: A Course for Encoding Professionals, which teaches encoding professionals how to choose and …

Read More »

SVT-AV1 and Libaom Tune for PSNR by Default

As of June 22, 2022, libaom-AV1 and SVT-AV1 tune for PSNR by default, and libaom-AV1 doesn’t appear to have a mode that optimizes actual video quality. Be sure to verify and consider this when comparing the codecs to others. Most of the time with codec experimentation, a lapse in attention costs you hours, days, or weeks of re-encoding and re-testing, …

Read More »

Finding the Optimal Top Rung Data Rate

Table 2. Top-rung quality of these UGC and premium services.

The top rung of your encoding ladder is the most expensive to deliver, and in many regions, it’s also the most frequently viewed. Encode at too high a bit rate and you’re wasting money; encode too low, and you’re potentially reducing viewer quality of experience. This makes choosing the top rung bitrate a key task for all streaming producers. This …

Read More »

MSU Updates Video Quality Measurement Tool

Video Quality Measurement Tool

Moscow State University’s Video Quality Measurement Tool (MSU VQMT) is my go-to utility for computing and visualizing objective metrics like VMAF, PSNR, and SSIM. In version 13, MSU increased codec compatibility and metric performance, added new HDR metrics and display capabilities, and enhanced VQMT’s already best-in-class visualization tools. If you’re a VQMT user, it’s an essential upgrade. If you’re not, …

Read More »

Announcing Updates to Video Quality Metrics Course

Just a brief announcement that I’ve updated the course, Computing and Using Video Quality Metrics: A Course for Encoding Professionals, that teaches encoding professionals how to measure and apply metrics like VMAF, SSIMPLUS, MS SSIM, SSIM, and Apple’s AVQT. The updates include: Lessons on computing and applying Apple’s AVQT metric. A lesson on computing the weighted average bandwidth and quality …

Read More »

What are QoS and QoE?

Figure 1. How QoE and QoS interrelate. From here.

This article is derived from a lesson in Streaming Media 101: Technical Onboarding for Streaming Media Professionals. If you’re looking for an efficient way to get up to speed on key streaming terms, technologies, workflows, and best practices, check out the course here.  Companies distribute videos for a myriad of reasons; sometimes as the product, sometimes to sell or market …

Read More »

AVQT Compared to VMAF and SSIMPLUS

Author’s note: After completing this long and arduous post, Apple sent a note that I was interpolating their scores incorrectly, leading to more analysis shown as an addendum below.  What: This article compares Apple’s AVQT metric to VMAF and SSIMWAVE’s SSIMPLUS metrics, with very limited subjective testing from Subjectify.us. The testing was extremely limited as are the conclusions you should …

Read More »

Testing Video Quality With Apple AVQT

In the first article in this series, Baby Steps with Apple’s Advanced Video Quality Tool and Quality Metric, I detailed what Apple’s Advanced Video Quality Tool (AVQT) is and how to use it. In this article, I tested multiple video files with Apple AVQT and describe my user experience. In the next article, I’ll review how AVQT scoring compares to …

Read More »