Toolset Provides ITU-Based Video Quality Testing

With the help of an algorithm recently recommended by the ITU-T, the Q-Master2 toolset from Silicon Valley-based QoE Systems measures video quality using a single metric: the Mean Opinion Score (MOS) that gauges video quality as perceived by an actual viewer.

The Q-Master2 uses predetermined video clips for testing while also enabling the use of the algorithm for live streams with a "Real Time Reference" function. “This makes it possible to accurately test and monitor broadcast signals,” the company says.

The ITU background: In January 2011, the ITU-T released Recommendation J.341 that included psycho-visual metrics to accurately predict the MOS. Its recommendation for a proprietary algorithm, VQuad, came out "head and shoulders" above any of the 14 candidate algorithms, including those from the leading companies working in the field, QoE Systems says. In addition, the J.341 recommendation test scores have as much as a 92-percent correlation with subjective scores.

According to QoE Systems, all of its products use such ITU perceptual algorithms as PESQ to test and measure multimedia quality from the end-user perspective.