With the proliferation of smartphone and tablet devices, consumers have the ability to satisfy their video cravings at all times. The challenge for network operators, however, is to deliver video quality that matches expectations. This quality is dependent upon a number of variables that the operator may or may not control.

This recent Dialogic (News - Alert) white paper explored the concept of video quality and the reality that each person has certain expectations when it comes to their viewing experience. This level of expectations can vary among viewers, depending upon the cost of their service, the type of content requested and the type of device used for viewing.

To truly deliver a quality experience for the viewer, the service provider must be able to meet their video quality expectations. As mobile video tends to be the platform of choice, it is important that the service provider or network operator understand how to measure video quality and make improvements where necessary.

Telecommunications carriers in the past relied on a number of different methods to measure for the Quality of Service (QoS) for the video and audio data delivered to the customer base. Many of these methods relied on measuring the quality of the underlying network used for transport. Carriers believed if they identified fault areas or issues, they can improve video quality for all users. 

This way of thinking has been challenged in recent years as the concept of QoS is gaining in importance in the service provider environment. Outpacing QoS, however, in terms of video quality is the Quality of Experience (QoE). This approach considers much more than just the performance of the network. Instead, QoE assess the overall experience the customer has when accessing and using services provided by the carrier.

One important concept in driving QoE and understanding video quality is to understand how to properly quantify quality. This concept for many is subjective, yet in the telecommunications and media space, it has been measured objectively for years. To truly capture the quality of the multimedia content, the industry relies on the Mean Opinion Score (MOS). The MOS is a numeric value between one and five, with five representing the highest quality. It is used primarily for audio content, but has been recently used to measure video quality. 

Issues within the transport network can cause video quality issues for the consumer and older networks are not really well-suited for video transmission. True video quality issues are introduced during video creation, during transcoding, during video transmission and when displaying video on the device. Issues can include blockiness, blurriness, freezing, jerkiness, blackout and audio sync issues.

To truly drive the optimal video quality experience for all users, network operators can carriers need to expand their networks to support delivery and understand the challenges that can occur between creation and consumption.

Dialogic is a Platinum sponsor of ITEXPO West 2011. To be held Sept. 13-15 in Austin, TX, ITEXPO (News - Alert) is the world’s premier IP communications event. Visit Dialogic in booth #407. Don’t wait. Register now.  

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Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell