User experience evaluation study on the quality of 1K, 2K, and 4K H.265/HEVC video content

Nowadays, most content creators focus on distributing rich media at the highest possible resolution. Currently, the majority of sold consoles, media players, computer hardware, as well as displays and TVs are advertised as 4K-compatible. The same trend is observed in the case of popular online streaming services and terrestrial TV broadcasts. Generally speaking, it is assumed that higher bitrates provide higher subjective judgements. In this paper, we present the results of a user experience (UX) evaluation study on the quality of video content coded and transmitted in different resolutions in the internet protocol (IP) environment. The image resolutions include 1K (1920×1080 pixels; full-HD), 2K (2560×1440 pixels; wide-QHD), and 4K (3840×2160 pixels; ultra-HD) content that are processed in the H.265/HEVC (high-efficiency video coding) format. A subjective evaluation is carried out in a laboratory consisting of 20 iMacs with a 21.5-inch 4K Retina (4096×2304 pixels) display. The group of viewers included 28 individuals aged between 21‒35 years old, comprising people with and without visual impairments. The obtained UX results are compared with previous experiments, including both objective quality of service (QoS) and subjective quality of experience (QoE), as well as the impact of downscaling to 1K from 2K and 4K. The outcomes of this study may be of particular interest to any party interested in video content processing and distribution, as well as consumption and storage.

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Opracowanie rekordu ze środków MNiSW, umowa nr SONP/SP/546092/2022 w ramach programu "Społeczna odpowiedzialność nauki" - moduł: Popularyzacja nauki i promocja sportu (2024).