Subjective evaluation of low resolution tune-in streams for IPTV fast channel change

Tune-in streams are a promising method to enable fast channel change in an IPTV environment. In this approach, two streams with different encodings of one channel are multicast in parallel. The tune-in stream is used after the channel change for a short transition period. This paper investigates the subjective quality of experience during a channel change when using a low resolution transition period. We present a method to measure the user acceptance for different combinations of response time, transition time and transition quality and present results from a subjective test. The results indicate that users accept a transition period for short response times. A transition period of two seconds at a response time of a half second is rated above tune-in to full quality with one-second response time.