Statistical characterization of variable bit rate MPEG-1 encoded video streams

We present a study of the statistical properties of variable bit rate MPEG-1 encoded video streams. We have examined home video quality PAL sequences. Three sequences were considered in this paper. The first two sequences were from an Egyptian movie (Al Maseer); selected to have different degrees of motion and scene changes. The third one was from a camera-recorded lecture at our lab, showing the instructor moving in front of a white board. These were selected because of the different degree of scene changes within each of them. The experimental setup used to collect the data is illustrated. Frame size traces are gathered from these sequences and statistically analyzed. The goodness of fit of these traces with commonly used statistical distributions is investigated and a good fit probability distribution is determined. Also the autocorrelation properties of these traces are investigated. Such studies are very important in network design and performance analysis.