Packet Reordering Effects on the Subjective Quality of Broadband Digital Television

Several assessment sessions involving human observers were conducted on the output of a laboratory broadband digital television system to examine how packet reordering could affect the audiovisual subjective quality. Besides packet reordering extent, the system was also varied in set-top box, accompanying operating system, and content genre. It was found that current receivers are similarly exposed to the impairment and that their output quality becomes intolerable for more than 0.12% of reordered packets. Also, high-motion content appears more vulnerable to packet reordering. These findings suggest that packet reordering is a valid threat to broadband digital television, so we briefly discuss a few protective measures