Adaptive Video Streaming With H.264 SP Frames

Abstract

In this work, SP frames of the extended profile of H.264 AVC video codec are utilized to obtain efficient switching for actual video streaming experiments on the Internet. An adaptive algorithm is developed and by using this algorithm, performance of SP frames is compared with that of standard I-frame switching. Detailed measurements of network conditions are given for each experiment to indicate that comparisons are carried out in fair conditions. It has been observed that, under certain conditions, SP frames can improve performance considerably whereas in the others, they may only introduce overhead. Based on this observation different GOP patterns are proposed for different video type-congestion level combinations.