Implementation and evaluation of packet loss concealment schemes with the JM reference software

Communication over today’s IP-based networks are to some extent subject to packet loss. Most real-time applications, such as video streaming, need methods to hide this effect, since resending lost packets may introduce unacceptable delays. For IP-based video streaming applications such a method is referred to as a packet loss concealment scheme. In this thesis a recently proposed mixture model and least squares-based packet loss concealment scheme is implemented and evaluated together with three more well known concealment methods. The JM reference software is used as basis for the implementation, which is a public available software codec for the H.264 video coding standard. The evaluation is carried out by comparing the schemes in terms of objective measurements, subjective observations and a study with human observers. The recently proposed packet loss concealment scheme shows good performance with respect to the objective measures, and careful observations indicate better concealment of scenes with fast motion and rapidly changing video content. The study with human observers verifies the results for the case when a more sophisticated packetization technique is used. A new packet loss concealment scheme, based on joint modeling of motion vectors and pixels, is also investigated in the last chapter as an additional contribution of the thesis.