Video Testing
Video services have gained immense popularity in the past few years.
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Video services have gained immense popularity in the past few years. They can be broadly classified into two categories: Video Conferencing and Video Streaming aka broadcasting. Their demand has skyrocketed in the last few months when the world is under siege due to the prevailing pandemic.
Live video conferencing tools, like MS teams, Zoom, Google Hangouts, Skype, etc, are being used extensively these days for conducting meetings and scheduling web-based conferences.
The education field has started depending highly on various eLearning platforms, besides leveraging the video conferencing tools.
Equipped with smartphones and access to the internet, the rate of consumption of video on demand is overwhelming too, be it sports, music, movies, news, or documentaries. It gives the flexibility to watch videos on the move at the time of your choice.
The surge in demand and usage, in general, puts a high load on the content delivery and management infrastructure. In order to appease the current customer base and entice new ones, the product and service providers need to maintain & upgrade current infrastructure, besides introducing new measures to provide consistent and high-quality services. This gives rise to the need of having a good video testing process in place.
Why do we need video testing?
Imagine a scenario when an important point is being discussed in a meeting/class and the video gets paused, or the picture gets pixelated, or the voice is not clearly audible. It adversely impacts the whole user experience.
The performance of the whole ecosystem of video services is vital for continued customer satisfaction and loyalty. Like every other technology, video testing is extremely important to ensure that the end-user gets maximum out of his/her investment in the tech he/she paid for. This task is considerably tough keeping in mind the rate at which the hardware (mobiles, televisions, tablets, etc.) are upgraded and the content demand keeps going up.
The video content is dynamic in nature, coupled with the wide range of receiving hardware makes it a challenging task. Hence, it is imperative to have a well-outlined video testing process in place.
Video streaming performance metrics
Video testing also aids in analyzing the impact of actual usage during peak times by measuring various performance metrics, thereby ensuring that the end-users can have an uninterrupted experience. These metrics form the baseline for video testing.
- Bit Rate: The pixelated picture and impeded speech are classic symptoms of low quality video streaming. Take a look at the following snapshot of stills from a video. It is easy to spot the difference in quality of both.
Ever wondered why this happens? The culprit is “Bit Rate”. The video quality is directly proportional to the bit rate. Higher the bit rate, better the quality, consequently larger the video file size.
Bit rate is measured as the number* of bits transmitted per second*. A higher bit rate does not necessarily translate into better quality viewing on the receiver’s end if the hardware is not equipped to process that.While bit rate can determine the quality of audio-visuals in terms of looks, it has another comrade called, Frames per second (FPS), which determines the smoothness of the video. Just imagine watching an intense sports live and the player moves around in spasmodic choppy motion because the frame rate was not ideal. Higher frame rate means smooth videos with crisp detailing.
