Defining the Users Perception of Distributed Multimedia Quality

In our study, we explore the human side of the multimedia experience. The authors propose a model that assesses quality variation from three distinct levels: the network-, the mediaand the content-levels; and from two views: the technicaland the user-perspective. By facilitating parameter variation at each of the quality levels and from each of the perspectives, we were able to examine their impact on user quality perception. Results show that: a significant reduction in frame rate does not proportionally reduce the user's understanding of the presentation, independent of technical parameters; the type of video clip significantly impacts user information assimilation, user level of enjoyment and user perception of quality; the display type impacts user information assimilation and user perception of quality. Finally, to ensure transfer of informational content, network parameter variation should be adapted; to maintain user enjoyment, video content variation should be adapted.