Subjective Quality of Mobile MPEG-4 Videos with Different Frame Rates

In this study we investigate the influence of the video frame rate on the subjective quality of digital video. MPEG-4 videos showing content of different type and frame rates, and having a resolution typically used in mobile environments, have been shown to a test audience, which then rated the subjectively perceived quality of the videos. The resulting mean opinion score (MOS) then indicates for given bitrates, which frame rate is optimal for the used videos. We show that in contrast to classical assumptions, the optimal frame rate often is as low as 10 or even 5 frames per second.