When transferring and processing stored material from a camcorder disk to a computer, users often worry about the digital video quality. The problem comes from the fact that digital video quality can be distorted or impaired during processing, even if the incidence rate for deterioration is much lower as compared to analog videos for example. At present, a lot of emphasis is put on the possibility to evaluate digital video quality for a number of applications.

According to expert criteria, you can evaluate the digital video quality by analyzing different sequences from the database. From this point of view, the performance of a certain system depends on the dynamic features of the input video signal, which includes the spatial and the amount of motion in the video. The objective approximation of digital video quality is performed by mathematical models based on metrics. When such data is introduced in a computer program, it can then be measured and reported objectively.

Among the traditional ways of determining digital video quality we can mention the peak signal-to-noise ratio or the simple signal-to-noise ratio; multimedia applications use both types of services for very practical and relevant results. More tests are sometimes needed to determine the digital video quality for compression-decompression. The average consumer will never perform such time consuming tests; they are only used by professionals and strictly for specific tasks.

As for subjective digital video quality this is actually the viewer’s opinion on a video that has passed through processing. Normally, some parameters have to be followed, but there are other procedures available too, such as exposing a group of viewers to a sequence of images. The evaluation is performed per sequence and the reactions and opinions are recorded for analysis. Regardless of the evaluation method, quality digital video camera is always superior to analog videos. And the quality is all the more relevant for larger visuals than for smaller ones.