Scalable Internet video streaming with unequal error protection

We present a transmission scheme for Internet video streaming that provides an acceptable video quality over a wide range of connection qualities. The proposed system consists of a scalable video coder which uses a fully standard compatible H.263 coder in its base layer. The scalable video coder is combined with unequal error protection using Reed-Solomon codes applied across packets. A theoretical framework which relates packet loss of an unequally protected layered video stream to picture quality at the decoder is presented. Simulation results show that, with our approach, the picture quality of a streamed video degrades gracefully as the packet loss probability ofanInternet connection increases.