Claire Mantel

Comparing subjective and objective quality assessment of HDR images compressed with JPEG-XT

In this paper a subjective test in which participants evaluate the quality of JPEG-XT compressed HDR images is presented. Results show that for the selected test images and display, the subjective quality reached its saturation point starting around 3bpp. Objective evaluations are obtained by applying a model of the display and providing the modeled images to three objective metrics dedicated to HDR content. Objective grades are compared with subjective data both in physical domain and using a gamma correction to approximate perceptually uniform luminance coding. The MRSE metric obtains the best performance with the limit that it does not capture the quality saturation. The usage of the gamma correction prior to applying metrics depends on the characteristics of each objective metric.

An objective method for High Dynamic Range source content selection

With the aim of improving the immersive experience of the end user, High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging has been gaining popularity. Therefore, proper validation and performance benchmarking of HDR processing algorithms is a key step towards standardization and commercial deployment. A crucial component of such validation studies is the selection of a challenging and balanced set of source (reference) HDR content. In order to facilitate this, we present an objective method based on the premise that a more challenging HDR scene encapsulates higher contrast, and as a result will show up more visible errors on contrast reduction. This information is subsequently analyzed via fuzzy clustering to enable a probabilistic interpretation. To evaluate the proposed approach, we performed an experimental study on a large set of publicly available HDR images.

Modeling the Subjective Quality of Highly Contrasted Videos Displayed on LCD With Local Backlight Dimming

Local backlight dimming is a technology aiming at both saving energy and improving visual quality on television sets. As the rendition of the image is specified locally, the numerical signal corresponding to the displayed image needs to be computed through a model of the display. This simulated signal can then be used as input to objective quality metrics. The focus of this paper is on determining which characteristics of locally backlit displays influence quality assessment. A subjective experiment assessing the quality of highly contrasted videos displayed with various local backlight-dimming algorithms is set up. Subjective results are then compared with both objective measures and objective quality metrics using different display models. The first analysis indicates that the most significant objective features are temporal variations, power consumption (probably representing leakage), and a contrast measure. The second analysis shows that modeling of leakage is necessary for objective quality assessment of sequences displayed with local backlight dimming.

Adaptive local backlight dimming algorithm based on local histogram and image characteristics

Liquid Crystal Display (LCDs) with Light Emitting Diode (LED) backlight is a very popular display technology, used for instance in television sets, monitors and mobile phones. This paper presents a new backlight dimming algorithm that exploits the characteristics of the target image, such as the local histograms and the average pixel intensity of each backlight segment, to reduce the power consumption of the backlight and enhance image quality. The local histogram of the pixels within each backlight segment is calculated and, based on this average, an adaptive quantile value is extracted. A classification into three classes based on the average luminance value is performed and, depending on the image luminance class, the extracted information on the local histogram determines the corresponding backlight value. The proposed method has been applied on two modeled screens: one with a high resolution direct-lit backlight, and the other screen with 16 edge-lit backlight segments placed in two columns and eight rows. We have compared the proposed algorithm against several known backlight dimming algorithms by simulations; and the results show that the proposed algorithm provides better trade-off between power consumption and image quality preservation than the other algorithms representing the state of the art among feature based backlight algorithms.

Subjective quality of videos displayed with local backlight dimming at different peak white and ambient light levels

In this paper the influence of ambient light and peak white (maximum brightness) of a display on the subjective quality of videos shown with local backlight dimming is examined. A subjective experiment investigating those factors is set-up using high contrast test sequences. The results are firstly analyzed with an ANalysis Of VAriance, which shows significant effect of the Sequence and Algorithms interactions and the Peak White and Ambient Light interactions. This latter allows us to define test cases for which the peak white and ambient light are adapted to one another. An objective model of the subjective grades is then computed using Partial Least Squares regression that achieves 0.68 correlation.

Subjective quality of video sequences rendered on LCD with local backlight dimming at different lighting conditions

This paper focuses on the influence of ambient light on the perceived quality of videos displayed on Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) with local backlight dimming. A subjective test assessing the quality of videos with two backlight dimming methods and three lighting conditions, i.e. no light, low light level (5 lux) and higher light level (60 lux) was organized to collect subjective data. Results show that participants prefer the method exploiting local dimming possibilities to the conventional full backlight but that this preference varies depending on the ambient light level. The clear preference for one method at the low light conditions decreases at the high ambient light, confirming that the ambient light significantly attenuates the perception of the leakage defect (light leaking through dark pixels). Results are also highly dependent on the content of the sequence, which can modulate the effect of the ambient light from having an important influence on the quality grades to no influence at all.

Investigating subjective attributes of quality for videos displayed with local backlight dimming

This paper investigates what composes the quality of videos displayed on LCD with local backlight dimming. In a subjective experiment, participants assessed the level of nine attributes defined using the Qualitative Descriptive Analysis method. Results show that three attributes (Contrast, Change over time and Grain) vary significantly depending on the backlight dimming algorithm. Predicting global quality grades from the attributes using Partial Least Square (PLS) regression does not provide satisfying results. However, the attributes can be represented through objective measures and a similar model mixing attributes and one objective measure can predict global quality satisfyingly.

Modeling the leakage of LCD displays with local backlight for quality assessment

The recent technique of local backlight dimming has a significant impact on the quality of images displayed with a LCD screen with LED local dimming. Therefore it represents a necessary step in the quality assessment chain, independently from the other processes applied to images. This paper investigates the modeling of one of the major spatial artifacts produced by local dimming: leakage. Leakage appears in dark areas when the backlight level is too high for LC cells to block sufficiently and the final displayed brightness is higher than it should. A subjective quality experiment was run on videos displayed on LCD TV with local backlight dimming viewed from a 0° and 15° angles. The subjective results are then compared objective data using different leakage models: constant over the whole display or horizontally varying and three leakage factor (no leakage, measured at 0° and 15° respectively). Results show that for dark sequences accounting for the leakage artifact in the display model is definitely an improvement. Approximating that leakage is constant over the screen seems valid when viewing from a 15° angle while using a horizontally varying model might prove useful for 0° viewing.

Subjective comparison of brightness preservation methods for local backlight dimming displays

Local backlight dimming is a popular technology in high quality Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs). In those displays, the backlight is composed of contributions from several individually adjustable backlight segments, set at different backlight luminance levels in different parts of the screen, according to the luma of the target image displayed on LCD. Typically, transmittance of the liquid crystal cells (pixels) located in the regions with dimmed backlight is increased in order to preserve their relative brightness with respect to the pixels located in the regions with bright backlight. There are different methods for brightness preservation for local backlight dimming displays, producing images with different visual characteristics. In this study, we have implemented, analyzed and evaluated several different approaches for brightness preservation, and conducted a subjective study based on rank ordering to compare the relevant methods on a real-life LCD with a local backlight dimming capability. In general, our results show that locally adapted brightness preservation methods produce more preferred visual outcome than global methods, but dependency on the content is also observed. Based on the results, guidelines for selecting the perceptually preferred brightness preservation method for local backlight dimming displays are outlined.

Modeling the Quality of Videos Displayed With Local Dimming Backlight at Different Peak White and Ambient Light Levels

This paper investigates the impact of ambient light and peak white (maximum brightness of a display) on the perceived quality of videos displayed using local backlight dimming. Two subjective tests providing quality evaluations are presented and analyzed. The analyses of variance show significant interactions of the factors peak white and ambient light with the perceived quality. Therefore, we proceed to predict the subjective quality grades with objective measures. The rendering of the frames on liquid crystal displays with light emitting diodes backlight at various ambient light and peak white levels is computed using a model of the display. Widely used objective quality metrics are applied based on the rendering models of the videos to predict the subjective evaluations. As these predictions are not satisfying, three machine learning methods are applied: partial least square regression, elastic net, and support vector regression. The elastic net method obtains the best prediction accuracy with a spearman rank order correlation coefficient of 0.71, and two features are identified as having a major influence on the visual quality.