Abstract: A client on a packet based network is provided with a stream of encoded video data. The system is maximizes the bit-rate of the video stream by adapting to fluctuations in network capacity. Adaptation of the bit-rate of the transmitted enclosed video data is timed to occur upon a scene change in the video sequence. In this way the interruption to the viewer when the perceived quality of the video sequence increases or decreases is minimized as it is ‘hidden’ in the scene change. The technique may be applied to hierarchically encoded video data and to other encoding technique which adapt to network conditions.

Abstract: A technique is described for providing a client on a packet based network with a stream of encoded video data. The system is able to maximise the bit-rate of the video stream by adapting to fluctuations in network capacity. The technique is characterised in that adaptation of the bit-rate of the transmitted encoded video data is timed to occur upon a scene change in the video sequence. In this way the interruption to the viewer when the perceived quality of the video sequence increases or decreases is minimised as it is ‘hidden’ in the scene change. The technique is described as applied to hierarchically encoded video data but equally may be applied to other encoding techniques which adapt to network conditions.