The Quality of Experience (QoE) refers to the smooth transition of videos without any buffering events or quality shifts. Quality shift refers to the change in quality during a streaming session, for example, when streaming in HD 1080 suddenly drops to 144p; this transition is often referred to as quality degradation, but it is also known as a quality shift. In recent days, frequent quality shifting has been affecting QoE, typically when it occurs from higher to lower resolutions. This process aims for a smooth transition; however, it may result in a lower Mean Opinion Score (MOS). For instance, dropping from 1080p (HD) to 144p during a video can preserve continuity but may reduce the viewer’s enjoyment, as seen in Fig. 1. Over time, OTT platforms and network providers are seeking alternative ways to enhance user experience, rather than relying solely on traditional Quality of Service (QoS) metrics, such as bandwidth, latency, and throughput. In this work, we investigate the impact of wireless metrics, such as RSRP, RSRQ, and SNR, as an alternative to traditional metrics to examine the relationship between quality shifting in YouTube streaming sessions for both 2D and 360-degree videos. Our findings indicate a positive correlation between RSRP, RSRQ, and SNR and the objective QoE of 2D videos. In contrast, only SNR in 360-degree videos indicates strong statistical significance. We also used machine learning classifiers to categorize the video into two classes: lower and higher resolutions. We achieved an accuracy of (77%) while using only RSRP, RSRQ, and SNR for 2D. In the era of 5G and beyond, where ultra-reliable, low-latency networks promise enhanced streaming capabilities, the proposed methodology can be used to improve QoE.
