Insufficient Playout Buffer Size

Problem Description

Video frame types vary considerably in size, and hence the playout buffer in the set-top box can vary in fill level.  Using a long playout buffer could potentially impact other factors such as channel change delay in some systems, and has cost implications resulting from memory requirements.   

If the playout buffer size is insufficient then packet discard will result from buffer overflow during bandwidth peaks.

Symptoms

A high rate of packet discard within the set-top box is a strong indicator of insufficient playout buffer size.  This will lead to severe video quality degradation.

Resolution

Reconfigure the playout buffer to be larger than the GoP size.

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