Subjective evaluation of a 3D videoconferencing system

A shortcoming of traditional videoconferencing systems is that they present the user with a flat, two-dimensional image of the remote participants. Recent advances in autostereoscopic display technology now make it possible to develop video conferencing systems supporting true binocular depth perception. In this paper, we present a subjective evaluation of a prototype multiview autostereoscopic video conferencing system and suggest a number of possible improvements based on the results. Whereas methods for subjective evaluation of traditional 2D videoconferencing systems are well established, the introduction of 3D requires an extension of the test procedures to assess the quality of depth perception. For this purpose, two depth-based test tasks have been designed and experiments have been conducted with test subjects comparing the 3D system to a conventional 2D video conferencing system. The outcome of the experiments show that the perception of depth is significantly improved in the 3D system, but the overall quality of experience is higher in the 2D system.