Power Reduction Opportunities on End-User Devices in Quality-Steady Video Streaming

TL;DR

This study analyzes how end-user devices can reduce power consumption during quality-steady video streaming by exploring various strategies like device choice, codecs, and quality limits, achieving over 55% potential savings.

Contribution

It extends prior research by investigating diverse power-saving methods beyond parameter optimization, including device and codec choices, using a large crowdsourced dataset.

Findings

Devices could save over 55% of power with low-power settings

Power savings are feasible across different devices and codecs

Potential for significant energy efficiency improvements in streaming

Abstract

This paper uses a crowdsourced dataset of online video streaming sessions to investigate opportunities to reduce the power consumption while considering QoE. For this, we base our work on prior studies which model both the end-user's QoE and the end-user device's power consumption with the help of high-level video features such as the bitrate, the frame rate, and the resolution. On top of existing research, which focused on reducing the power consumption at the same QoE optimizing video parameters, we investigate potential power savings by other means such as using a different playback device, a different codec, or a predefined maximum quality level. We find that based on the power consumption of the streaming sessions from the crowdsourcing dataset, devices could save more than 55% of power if all participants adhere to low-power settings.