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This is part of MSU Video Quality Measurement tool Online Help for MSU VQMT 14.0

MSU Video Quality Measurement Tool (MSU VQMT) project:

Online help for MSU VQMT 14.0 contents:

Content

CLI documentation for MSU VQMT 14.0 Pro/Premium

All commands

-activate -bad -bad-dir -bad-format -bad-name
-bad-num -bad-radius -bad-threshold -bad-type -cng
-config -config-line -config-stdin -cs -csv
-csv-default-file -csv-dir -csv-file -ct -dev
-display-luminance -float-range -forced-length -fpd -gui
-h, -?, --help (1) -h, -?, --help (2) -h, -?, --help (3) -h, -?, --help (4) -idx
-idx-file -json -json-default-file -json-file -json-fmt
-legacy-mode -list -log -mask -mask-type
-metr, <metric name> -metr-config -metric-parallelism -no-upscale-uv -orig, -in
-performance -project -quiet -range, <range> -resize
-ryt -sample-conversion -set -skip-frames -slots
-stdin, -stdin-orig -summary-accum -summary-col -terminal -threads
-v, --version -vis -vis-caption-pos -vis-colormap -vis-dir
-vis-gamma -vis-preset -vis-print-frame -vis-print-value -vis-type
-vng <open mode> <picture type> <resolution>  

Category index

Help, information

Getting help on command-line options, information about VQMT features, lists of metrics, supported formats and devices.

-h, -?, --help (1)
requesting CLI help
-h, -?, --help (2)
request information about a group of options
-h, -?, --help (3)
requesting help for metric
-h, -?, --help (4)
requesting help for VQMT config format
-v, --version
getting information about this VQMT copy
-list
Requesting additional information

Input

Specifying video/image input files, streams, pipes, or image sequences. Setting options, colorspaces and formats for opening these files.

-orig, -in
specifying an input file to apply metrics
-stdin, -stdin-orig
specifying stdin as input yuv or y4m file
<picture type>
specifying picture type for YUV file(s)
<resolution>
specifying resolution for YUV file(s)
-range, <range>
specifying frame range for the last file
-float-range
specifying value range for float sampled files
-cs
overriding input file colorspace
<open mode>
specifying mode for reading a file
-no-upscale-uv
enabling of disabling upscaling for chroma components (UV) of subsampled files

Metrics

Setting up metrics to apply to the input files. Setting color components for analysis and configuring metrics. Selection of devices.

-metr, <metric name>
specifying metric and (optionally) color component
-metr-config
setting configuration line for plugin metrics
-set
setting additional parameter for metric of file reader configuration
-summary-accum
setting accumulator for summary output for a metric
-summary-col
setting column for summary output for a metric
-dev
specifying a device to perform the metric on

Output

Setting up the output to JSON, CSV, stdout, log and other files that will contain the results of the analysis.

-json
turning on json output
-json-file
specifying a file for JSON output
-json-default-file
requesting writing to the default JSON file instead of stdout
-json-fmt
specifying legacy json format
-csv
turning on/off saving CSV file with results of metrics
-csv-file
specifying an exact file for CSV output
-csv-default-file
requesting writing to the default CSV file
-cng
specifying default name scheme for CSV, JSON files
-csv-dir
specifying directory for default CSV and JSON files
-log
specifying logfile
-ct
specifying csv data delimiter
-fpd
setting floating point for CSV files

Visualization

Setting the output of per-pixel metric values. Visualization will generate an image for each metric and each processed frame.

-vis
turning visualization on/off
-vng
specifying visualization filename scheme
-vis-type
specifying visualization format
-vis-preset
specifying preset for selected visualization format
-vis-caption-pos
specifying the position of caption labeled over the visualization
-vis-print-value
enabling or disabling printing values of the metric on visualization
-vis-print-frame
enabling or disabling printing frame number on visualization
-vis-gamma
specifying gamma correction for visualization
-vis-colormap
specifying colormap for visualization
-vis-dir
specifying directory for visualization

Masking

Setting region of interest (ROI) to indicate areas which the metric should consider with bigger or lesser weight. Can be an input video/image or set by parameters.

-mask
specifying mask file
-mask-type
specifying mask type and configuration

Bad frames

Requesting output of frames of input video/image with extreme metric values. VQMT will save the requested number of images containing input frames.

-bad
turning on/off saving bad frames (frames with the worst metric values)
-bad-dir
specifying directory for bad frames
-bad-type
specifying the type of bad frames
-bad-format
specifying bad frames format
-bad-num
specifying how many bad frames should be saved
-bad-radius
specifying the minimum distance between bad frames
-bad-name
specifying scheme for naming bad frame files
-bad-threshold
specifying threshold to ignore bad frame for some metric values

Preprocessing

Correction of images before applying metric. Setting of the scaling to bring the images to the same size or reduce the resolution.

-resize
turning on geometry correction of input video - scale and crop, configuring it

Indexing

Preliminary analysis of input streams to improve the quality of seeking and accurate information about the progress of the analysis.

-idx
specifying index mode for reading input files
-idx-file
specifying a custom scheme for an index file

Sample interpretation

Additional setting of working color standards, transformations of input samples, screen luminance for HDR images.

-ryt
specifying the default color standard for files
-display-luminance
specifying display luminance for HDR metrics and colorspaces
-sample-conversion
changing integer sample interpretation
-legacy-mode
setting up legacy mode

Performance

Adjusting CPU usage and memory consumption, skipping frames. Requesting output detailes information of VQMT performance after the analysis.

-skip-frames
setting up frame skipping for increasing performance
-slots
setting the number of slots for simultaneous image processing
-metric-parallelism
setting the number of instances of each metric that can work simultaneously
-threads
specifying the number of threads for basic VQMT operations
-forced-length
specifying expected file length
-performance
requesting information about VQMT performance to stdout

Misc.

Performing VQMT activation or reactivation. Interface selection. Specifying a project file or JSON configuration file. Configuring output profile.

-quiet
setting up silent mode
-terminal
running CLI
-gui
running GUI (only Windows)
-activate
running activation wizard
-project
specifying a project file, saved from GUI
-config
specifying a JSON configuration file
-config-line
specifying JSON configuration as command line argument
-config-stdin
using STDIN for reading configuration JSON

Alphabet index

Command Section Short description
-activate Misc. running activation wizard
-bad Bad frames turning on/off saving bad frames (frames with the worst metric values)
-bad-dir Bad frames specifying directory for bad frames
-bad-format Bad frames specifying bad frames format
-bad-name Bad frames specifying scheme for naming bad frame files
-bad-num Bad frames specifying how many bad frames should be saved
-bad-radius Bad frames specifying the minimum distance between bad frames
-bad-threshold Bad frames specifying threshold to ignore bad frame for some metric values
-bad-type Bad frames specifying the type of bad frames
-cng Output specifying default name scheme for CSV, JSON files
-config Misc. specifying a JSON configuration file
-config-line Misc. specifying JSON configuration as command line argument
-config-stdin Misc. using STDIN for reading configuration JSON
-cs Input overriding input file colorspace
-csv Output turning on/off saving CSV file with results of metrics
-csv-default-file Output requesting writing to the default CSV file
-csv-dir Output specifying directory for default CSV and JSON files
-csv-file Output specifying an exact file for CSV output
-ct Output specifying csv data delimiter
-dev Metrics specifying a device to perform the metric on
-display-luminance Sample interpretation specifying display luminance for HDR metrics and colorspaces
-float-range Input specifying value range for float sampled files
-forced-length Performance specifying expected file length
-fpd Output setting floating point for CSV files
-gui Misc. running GUI (only Windows)
-h, -?, --help (1) Help, information requesting CLI help
-h, -?, --help (2) Help, information request information about a group of options
-h, -?, --help (3) Help, information requesting help for metric
-h, -?, --help (4) Help, information requesting help for VQMT config format
-idx Indexing specifying index mode for reading input files
-idx-file Indexing specifying a custom scheme for an index file
-json Output turning on json output
-json-default-file Output requesting writing to the default JSON file instead of stdout
-json-file Output specifying a file for JSON output
-json-fmt Output specifying legacy json format
-legacy-mode Sample interpretation setting up legacy mode
-list Help, information Requesting additional information
-log Output specifying logfile
-mask Masking specifying mask file
-mask-type Masking specifying mask type and configuration
-metr, <metric name> Metrics specifying metric and (optionally) color component
-metr-config Metrics setting configuration line for plugin metrics
-metric-parallelism Performance setting the number of instances of each metric that can work simultaneously
-no-upscale-uv Input enabling of disabling upscaling for chroma components (UV) of subsampled files
-orig, -in Input specifying an input file to apply metrics
-performance Performance requesting information about VQMT performance to stdout
-project Misc. specifying a project file, saved from GUI
-quiet Misc. setting up silent mode
-range, <range> Input specifying frame range for the last file
-resize Preprocessing turning on geometry correction of input video - scale and crop, configuring it
-ryt Sample interpretation specifying the default color standard for files
-sample-conversion Sample interpretation changing integer sample interpretation
-set Metrics setting additional parameter for metric of file reader configuration
-skip-frames Performance setting up frame skipping for increasing performance
-slots Performance setting the number of slots for simultaneous image processing
-stdin, -stdin-orig Input specifying stdin as input yuv or y4m file
-summary-accum Metrics setting accumulator for summary output for a metric
-summary-col Metrics setting column for summary output for a metric
-terminal Misc. running CLI
-threads Performance specifying the number of threads for basic VQMT operations
-v, --version Help, information getting information about this VQMT copy
-vis Visualization turning visualization on/off
-vis-caption-pos Visualization specifying the position of caption labeled over the visualization
-vis-colormap Visualization specifying colormap for visualization
-vis-dir Visualization specifying directory for visualization
-vis-gamma Visualization specifying gamma correction for visualization
-vis-preset Visualization specifying preset for selected visualization format
-vis-print-frame Visualization enabling or disabling printing frame number on visualization
-vis-print-value Visualization enabling or disabling printing values of the metric on visualization
-vis-type Visualization specifying visualization format
-vng Visualization specifying visualization filename scheme
<open mode> Input specifying mode for reading a file
<picture type> Input specifying picture type for YUV file(s)
<resolution> Input specifying resolution for YUV file(s)

Description

-h, -?, --help (1)

Usage:
-h
-?
--help
Category:
Help, information
Brief:
requesting CLI help
Description:
Request help information about VQMT command-line section

-h, -?, --help (2)

Usage:
-h <help section>
-? <help section>
--help <help section>
Category:
Help, information
Brief:
request information about a group of options
Description:
Request information about specified group of options

-h, -?, --help (3)

Usage:
-h <metric>
-? <metric>
--help <metric>
Category:
Help, information
Brief:
requesting help for metric
Description:
Request extended information about the specified metric

-h, -?, --help (4)

Usage:
-h config
-? config
--help config
Category:
Help, information
Brief:
requesting help for VQMT config format
Description:
Request VQMT configuration JSON description. Configuration file completely describes VQMT calculation process. You can configure VQMT via -config option

-v, --version

Usage:
-v [json]
--version [json]
Category:
Help, information
Brief:
getting information about this VQMT copy
Description:
Get information about VQMT version, edition, available license, build date, etc. It is possible to get this information in JSON format for automatical processing.

-list

Usage:
-list
-list all
-list [json] metrics
-list modes
-list [json] colorspaces
-list [json] devices
-list raw
-list visualizations
Category:
Help, information
Brief:
Requesting additional information
Description:
Request additional information about available:

Some lists supports json output.

-orig, -in

Usage:
-orig <file>
-in <file>
Category:
Input
Brief:
specifying an input file to apply metrics
Description:
Use the specified file for metrics. Specify original file using -orig, distorted or other files using -in

-stdin, -stdin-orig

Usage:
-stdin <mode>
-stdin-orig <mode>
Category:
Input
Brief:
specifying stdin as input yuv or y4m file
Description:
Use when a source file (YUV) or Y4M file should be read from standard input. <mode> can be:
  • raw
  • y4m

Use -stdin-orig for original file in case of reference metric

<picture type>

Usage:
<picture type>
Category:
Input
Brief:
specifying picture type for YUV file(s)
Description:
Use after file or stdin specification to specify picture type for RAW (.yuv) input file. The last specified type also will be used as the default one. Use before the first file or stdin specification to set forced default picture type for all RAW files and pipes. View the list of available picture types using -list raw.

<resolution>

Usage:
<number>x<number>
Category:
Input
Brief:
specifying resolution for YUV file(s)
Description:
Use after file or stdin specification to specify resolution (width and height) for RAW (.yuv) input file. The first declaration becomes the default for all other files.
Note: resolution can be determined automatically from the file name, it will be preferred over the default.

-range, <range>

Usage:
-range <offset type> <range>
-range <range>
<range>
Category:
Input
Brief:
specifying frame range for the last file
Description:
Use to manually specify and limit frame range for last the input file.
<range> is one of :
  • <number>-<number> : specifying the first and last frame of range;
  • <number>-: set range from the first frame to the end of the video.

<offset type> is one of :

  • seek: go to the first frame immediately, if possible;
  • skip: read and skip some frames from the beginning of input file(can be slow for big offsets);
  • auto: (default) automatically choose between seeking and skipping.

-float-range

Usage:
-float-range <min>..<max>
Category:
Input
Brief:
specifying value range for float sampled files
Description:
Use after a file specification to manually set minimal (black) and maximum (white) value for the file with floating point samples. Applicable to EXR, YUV and other formats for which the range is not specified in the metadata. Float range by default is 0..1. <min> and <max> could be floating point numbers. For HDR metrics and colorspaces, the maximum color value is interpreted as the display maximum luminance.
Note: this range will have no effect if range specified in the file metadata

-cs

Usage:
-cs auto
-cs <colorspace>
Category:
Input
Brief:
overriding input file colorspace
Description:
Use after file specification to manually set colorspace that will be considered the colorspace of the input file values. This setting always overrides the color space, even if it does not match the picture type. You can find the list of available colorspaces typing -list colorspaces.
Use -cs auto for automatic colorspace deducing (default). In this case VQMT will consider file metadata. If the metadata is not enough to determine the exact colorspace, the default color standard from -ryt setting will be used to choose the colorspace.

<open mode>

Usage:
<open mode>
Category:
Input
Brief:
specifying mode for reading a file
Description:
Specify mode for reading last the file. This will override the default reading mode. To see all available modes use -list modes;

-no-upscale-uv

Usage:
-no-upscale-uv
-no_upscale_uv yes
-no_upscale_uv no
Category:
Input
Brief:
enabling of disabling upscaling for chroma components (UV) of subsampled files
Description:
Enable or disable upscale of chrome components for subsampled files (Y422, Y422 formats for example). If no (default), inputs will be upscaled to the resolution of Y-plane.

-metr, <metric name>

Usage:
-metr <metric name> [over <color component list>]
<metric name> [over <color component list>]
Category:
Metrics
Brief:
specifying metric and (optionally) color component
Description:
Add a metric to compute overall specified files (original file vs. all other files for reference metric or each file separately for no-reference metric). <color component list> is a component or comma-separated list of components, for example, Y,U,V. If over <color component list> is not specified, VQMT will use default component or components according to the following algorithm:
  • If a metric supports only one color component, it will be selected.
  • If a metric supports none of Y, U, V, it will be calculated over supported channels from R, G, B.
  • If a metric supports none of R, G, B, it will be calculated over supported channels from Y, U, V.
  • If all input files for metric (1 or 2) are in YUV color space, colors from the set Y, U, V available for this metric will be used.
  • If all input files for metric (1 or 2) are in RGB color space, colors from the set R, G, B available for this metric will be used.
  • If input files have different colorspaces, an error is generated.

Since VQMT 12 additional channels YUV and RGB added(supported by PSNR metric). To specify 3 separate channels, tell Y,U,V.
The list of available color components: Y, U, V, L, R, G, B, YUV, RGB. Use in metric list only components, supported by the specified metric.
<color components> can be ALL - it means all supported components for this metric.
Use -list metrics to see all variants.

-metr-config

Usage:
-metr-config <config line>
Category:
Metrics
Brief:
setting configuration line for plugin metrics
Description:
Set metric configuration line (applicable for plugin metrics only)

-set

Usage:
-set <key>=<value>
Category:
Metrics
Brief:
setting additional parameter for metric of file reader configuration
Description:
Use after file to set a parameter for file reader, or after metric to set a parameter for the metric. Use -h <metric> to see parameters available for specified metric.

-summary-accum

Usage:
-summary-accum <accum name>
Category:
Metrics
Brief:
setting accumulator for summary output for a metric
Description:
Set default accumulator for outputing summary values. If multiple values are obtained for this metric, files in the output section SUMMARY will be ordered according to this accumulator.

-summary-col

Usage:
-summary-col <column id>
Category:
Metrics
Brief:
setting column for summary output for a metric
Description:
Set default column id for outputing summary values. If multiple values are obtained for this metric, files in the output section SUMMARY will be ordered according to the column with this id.

-dev

Usage:
-dev <device>
Category:
Metrics
Brief:
specifying a device to perform the metric on
Description:
Specify a device to perform the last specified metric on. This is possible only if the metric supports this device. <device> is device id or a part of the device name. Get a list of available devices using -list devices. To see, what devices are supported by the metric use -h <metric name>

-json

Usage:
-json
Category:
Output
Brief:
turning on json output
Description:
Use to turn on JSON output to stdout

-json-file

Usage:
-json-file <file>
Category:
Output
Brief:
specifying a file for JSON output
Description:
Specify a file to write JSON to. This option will enable JSON output. Note: <file> is the full path to the only JSON file will be written while VQMT is running. If it exists, will be silently overridden.

-json-default-file

Usage:
-json-default-file
Category:
Output
Brief:
requesting writing to the default JSON file instead of stdout
Description:
Use to set up saving JSON to file without specifying a filename. Default filename will be used. The default filename includes information about the specified metric(s) and file(s).

-json-fmt

Usage:
-json-fmt <version>
Category:
Output
Brief:
specifying legacy json format
Description:
Set json legacy format. <version> could be:
  • 11,
  • 12 (default);

-csv

Usage:
-csv
-csv yes
-csv no
Category:
Output
Brief:
turning on/off saving CSV file with results of metrics
Description:
Use to turn one saving CSV file with results of metrics. A default file will be used. If exists, the file will be silently overridden. Use -csv no to turn CSV saving off.

-csv-file

Usage:
-csv-file <file>
Category:
Output
Brief:
specifying an exact file for CSV output
Description:
Specify a file to write CSV to. This option will enable CSV output. Note: <file> is the full path to the only CSV file will be written while VQMT is running. If it exists, will be silently overridden.

-csv-default-file

Usage:
-csv-default-file
Category:
Output
Brief:
requesting writing to the default CSV file
Description:
Use to set up saving CSV to file without specifying a filename. Default filename will be used. The default filename includes information about the specified metric(s) and file(s).

-cng

Usage:
-cng PREFIX
-cng POSTFIX
-cng CUSTOM <filename>
Category:
Output
Brief:
specifying default name scheme for CSV, JSON files
Description:
Specify scheme for default CSV or JSON file name:
  • PREFIX - metric before files
  • POSTFIX - files before metrics (default)
  • CUSTOM - manually specify filename (without extension)

-csv-dir

Usage:
-csv-dir <dir name>
Category:
Output
Brief:
specifying directory for default CSV and JSON files
Description:
Set directory for saving CSV and JSON files (for default files). Default - original file directory

-log

Usage:
-log <file name>
Category:
Output
Brief:
specifying logfile
Description:
Specify a file to write information about VQMT process

-ct

Usage:
-ct ,
-ct ;
Category:
Output
Brief:
specifying csv data delimiter
Description:
Set CSV file fields delimiter (default: ,)

-fpd

Usage:
-fpd .
-fpd ,
Category:
Output
Brief:
setting floating point for CSV files
Description:
Set CSV file floating point (default: .)

-vis

Usage:
-vis
-vis yes
-vis no
Category:
Visualization
Brief:
turning visualization on/off
Description:
Turn on/off saving visualization for each frame and each running measure. The visualization shows pixel-wise metric values and can be saved to a sequence of images or video file

-vng

Usage:
-vng PREFIX
-vng POSTFIX
Category:
Visualization
Brief:
specifying visualization filename scheme
Description:
Set the visualization file name scheme. A distorted file name and metric will be included in the filename. Specify one of:
  • PREFIX - metric before the file
  • POSTFIX - file before the metric (default)

-vis-type

Usage:
-vis-type <type>
Category:
Visualization
Brief:
specifying visualization format
Description:
Set visualization format (image of video). Use -list visualizations to see all available formats

-vis-preset

Usage:
-vis-preset <preset>
Category:
Visualization
Brief:
specifying preset for selected visualization format
Description:
Set visualization method preset for the specified visualization format. Use -list visualizations to see all presets.

-vis-caption-pos

Usage:
-vis-caption-pos <pos>
Category:
Visualization
Brief:
specifying the position of caption labeled over the visualization
Description:
Set the position of caption labeled over the visualization where <pos> is top or bottom. You can turn off the caption by turning off its components in VQMT PRO

-vis-print-value

Usage:
-vis-print-value yes
-vis-print-value no
Category:
Visualization
Brief:
enabling or disabling printing values of the metric on visualization
Description:
Enable or disable printing value of the metric on visualization frames (default: yes)

-vis-print-frame

Usage:
-vis-print-frame yes
-vis-print-frame no
Category:
Visualization
Brief:
enabling or disabling printing frame number on visualization
Description:
Enable or disable printing frame number on visualization frames (default: yes)

-vis-gamma

Usage:
-vis-gamma <float value>
Category:
Visualization
Brief:
specifying gamma correction for visualization
Description:
Specify gamma correction for the visualization of the last specified metric. Use before the first metric specification for setting the default gamma correction for all the metrics. You can change the visualization contrast by varying this value. Visualization will still use the same colormap, but the colors of that colormap will be distributed the other way. <float value> is gamma correction value between 0.001 and 1000, default 1.

-vis-colormap

Usage:
-vis-colormap <colormap>
Category:
Visualization
Brief:
specifying colormap for visualization
Description:
Specify a colormap for the last metric visualization. Use before the first metric specification for setting the default colormap for all the metrics. Colormap is a pallete, which colors will be used for a single-channel visualization of a metric. This will not affect metrics with 3-channel visualization. <colormap> is one of:
  • vlag
  • vlag-inversed
  • icefire
  • icefire-inversed
  • rocket-mako
  • mako-rocket
  • vqmt-traditional
  • vqmt-traditional-inversed
  • segment
  • segment-inversed
  • black-white
  • white-black

Default: icefire

-vis-dir

Usage:
-vis-dir <directory>
Category:
Visualization
Brief:
specifying directory for visualization
Description:
Set directory where visualization will be saved. Default - original file directory

-mask

Usage:
-mask <file name>
Category:
Masking
Brief:
specifying mask file
Description:
Set mask file and enable masking. Mask sets interesting areas of an image where the metric will be considered with a bigger weight. The file is specified in the same way as described for -in parameter.
Notes:
  • Only the first color component is taken into account: Y for YUV, R for RGB
  • Mask can also be a single image if it is static over frames
  • In the case of a binary mask, each pixel either considered or not while metric calculation. The value will be considered if the corresponding mask color over 0.5 of the maximum color value
  • A mask value of zero does not mean that the pixel will be completely ignored
  • Some metrics have native mask support and some don’t have. Native support means that the metric will consider pixels that do not match the mask to be non-existent. Metric without native support will consider pixels to be the same for original and distorted but can produce incorrect values.

-mask-type

Usage:
-mask-type <mask type> <mask config>
Category:
Masking
Brief:
specifying mask type and configuration
Description:
Set mask type, where <mask type> and <mask config> could be:
  • bin black - binary mask, black for ignored areas
  • bin white - binary mask, white for ignored areas
  • 8bit black - 8-bit mask, black for ignored areas
  • 8bit white - 8-bit mask, white for ignored areas
  • incl-rect <rect spec>, excl-rect <rect spec> - mask consists of rectangle (included or excluded). <rect spec> is ;-separated list of measurements in the order: top, right, bottom, left. Each measurement can be pixel value or percent value (floating point) if followed by ‘%’ sign. A negative value can be used to measure from the opposite side.

-bad

Usage:
-bad
-bad yes
-bad no
Category:
Bad frames
Brief:
turning on/off saving bad frames (frames with the worst metric values)
Description:
Turn on/off saving bad frames - frames with the worst metric values. Saving of bad frames is done after all computations are completed by reopening and rereading input files

-bad-dir

Usage:
-bad-dir <directory>
Category:
Bad frames
Brief:
specifying directory for bad frames
Description:
Set directory to save bad frame. Default - original file dir

-bad-type

Usage:
-bad-type <type>
Category:
Bad frames
Brief:
specifying the type of bad frames
Description:
Set type of bad frames, where <type> is one of:
  • ORIGPROC : save frames with the max difference between first and second files;
  • PROCPROC : save frames with the max difference between second and third files (usually these files meant to be processed files to compare);
  • FIRSTBETTER : save frames where the second file is better than the third;
  • SECONDBETTER : save frames where the third file is better than the second;

-bad-format

Usage:
-bad-format <format>
Category:
Bad frames
Brief:
specifying bad frames format
Description:
Set an image format for bad frames. <format> can be one of: TIFF (default) or BMP

-bad-num

Usage:
-bad-num <number>
Category:
Bad frames
Brief:
specifying how many bad frames should be saved
Description:
Set the maximum number of bad frames to be saved

-bad-radius

Usage:
-bad-radius <number>
Category:
Bad frames
Brief:
specifying the minimum distance between bad frames
Description:
Specify the radius of bad frames - minimum distance between bad frames

-bad-name

Usage:
-bad-name <naming scheme>
-bad-name CUSTOM <naming scheme>
Category:
Bad frames
Brief:
specifying scheme for naming bad frame files
Description:
Specify scheme for naming bad frames. Where <naming type> is one of
  • frame - start file names from frame (default);
  • file - start file names from source file name;
  • CUSTOM - specify a custom name scheme;

-bad-threshold

Usage:
-bad-threshold [<lower threshold>]..[<upper threshold>]
Category:
Bad frames
Brief:
specifying threshold to ignore bad frame for some metric values
Description:
Specify thresholds to ignore bad frames for some metric values. Specify at least one threshold. A lower threshold means that metric must be better than this threshold, upper threshold means that metric must be worse than it (lower threshold can be bigger than upper one if lower values of metric means better quality)

-resize

Usage:
-resize [[<implementation>] <mode> [A]] to <dst> [crop]
Category:
Preprocessing
Brief:
turning on geometry correction of input video - scale and crop, configuring it
Description:
Set up geometry correction of input files or downsample for increasing performance. This is necessary if input files have different resolutions. <mode> can be:
  • crop
  • nearest
  • linear
  • cubic (default)
  • lanczos

and <implementation> is the preferred algorithm implementation and can be:

  • ffmpeg (default)
  • intel

and <dst> is destination size and can be:

  • orig - original size or 1-st input size
  • 1/2 orig
  • 1/4 orig
  • min - the size of input with the smallest resolution
  • max - the size of input with the biggest resolution
  • <width>x<height>

A means antialiasing, can not be used with crop and nearest. If you specified crop after <dst>, the scaling will preserve the ratio, and then the crop will be done. You can not specify crop after <dst> if <mode> is crop

-idx

Usage:
-idx <index type>
Category:
Indexing
Brief:
specifying index mode for reading input files
Description:
Specify index mode, which is preferable for reading some types of the input file (especially, coded streams). One of:
  • no - do not create an index file (default);
  • needed - create an index file only if needed;
  • forced - always create an index file;
  • needed_mem - build an index in memory if needed, no files created;
  • forced_mem - always build an index in memory (no files created);

Default: needed;
Note: Index is needed if the source file cannot be correctly opened for seeking. Index file creation has a sense only if FFmpeg or Auto mode specified. While the calculation the file will be read frame by frame, and no index file will be created. The index file can be created when VQMT attempts to save bad frames

-idx-file

Usage:
-idx-file <file scheme>
Category:
Indexing
Brief:
specifying a custom scheme for an index file
Description:
Set scheme for naming index file. A scheme can use special VQMT variables. Possible if index mode is one of:
  • needed,
  • forced.

Default: $(VQMTCacheDir)/FileIndexes/$(FileHash).vqmtidx

-ryt

Usage:
-ryt <color standard>
Category:
Sample interpretation
Brief:
specifying the default color standard for files
Description:
Specify color standard and quantization range (PC or TV) that will be used to find exact colorspace for files, where metadata not sufficient to specify exact colorspace. For example, for an integer-sampled file with YUV picture type, the quantized YUV colorspace from specified standard will be used. Use color standards with PC suffix to use PC range for quantized data. The default value is BT.709.
Use -list colorspaces to see all variants.

-display-luminance

Usage:
-display-luminance <luminance value>
Category:
Sample interpretation
Brief:
specifying display luminance for HDR metrics and colorspaces
Description:
Specify the display luminance for some HDR colorspaces and metrics. This will be treated as the luminance of a maximum white pixel of an input file. This value will be also used in some metrics as maximum. <luminance value> is integer in the range 1..10000

-sample-conversion

Usage:
-sample-conversion shift
-sample-conversion repeat
Category:
Sample interpretation
Brief:
changing integer sample interpretation
Description:
Set integer samples interpretation. In the mode shift (default for VQMT 11 and earlier) 8-bit value 0xFF of the input file will be interpreted as 255/256. In the mode repeat (default since VQMT 12) 8-bit value 0xFF of the input file will be interpreted as 1.

-legacy-mode

Usage:
-legacy-mode <number>
Category:
Sample interpretation
Brief:
setting up legacy mode
Description:
Turn on legacy mode with specified VQMT version. This will affect the metric calculation, input interpretation, and conversion. Reproducibility of results of earlier VQMT versions is not guaranteed. Note: setting of other parameters of this group can break reproducibility. Currently supported versions: 11

-skip-frames

Usage:
-skip-frames [<skip mode>] fps <fps>
-skip-frames [<skip mode>] each <N>
Category:
Performance
Brief:
setting up frame skipping for increasing performance
Description:
Set up frame skipping to increase performance. You can specify target <fps> and VQMT will try to achieve this fps, or you can set up processing if each <N>‘th frame, skipping N-1 out of every N.
<skip mode> is one of :
  • skip - fully decode skipped frames (default),
  • seek - try to seek directly to the target frame.

-slots

Usage:
-slots <number>
Category:
Performance
Brief:
setting the number of slots for simultaneous image processing
Description:
Set the number of slots that be allocated for each metric to process files simultaneously. 0 - default value. Increasing this value will slightly increase memory consumption, but can improve concurrency

-metric-parallelism

Usage:
-metric-parallelism <number>
Category:
Performance
Brief:
setting the number of instances of each metric that can work simultaneously
Description:
Set the metric parallelism level - how many instances of a single metric can work simultaneously. 0 - default value. Set small values to reduce memory consumption. High metric parallelism is quite useless if you computing many metrics simultaneously

-threads

Usage:
-threads <number>
Category:
Performance
Brief:
specifying the number of threads for basic VQMT operations
Description:
Set number of threads for basic VQMT operations such as: metric calculation, input reading, input conversion, mask applying, geometry correction, etc. Note: VQMT can spawn additional threads, especially for reading files. This is a number means how many operations can be performed simultaneously

-forced-length

Usage:
-forced-length <number>
Category:
Performance
Brief:
specifying expected file length
Description:
Manually set the expected number of frames (0 to disable). Note: this parameter affects only progress bar, to limit frames count length use -range 0-<last frame> after the file specification

-performance

Usage:
-performance
Category:
Performance
Brief:
requesting information about VQMT performance to stdout
Description:
Use this to request information about VQMT performance which will be printed in JSON format to stdout after VQMT finishes computation. This will suppress the common VQMT output. Performance information will contain info about performed operations

-quiet

Usage:
-quiet
Category:
Misc.
Brief:
setting up silent mode
Description:
Use to suppress printing common VQMT information to stdout. This will not affect JSON output if specified to stdout or performance information

-terminal

Usage:
-terminal
Category:
Misc.
Brief:
running CLI
Description:
Use with any VQMT executable to run in terminal mode (CLI)

-gui

Usage:
-gui
Category:
Misc.
Brief:
running GUI (only Windows)
Description:
Use with any VQMT executable to run in graphical mode (GUI). This is supported only on Windows systems

-activate

Usage:
-activate
Category:
Misc.
Brief:
running activation wizard
Description:
Use to manually run the activation wizard for registering Pro, Premium, or trial licence. Activation wizard allows you to change the active licence for VQMT. Running in this mode will ignore the existing license.
This command is allowed for GUI mode

-project

Usage:
-project <file>
Category:
Misc.
Brief:
specifying a project file, saved from GUI
Description:
Use to load a project, saved from GUI.
This command allowed for GUI mode

-config

Usage:
-config <file>
Category:
Misc.
Brief:
specifying a JSON configuration file
Description:
Specify file to use settings from. This file will override all other settings. Configuration file fully describes all VQMT settings. It has JSON format. Unlike -project this cannot be used in GUI mode, because CLI settings are wider than GUI. You can use autogenerated config from JSON output of VQMT to repeate the completed calculation, or use customly-generated JSON. Config of compatible versions will be automatically converted the current version format

-config-line

Usage:
-config-line <json configuration>
Category:
Misc.
Brief:
specifying JSON configuration as command line argument
Description:
Specify this option and JSON configuration as the next CLI argument. See help for command -config for more information about VQMT JSON configuration

-config-stdin

Usage:
-config-stdin
Category:
Misc.
Brief:
using STDIN for reading configuration JSON
Description:
Specify this option to use STDIN for reading configuration JSON. VQMT will read exactly one JSON value from STDIN in ASCII encoding. See help for command -config for more information about VQMT JSON configuration

This page is automatically generated by 14.0 BETA r12796 on 2022-01-28. In case of any question or suggestion, please mail us: video-measure@compression.ru

28 Jan 2022
See Also
Super-Resolution for Video Compression Benchmark
Learn about the best SR methods for compressed videos and choose the best model to use with your codec
MSU Video Quality Measurement Tool: Documentation TOC
Table of content for all version of MSU VQMT online help
MSU Video Quality Measurement Tool: Picture types
VQMT 14.0 Online help: List of all picture types available in VQMT and their aliases
MSU Video Quality Measurement Tool: Usage of VQMT metrics in CLI
VQMT 14.0 Online help: Description of VQMT metrics, their parameters and using in CLI
MSU Video Quality Measurement Tool: VQMT various lists and tables
VQMT 14.0 Online help: Information about VQMT visualization formats, read modes, etc...
MSU Video Quality Measurement Tool: Configuration description
VQMT 14.0 Online help: Description of the format of the VQMT configuration file
Site structure
MSU Graphics & Media Lab Video Group
2019–2022