The impact of VER video traffic characteristics on broadband network p
erformance is analysed. In particular? the authors compare in a queue
the behaviour of several models that adjust different statistical para
meters of actual MPEG traces. It is proved that a good fit of the prob
ability density function (PDF) is essential to approximate queuing beh
aviour while the effects of short range dependence (SRD) are of second
ary importance and those of long range dependence (LRD) could be negle
cted for practical purposes if realistic scenarios, with strict QoS re
quirements, are considered.