In various embodiments, a quality inference application estimates perceived video quality for reconstructed video. The quality inference application computes a set of feature values corresponding to a set of visual quality metrics based on a reconstructed frame, a source frame, a display resolution, and a normalized viewing distance. The quality inference application executes a trained perceptual quality model on the set of feature values to generate a perceptual quality score that indicates a perceived visual quality level for the reconstructed frame. The quality inference application performs one or more operations associated with an encoding process based on the perceptual quality score.