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Netflix (and others) capping bandwidth use

3K views 21 replies 13 participants last post by  Zank Frappa 
#1 ·
Despite what is being said in other threads, Netflix and other streaming services are not broadcasting in "standard definition".

https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/streaming-services-reduce-quality-1.5512596

Netflix:
The lower bandwidth streams of Netflix programs should still deliver the usual quality of each plan, the company said, whether it's ultra-high definition 4K, high-definition or standard definition.
...
In a blog post last week, Florance explained that Netflix has many different levels of streaming quality for each title within each resolution tier. With the changes, Netflix is simply removing the highest bandwidth streams, which lowers the bitrate per second on the streams, he said.

"If you are particularly tuned into video quality, you may notice a very slight decrease in quality within each resolution. But you will still get the video quality you paid for," Florance wrote at the time.
Crave:
"Crave does plan to temporarily reduce the quality of streams on certain devices," the company said in a statement late Thursday.

The Crave 1080p and 4K streams will be reduced to 720p on Android mobile devices, Chromecast and Apple products, including its Apple TV devices, it noted.
The vast majority of broadcast cable stations still broadcast in 720p or 1080i AFAIK.
 
#6 ·
Thats what I am asking about.
If we have reached internet congestion with a handful of streaming services what is going to happen when the majority of people will undoubtedly drop cable and switch to streaming and every tv channel out there gets into streaming as well?
 
#7 · (Edited by Moderator)
^^^^
There's a lot more bandwidth available than we get with cable TV. TV channels are generally below 1 GHz over cable. These days, ISPs and carriers are moving to 100 Gb/s over fibre. With multiple wavelengths, that can be multiplied by the number of wavelengths. Also, everything that comes over the TV cable comes first via fibre to the node. So, it's just a matter of building out the capacity as needed. Many customers already have 1 Gb to the home.
 
#14 ·
At some point the backbone routers will need to be beefed up.
You say multiple wavelengths I guess you mean fibre the same as is used under oceans to get the absolute maximum bandwidth possible. I wonder how much of ‘older’ fibre links will need to be replaced.

Rogers assure me that my cable can deliver 1Gb. I am on a street with only 10 taps but I know the physical coax has not been changed for 12 years.

You probably know this, I don’t. Is the backbone routing done optically now or is the stream still converted to electronics and back again?


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#9 ·
Netflix accounts for about 15% of worldwide internet traffic. I've seen figures as high as 50% during prime time in NA. Guess what happens if Netflix use during prime time doubles.

Disney+ and Netflix have announced they are reducing their bandwidth by 25%. In reality, most people won't notice. It will result in the loss of some fine detail that won't even be seen unless an A/B comparison is done, but that won't be possible under the circumstances. It's vastly better than seeing stuttering or buffering throughout a show or movie.
 
#12 ·
I haven’t noticed any drop on purchased content through iTunes(I better not) and most all movies & shows I want to purchase I’ll buy on BD or UHD-BD so it really doesn’t affect me although it’s very annoying on the YouTube app that I always have to Jack the quality up to HD every time. I wish the app was like watching on my laptop where I have a plug-in installed that automatically plays the videos at the highest possible quality setting & skips adds.


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#13 ·
The results I've seen recently have varied wildly, by time of day and the title. The Tiger King would stream anywhere from 5-9MBps during prime time. The latest season of Ozark streamed during prime time, only yielded 1 to 2.5MBps and looked "washed out".
 
#15 ·
^^^^
A while ago, I was reading about a Google fibre cable that had 12 strands (6 pairs) each carrying 100 wavelengths of 100 Gb each, for a total of 60 Tb! ISPs and carriers are now running some 100 Gb links. I have worked on fibre with several 1 Gb connections using Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing. That Google cable would use DWDM.

Routing is still done electronically, as routers are essentially computers that sort which interface to send a packet out of. The wavelength multiplexing is done optically with diffraction grating.
 
#19 ·
How expensive in later 80's early 90's dollars was that 150 Mb connection? It's all relative in my opinion, I remember my workplace wanting us to use a $5000 PC with an absolutely god awful piece of software for doing cost estimations for custom runs of products, it was useless and took forever, 5 years later my 5 person department became a 1 person department and I slinked off to greener shores seeing my days were numbered too.

I watched video recently of 3d printed housing, I don't think tradespeople really see how big a threat this is down the road but when governments start seriously talking about "Universal Basic Income" we better smarten up.....and quick.
 
#22 ·
My father's 84 and isn't one of those old timer's that refer back to their childhood/teen years as "the good old days". One story he frequently tells is how a doctor told his father that one of the best ways to deal with stress was to smoke cigarettes, my grandfather was a CFO for a company and was pretty intense, that advice was never taken and he lived well into his late 80's.

$1000 for 10 MB, LOL, it probably seemed like a bargain at the time, but it's pretty laughable today!
 
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