In a lot of the early smart TVs - even some of the new ones - the netflix 'smart' modulation did not work well if at all. The Roku's and streaming boxes usually have perfect support for it. Hulu seems to do good too. Direct TV has shit poor bandwidth management, and poor peering as far as we could tell.
On Sat, Oct 15, 2016 at 11:52 AM, Ken Hohhof <af...@kwisp.com> wrote: > The most recent customer I think I’ve gotten to clarify the video is > actually stopping and starting. Previously he was saying it took a long > time to buffer but was fine once the picture appeared. That’s what got me > to thinking the latest complaint was impatience with how long it took > before the video started playing, not problems while it was playing. The > next challenge is to find out what streaming service he is using, people > tend to call them all “Netflix”. But I rarely hear about Netflix stopping > to buffer because Netflix can switch stream rates on the fly, if it’s > actually Netflix and it is stopping and starting, in my experience it’s > usually something other than just slow Internet. Like WiFi dropping out, > or packet loss, or a Windows 10 download overloading the connection. > > > > We have transitioned to the point where people sit down in front of their > “smart TV” and expect to watch TV, who knows what streaming service, but > there is only one answer if it doesn’t work like old fashioned TV – your > Internet is too slow. I had a customer call because she couldn’t watch an > online class on her computer which was telling her “you are not connected > to a network”, and there was an airplane symbol in the lower right. Tech > support for the online college told her that meant her Internet was too > slow. I was tempted to tell her the airplane symbol actually meant her > Internet was really fast (it’s flying), otherwise it would show a car or a > turtle. > > > > > > *From:* Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com] *On Behalf Of *Chuck McCown > *Sent:* Saturday, October 15, 2016 10:29 AM > *To:* af@afmug.com > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] "buffering" > > > > I presume the circle thing is spinning when people say buffering. > > > > *From:* Ken Hohhof > > *Sent:* Friday, October 14, 2016 8:34 PM > > *To:* af@afmug.com > > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] "buffering" > > > > But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m wondering if when a customer > talks about “buffering”, he really means having to wait for the video to > start playing. > > > > And maybe I’m confused because I assume everyone is using Netflix. And > I’m pretty sure Netflix starts the stream at a low quality so it starts > quickly, and then ramps up the quality as the buffer fills, since their > technology allows changing the stream quality on the fly. Other services > like maybe Hulu and Amazon Prime may behave differently. > > > > Also with my default assumption that people are using Netflix, I don’t > expect rebuffering because it’s been years since Netflix needed to stop and > rebuffer at a lower stream rate, I think they do that pretty seamlessly now. > > > > > > *From:* Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com <af-boun...@afmug.com>] *On > Behalf Of *Mathew Howard > *Sent:* Friday, October 14, 2016 9:09 PM > *To:* af <af@afmug.com> > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] "buffering" > > > > Well, people certainly want connections that support multiple streams. > Paying for it, I'm not so sure about... at least around these parts. > > > > On Fri, Oct 14, 2016 at 8:52 PM, Eric Kuhnke <eric.kuh...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > Have you ever seen a 1080p youtube video load on a 1GbE active-E FTTH ISP > that has direct peering with Google from a router 2.5ms upstream? It's a > beautiful thing. > > People will absolutely pay for connections that support multiple streams, > take a typical family of 4 or 5 people with kids that want to watch videos > on tablets simultaneously... > > > > On Fri, Oct 14, 2016 at 6:49 PM, Ken Hohhof <af...@kwisp.com> wrote: > > When people say their video is “buffering”, I assume they mean > re-buffering, where the video stops and starts. > > > > I’m starting to wonder if some people are referring to the delay before > the video starts playing. Is this a thing? And do people pay for faster > Internet just to make the video start faster, like cut 15-20 seconds down > to 5 or 10 seconds? > > > > >
