Netflix cuts video bitrates in Europe due to social distancing demand
Netflix is complying with a European Union request to lower video streaming quality in an effort to ease the strain on networks on the continent.
Amid concerns that increased demand could strain European broadband networks, Netflix said it will cut its video bitrates for 30 days.
The global COVID-19 pandemic is having an impact across the technology industry. For streaming services specifically, social distancing and lockdown measures are significantly increasing the number of people using their services at home, simultaneously.
To help mitigate potential slowdowns, Netflix on Thursday announced that it would cut its video streaming bitrates in Europe for the next 30 days. The company added that the move will likely reduce traffic from its platform on European networks by about 25% while maintaining "a good quality service" for customers.
The bitrate reduction could lead to videos that appear choppier and more pixelated, but will use less data. EU officials are also recommending that users switch to standard definition video, rather than HD.
Netflix's announcement came after a phone call between CEO Reed Hastings and European Commissioner Thierry Breton earlier in the day.
The EU has been concerned that broadband networks across Europe may not be able to handle having large numbers of people working and staying at home. Telecom firm Vodafone tracked a 50% rise in internet usage throughout Europe earlier in the week, according to the BBC.
It isn't clear if Netflix will apply similar measures in the U.S. at this point, though domestic internet service providers haven't called for it despite the likelihood that many customers are spending more time at home.
The Federal Communications Commission has given several ISPs, like T-Mobile and Verizon, emergency access to more spectrum to meet increased internet demand.
Amid concerns that increased demand could strain European broadband networks, Netflix said it will cut its video bitrates for 30 days.
The global COVID-19 pandemic is having an impact across the technology industry. For streaming services specifically, social distancing and lockdown measures are significantly increasing the number of people using their services at home, simultaneously.
To help mitigate potential slowdowns, Netflix on Thursday announced that it would cut its video streaming bitrates in Europe for the next 30 days. The company added that the move will likely reduce traffic from its platform on European networks by about 25% while maintaining "a good quality service" for customers.
The bitrate reduction could lead to videos that appear choppier and more pixelated, but will use less data. EU officials are also recommending that users switch to standard definition video, rather than HD.
Netflix's announcement came after a phone call between CEO Reed Hastings and European Commissioner Thierry Breton earlier in the day.
The EU has been concerned that broadband networks across Europe may not be able to handle having large numbers of people working and staying at home. Telecom firm Vodafone tracked a 50% rise in internet usage throughout Europe earlier in the week, according to the BBC.
It isn't clear if Netflix will apply similar measures in the U.S. at this point, though domestic internet service providers haven't called for it despite the likelihood that many customers are spending more time at home.
The Federal Communications Commission has given several ISPs, like T-Mobile and Verizon, emergency access to more spectrum to meet increased internet demand.
Comments
2) Netflix creates multiple tiers for their content when they obtain it. This could mean is they're not allowing 2160p (or 1080p) content at all (as this would result in a lower number of bits per second being transmitted (i.e.: bitrate).
The TV panel also makes a big difference. Similar to Atomic10, 720p and 1080p is pretty much a wash for me, but 2160p is definitely much improved, especially when watching newer content that was clearly filmed and then passed down the line as 2160p content without any upscaling to remastering after the fact.
I've also noticed that different people have different thresholds for what is acceptable. I have a friend who is perfectly fine watching 720 content and one time I remember they watched a movie that had mono sound and they didn't even notice or care when I pointed it out to them. That friend happens to have bad eyesight by the way, so I guess their preference or lack of preference make total sense. I don't think that they have bad hearing though, so not noticing mono is a completely different issue, but the average person is totally clueless about sound.
If I am first going to sit down and watch something, the quality needs to be top notch, otherwise it's not even worth watching.
This isn't the early 2000's anymore, where I was streaming Steve Job's Keynote live in a tiny window on my CRT display, where the connection kept dropping out and stuttering.
As with everything "normal" is more akin to average normal, but regarding our viewing into the eye, optics for viewing *into* the eye hit the anatomic limit of resolution decades and decades ago. AO is the working (but expensive) solution to photographing individual rod and cone cells, etc. (Think AO the same as earth bound telescopes looking through the atmosphere to deep space)
http://s3.carltonbale.com/resolution_chart.png
As the posted chart shows, there are recommended distances for the average viewer to appreciate a given resolution. There are variables that affect the guidelines of that chart. The quality of the display was mentioned, and individual visual acuity is also a factor, probably the biggest.
Extended viewing of a good display at an appropriate distance is probably the best way to "learn" to appreciate higher resolution content as differences become more subtle. Then going back to a lower res at its appropriate viewing distance may show the difference more readily.
If you can't tell the difference between 720 and 2160 on a 65" screen from anywhere but a few feet away then your TV is saying "It's you, not me. The idea of higher resolution is to preserve detail on a larger screen from a greater distance.
This is similar to using a 35mm negative for a 16x20 print instead of 110 film. A 110 based 16x20 print will look the same as a 35mm based 16x20 when viewed from a greater distance.
As far as ultimate viewing distance goes, my preference is always close enough that a given size screen fill about 50% maybe more of my field of view. Just short of me having to scan the display from edge to edge to get the whole picture is just right.
I see people at the movies voluntarily sitting back in the last quarter of the seating. I want to be immersed, to it's the back edge of the first third for me.
I'm unsure what role adaptive optics plays in this discussion.