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Netflix Enables Streaming Quality Control To Reign In Mobile Data Usage (hothardware.com)
MojoKid writes from a report on HotHardware: Netflix wants to put users in control of their mobile data usage when it comes to its iOS and Android apps. Up until today, Netflix held all the cards and adjusted video quality settings on its end (and how much cellular data was consumed) when users were on a cellular connection. Now, Netflix is opening up user-selectable settings that allow you to sip data (at the expense of video quality of course) or gulp it down if you're one of the few with an unlimited data plan. Making the adjustment is as simple as navigating to App Settings and then selecting Cellular Data Usage. From there, you will be able to select from Automatic (Default), Low, Medium, High, or Unlimited options. If you're on a Wi-Fi connection, these quality settings are disabled altogether.
REIN
REIN IN, like SLOWING DOWN A HORSE - THROTTLING
REIGN is something a king or emperor does.
"Reign in"? And I'm not even a native English speaker...
So it's basically useless for wifi hotspots then? Great.
Does it let you watch Downton Abby, but not sitcoms and reality shows?
..when the Netflix - app restricts video-quality to 480p anyways unless your phone/tablet is Widevine L1 - certified! Both my phone and tablet have 1080p - displays, 480p just looks fucking atrocious :(
And our third-world monthly data caps at first-world prices!
This just doesn't help people on mobile connections. It also helps Netflix. Also witness their re-encoding job a while back.
Netflix is still beholden to the Amazon platform they sit on, regardless of what discounts they get, so cutting storage, bandwidth and other costs becomes very important. The trouble with cloud platforms is that they look very attractive to accountants because they don't see a huge amount of upfront costs, but, over time that catches up with you. When you build your own infrastructure that pays off over time, otherwise your provider simply takes a large cut out of your revenue every month. Those same accountants then look at the mammoth bill every month and start asking for ways to cut it. I've seen it everywhere cloud stuff has been deployed.
They have a reasonable looking outlook Netflix, but the fact that they don't control their own platform is still a large risk IMHO.
I still have a grandfathered Verizon unlimited plan, so I suppose I could use the setting to shift to unlimited bandwidth, but I really don't notice the difference in picture quality when I'm on cellular vs. on WiFi at home, so I'll probably leave it as it is.
Now, if only Amazon would remove the restriction that makes it impossible to download shows to your device (not stream, download) over cellular networks. Works just fine over WiFi, but it's impossible over cellular. I get why they have the restriction (someone hits download, and 600MB of wireless data zip by without them actually watching anything, and they get pissed off), but it should be an option that I can turn off (leave the default to "no download over cellular, certainly). It's not a bug or flaw, it's a conscious policy decision.
If I'm traveling, and want to download something on the way to the airport to watch on the plane, the inability to do so is pretty annoying.
I have a question about Netflix streaming.
When I watch, say, old Star Trek episodes(TOS), streamed on Netflix, they look great:
Crystal clear and no blocky pixelation to speak of...
When I watch episodes of a new Netflix created series, such as "House of Cards", it looks terrible.
Blocky pixelation all around, and Kevin Spacey looks like he came out of Minecraft.
I have confirmed this behavior over and over with these two series.
I have friends who also confirm this behavior(especially HoC).
Is there some setting in Netflix I need to enable, such as "Make our new shows look great while streaming".
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
I have had Netflix for years and I have always been able to tell Netflix to manage streaming speed. In fact one reason I use Netflix over Amazon Prime is this feature, since Prime will always stream in the highest quality your connection will support.
Well YouTube for the iphone app at least does allow you to change your settings.
but 720p is a lot for a lot of mobile stuff.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
You're on a nerd-discussion site. Most of what we want to talk about are products we can go buy. You may need to lighten up a little.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
I sure wish we could keep these setting enabled not only on the phones when using wifi, but also on the client built into our DVD players and the desktop web browser version!
Some of us have metered Internet you know! Its a huge PITA to try and keep track of of NFLX destination IPs so my router can shape the traffic down to a reasonable value, such that I don't burn half of my monthly cap watching to a couple movies.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
It's not ideal but it's better than the status quo. I can already limit bandwidth on the router but users will just switch to mobile data. If you're trying to keep kids from running up a big bill this will help.
I do not block ads. I do block third party scripts.
What I'd also like is a way to tell the OS that a particular wifi connection should be treated like a cellular connection
Since Windows 8 and Android 4.something, the user has been able to mark a particular SSID as metered. Under Android 5 "Lollipop", for example, try Settings > Data usage > Network restrictions. Ethernet connections, however, cannot be marked as metered even if their upstream connection is capped, such as satellite, home LTE, or home WiMAX in areas that can't get fiber or DSL. This has already caused people to exceed caps on PCs with an Ethernet connection to a satellite modem.
and have all apps respect that.
I haven't read the Google Play review guidelines recently, but the Windows Store review guidelines require apps to respect the current connection's metered flag. If you want, I can dig up a specific citation for you.
And I'd like a pony.
The MLP:FIM fandom would be glad to serve you in this.
The Netflix Open Connect Appliance takes 4U of space in the ISP's data center, space that a paying colo customer could be leasing. This is why Comcast refused the appliance, as the opportunity cost of not being able to lease the real estate to a colo customer outweighed the cost of poor quality service to its subscribers.
Then subscribe to T-Mobile and enable Binge On QOS mode to throttle Netflix down to 1.5 Mbps. While Binge On is enabled, your Netflix streams are limited to standard definition but do not count against your monthly data allowance.
I think satellite subscribers are expected to switch to fiber, cable, or DSL. And if these Slashdot users' opinions are to be believed, subscribers outside the service area of fiber, cable, or DSL are expected to move.
Smartphones (and tablets) of today feature screens with 1080p and higher resolutions, yet the highest bandwidth Netflix offers is one at least factor 4 below what would be required to transport a decent 1080p24 video widthout visible compression artifacts? I know while I stay with recording offline-media, providing decent bandwidth and image.