Forum Discussion

Mb123's avatar
Mb123
Sophomore
7 years ago

Downloading vs Streaming data use

I read a post about using the Play On software. My question: if I were to use Play On to download during my Bonus Data, will simply downloading to watch later offline use less data than streaming to watch? My intentions would be to connect my laptop to my tv. Any help is appreciated! Thanks!
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  • MarkJFine's avatar
    MarkJFine
    7 years ago
    Mb123 wrote:
    I read a post about using the Play On software. My question: if I were to use Play On to download during my Bonus Data, will simply downloading to watch later offline use less data than streaming to watch? My intentions would be to connect my laptop to my tv. Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

    The short answer is, maybe.

     

    Streaming gives more opportunity for in-process packet errors, meaning more repeated packets being sent, meaning more data being used.

     

    Downloading means you get the whole thing in one shot with hopefully less time for packet errors to occur.

    All things being equal, downloading should mean less data usage than streaming.

     

    And by equal, I mean the same program at the same resolution and total file size... which brings up another advantage: With downloading you know the data you should be using, whereas with streaming it's best guess by resolution.

     

    If I'm making it seem that downloading is just an all-round better option, it is - not only for your own local bandwidth but for everyone else's as well.

     

    Edit: Should also add that if you're downloading anything much more than 3-400Mb per hour of programming you're probably wasting bandwidth.

  • Jeff_T's avatar
    Jeff_T
    Sophomore
    7 years ago

    Mb123

    Hi, I replied to your other post on this subject but did not address what you ask here, PlayOn has an option to select video quality which is directly related to the amount of data a video takes to record. I leave the quality setting at auto and it records at the "standard" quality which uses about 1GB for each hour of recording, you can record at higher quality but auto works just fine and gives you about 50 hours of video a month from the bonus time.

  • MarkJFine's avatar
    MarkJFine
    Professor
    7 years ago
    Mb123 wrote:
    I read a post about using the Play On software. My question: if I were to use Play On to download during my Bonus Data, will simply downloading to watch later offline use less data than streaming to watch? My intentions would be to connect my laptop to my tv. Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

    The short answer is, maybe.

     

    Streaming gives more opportunity for in-process packet errors, meaning more repeated packets being sent, meaning more data being used.

     

    Downloading means you get the whole thing in one shot with hopefully less time for packet errors to occur.

    All things being equal, downloading should mean less data usage than streaming.

     

    And by equal, I mean the same program at the same resolution and total file size... which brings up another advantage: With downloading you know the data you should be using, whereas with streaming it's best guess by resolution.

     

    If I'm making it seem that downloading is just an all-round better option, it is - not only for your own local bandwidth but for everyone else's as well.

     

    Edit: Should also add that if you're downloading anything much more than 3-400Mb per hour of programming you're probably wasting bandwidth.