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CWM030
Sophomore

Streaming question

I am just curious:


I am thinking about cutting the cord on Dish Network in April.

 

We upgraded to the 30 gig plan from the 20 gig on or around the 22nd and were now at 66%..  😞

 

But,  that was before I found a way to cut the consumption of data down.

 

I have now set Netflix  to use Low resolution, and the picture still looks fine, spotify on low data useage while on wifi, anything that I could change the quality on to use less data, thats what I did.

 

So I want to know, since everything is on LOW data useage, will we still be able to watch streaming video when we run out of data or will it be like

 

PLAY~~~~~~~BUFFER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~PLAY~~~~BUFFER?

 

Thanks!

30 REPLIES 30
maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

"since everything is on LOW data useage, will we still be able to watch streaming video when we run out of data "

 

Most likely, no. 

Well it says for Netflix it only needs up to 3 MB to stream in standard def. Which is what believe I have each user set as now.

 

PlutoTV it works " alright" but due to it being LIVE tv.. It does buffer at times.

 

@Liz  and @GabeU  What do ya'll think?

 

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

Cool. I'm sure it'll work just fine for you. Please report your experience. 

It's the latency on satellite that causes the buffering, not the speed. Just so happens that the lower the resolution, the fewer pings are required, so latency has less of an impact. In general, the speed provided is sufficient to stream, but the latency, which is directly worsened by network congestion might not.


* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@CWM030 

 

There's not really anything I can add.  Like Mark mentioned, while the speed may be adequate, the higher latency inherent to geostationary satellite internet can and often does have a negative effect.

 

It might work though.

 

I can't remember if it's been mentioned to you before or if you've happened to see it mentioned to others on here, but you may want to look into PlayOn Cloud.  It's a service that records your chosen movie or TV episode on a cloud based DVR, then converts it to an mp4 file which you can download, either manually, automatically or by scheduling.  You can then watch the item on any device that can play mp4 files, such as computers, tablets, smart TVs and even some DVD or Blu Ray players.  You can copy the files to a USB flash drive or USB HDD and then connect it to a device to watch them.  It's a great option for internet services with both limited amounts of high speed data, like HughesNet, and even more so when regular streaming doesn't tend to work all that well.  

 

The benefits are that there is no buffering, as you're watching from an already downloaded file, and you can choose when to download the files, such as during the Bonus Zone period.  I've also found that it tends to use less data overall than regular streaming, such as the file of a two hour, 1080p movie from Netflix being only around 2.3GB, and with 720p and 480p resolution being even smaller.  And all files you download are yours to keep, watching whenever and however many times you feel like.  

 

You can buy a monthly plan, which comes with a set number of recording credits (though you can always buy more) and a level of permanent cloud storage, or just the recording credits, for which you have seven days to download the recorded item before it gets purged from their servers.  I've always purchased recording credits rather than a monthly plan.

 

PlayOn Cloud doesn't work with all streaming services, but it does with most of the major ones.  You can see which ones near the bottom of the page in the link.  And, of course, you have to have an account with those streaming services, like you would when you stream from them in the normal manner.  It also requires an Android or Apple device for the PlayOn Cloud app, which is what you use to set up the recordings, though you can download the files with any devices.  If you don't have an Android or Apple device you can run an Android virtual machine on your Windows computer, though I don't know exactly how that's done. 

 

Anyway, just keep it in mind as an option.  Both maratsade and I use it.  I've built up quite a little library of movies and TV shows since I started using it about three or so years ago.

@GabeU... There's one problem with your solution... I don't run Windows or Mac OS 😞

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@CWM030 wrote:

@GabeU... There's one problem with your solution... I don't run Windows or Mac OS 😞


You mean for the app?  Do you run Linux?  If so, I think you can run an Android virtual machine on Linux.

Yes on Linux

 

But I am talking about the PlayOn program thats only for windows or mac that makes it able to schedule a download time etc.

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@CWM030 

 

Though I've never used it, the app itself does have an option to schedule downloads during a set time.  Granted, the app would have to be running at the time to achieve this.  

 

I'm not really sure how it all works.  

.

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

nt

I am talking about this @GabeU :

 

https: www playon tv/ cloud/ app/ downloader

 

Wouldn't I have to have this program on my computer to download the .mp4 files from the cloud? If so, I am SOL due to being a Linux user.

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

(Edited 9:16PM EST)

 


@CWM030 wrote:

I am talking about this @GabeU :

 

https: www playon tv/ cloud/ app/ downloader

 

Wouldn't I have to have this program on my computer to download the .mp4 files from the cloud? If so, I am SOL due to being a Linux user.


No.  The downloader is only needed to schedule downloads so they happen automatically and during a specific time period, like if you wanted to download the items during the Bonus Zone period while you slept.  You can also achieve this with the PlayOn Cloud app on a cell phone or tablet. 

 

When a program is finished recording and being converted to an mp4 you get an email with a link so you can download it manually.

@GabeUOh, then that might work if they send me an email to download the show manually then I wouldn't need that program at all. So it *MIGHT* work after all.

 

And in your other now deleted posts.. Yes I have a android phone.

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@CWM030 

 

That's good.  🙂

 

Regarding my edited posts, I realized I had misinterpreted your reply, mistakenly thinking you were asking about being able to schedule downloads rather than being able to download the recordings in general.  

 

I should have added that phone question back into the original reply.  

 

But yeah, if you've got an Android phone you'd be able to set up the recordings, and then when they're finished you could download them from the link you get in the email.  And with the phone, as long as it has some extra storage room, you'd have the option of scheduling the download(s) to occur during the Bonus Zone and to the phone (if it's got enough storage room), and then you could transfer them off of it.  Being able to take advantage of the Bonus Zone is one of the greatest benefits.

 

I also forgot to mention that things record in real time, and successively.  So, if you set up to record a season of a show from Netflix, it would take however long the episodes would take to watch, one after the other, and after each episode records and becomes available to download, you'll get an email link to it.

@GabeUI am having a problem with play on:

 

I got an email saying that something I recorded is ready for download:

 

I clicked on the link:

 

Recorded on: Feb 1, 2022   Download  
<https://playon.app.link/recordings>

 

I hit log in with my facebook account

 

And this pops up:

Server Error: 400 (Bad Request)


What does this mean?

The server cannot or will not process the request.

 

 

I cleared my Firefox cache and tried again... Same error....

 

How am I supposed to be able to download the recordings?

 

 

@GabeUUPDATE:

 

All of a sudden... I was downloading 1 epsiode of a tv show to my phone and it just quit downloading it.

 

Now nothing in the house will connect to wifi.. Alexa has a red ring when you say her name

 

my phone says Hug2g767245

Connected / No internet

 

I rebooted the modem... And wifi is still not letting anything connect

 

Seriously..  W T F ?????

@GabeU  Well, I got it working again by unplugging the modem, waiting 30 sec and then plugging the modem back in.

 

I got 2 epsiodes downloaded to my phone and then transfered them to a USB stick just to see if the tv will pick up on the USB stick

 

and it did, I turned the tv off, plugged the stick in and then turned the tv back on and it popped up something about Roku player ( The tv has ROKU built into it )  detected a USB stick and did I want to use Roku player to play the media? And I hit yes.

 

But now, I just tried to download another epsiode.. And the wifi has took a CRAP...  Alexa is saying she's having trouble connecting to the internet AGAIN!!!!!  Smiley Frustrated

@GabeU  I just tried a different phone and it started to download the show but it kept starting the download over.

 

I am going to try tonight to leave PlayOn open, have the phone plugged in,  and set PlayON to only download between 2:02 AM and 8:00 AM and see if the epsiodes download

 

I am also going to be disconnecting all phones but this one phone from WIFI and see if maybe that could be doing it?

 

But I would rather use my phone that does have cellular service because its has 30 gigs storage where the phone I am going to be using I think only has 16.

 

I do have a SD card coming.

 

To do scheduled downloads it says the phone has to be plugged in and the PlayOn app has to be open and WIFI connected.

 

We do have ( not all running at the same time) 2 Google Homes, 1 Alexa, 3 phones, and a computer.

 

@LizI do have a case #...  But  talking to the Philipenes got me no where.......

 

 

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