As streaming video becomes not only the preferred method for watching TV programming, but built into the standard internet experience, more people need to pay closer attention to their internet quality.
Fast internet is great, but what about consistent internet? To figure out what matters with your internet connection and to make sure you’re getting the best service available, here are a few streaming quality details?
Streaming Video History
A long time ago on an internet that seems far away, everyone had to deal with one annoying word: buffering.
The world had many video players installed on computers and embedded in websites. Players such as RealMedia, Quicktime, and Shockwave were all over the place. These players would download videos and play them, but not always in efficient ways.
The late 1990’s and early 2000’s were a battleground of figuring out the best way to send acceptable quality content across dial-up internet. Sometimes, the video would temporarily download and play after the file was complete. Other times, people were expected to download the whole file and play the video or audio when it was done.
These bulk downloads were rife with failure in many cases. Sometimes the big file would be corrupt and wouldn’t play at all. Sometimes parts of the video were missing and resulted in unwatchable shapes and colors. There were even tools released to repair damaged, big files.
Streaming entered the internet as an answer to these big downloads. Instead of waiting for almost an hour for short videos and audio files to complete, the streaming player would serve a little bit of content while trying to download ahead of time.
This did not always work. A bit of the video would play, and then it would stop completely. In some situations, the video or page would crash and lose the in-progress streaming with no easy way to resume.
Buffering was introduced to smooth out the pausing and other problems. By keeping the user occupied with a bit of loading at the beginning, the video could download a bit at a time while continuing to play, and have a safer zone or buffer to show the watcher that the video is still working rather than failing completely.
Why Do Videos Keep Stuttering?
Buffering still exists, and it is more of a nuisance than a redeeming feature for a lot of video watchers. Since the internet is extremely faster than the early days of streaming–from 56,000 (56k) bits to hundreds of thousands (100mbps) or more bits per second–buffering usually means that something is wrong.
If everything on your connection is working and stable, buffering means that your internet package is just too slow. New quality standards happen from time to time, and going from standard TV to HD to 4K means downloading chunks of bigger files.
If you’re watching the same quality that you’ve always watched, but run into buffering, stuttering video, or unexpected freezes in the video, the internet may be the issue. It could be a problem at your Internet Service Provider (ISP), or you may simply need to reset your modem.
Every major streaming site has a set of guidelines and recommended speeds. After all, not everyone has the time or free brainpower to memorize a bunch of numbers for someone else’s industry. If your internet exceeds those speeds and you still have a problem, it’s time to reach out to technical support.
The Quality Dropped, And Everything Is Ugly
As any technology gets faster and gains better quality, there’s usually a team dedicated to filling any gaps that could be missed in the process.
Anyone who deals with the internet (or any technology) for more than a year will know that service hiccups happen. Sometimes it’s the ISP, sometimes it’s the computer or streaming device, and sometimes it’s the internet at large having problems.
Because of unexpected network issues, a lot of standard streaming platforms have an automated system to drop video quality when internet speeds become slower. You get to keep watching what you’re watching without as much of a break in the show or movie, but without crisp quality.
Although that can still be jarring to a lot of people, it’s enough time to get something out of what you’re watching.
If you need help with figuring out why your internet quality keeps dropping, or have no idea who to ask when something goes wrong, contact an internet service professional.
