I don't get video streaming

[Dargason]

Media delivery is clearly heading towards streaming (ok... heading is probably inaccurate... we're there already). I just don't understand why consumers like this.

I understand why Hulu, netflix, etc. like streaming. It gives them more control over the stream and the advertising revenue. But the user experience and the network efficiency sucks.

If I'm on the road and somewhere and streaming is the only option, that's fine. But I'd MUCH rather download the entire file or copy it from my home system before I go. That way I don't have to stay connected and I'm not at the mercy of some crappy hotel internet. I can also pause, resume, skip forward and back etc.

I mention this because I keep seeing people that are begging to stream stuff to their iPad or iPhone or android device... I just don't see the motivation.

Does anyone else see it my way or am I just an old fart that needs to get with the times?

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by Dargason

Does anyone else see it my way or am I just an old fart that needs to get with the times?

It's probably because people have lost the concept of planing ahead... Why take the time to sync some specific videos/albums when you can stream anything instead... It's no longer about quality, but about quantity...

[Dargason]

I suppose that's a large part of it. I wonder if it is going to change now that so many ISPs now have data caps. Streaming a 2h HD movie to your ipad or hotel hdtv could easy eat up a gig of your bandwidth.

This reminds me... I'm headed to Africa this week and I've got some transcoding to do...

[wrems]

The thing is... If you're not like us the quality doesn't even matter. It's snobs like us that know what the quality and speed should/could be, therefore we are not as happy with the streaming services. We however are in the extreme minority. Convenience over quality...

[darcilicious]

Originally Posted by wrems

Convenience over quality...

That and how high quality do you need on an iPhone or an iPad compared to your 52" TV?

[Dargason]

Well, it's not just about picture / audio quality. I don't expect that to be great on a portable device. It's just that I get frustrated by the limitations of streaming... glitches, dropped connections... can't pause and resume where I left off, doesn't work well if I'm moving in a car or at all on a plane. Stuff like that. I would think that stuff would be a deal-breaker for a lot of people, but maybe they're just used to it. Or don't realize that there are better ways.

And regarding convenience... if I have the bandwidth and time to stream a file, there's a very good chance I could download it instead. For example, set up a bunch of downloads in the hotel overnight from my SageTV server and watch them the next day in the airport or on my flight. Of course this requires a tiny bit of planning and preparation which I suppose is where it falls apart for many people.

[darcilicious]

Originally Posted by Dargason

Well, it's not just about picture / audio quality. I don't expect that to be great on a portable device. It's just that I get frustrated by the limitations of streaming... glitches, dropped connections... can't pause and resume where I left off. Stuff like that. I would think that stuff would be a deal-breaker for a lot of people, but maybe they're just used to it.

In my experience, audio is a non-issue assuming a stable connection (which I have even with my 50+ mile one-way commute to work each day).

For video, it can be a bigger deal and that's understood when you talk about streaming services/sources; but connectivity issues aside, things like pause/resume are features that a good streaming service (ala AirVideo) provide these days.

[Dargason]

Originally Posted by darcilicious

things like pause/resume are features that a good streaming service (ala AirVideo) provide these days.

Yeah, obviously I don't stream much so I'm not sure exactly how far advanced the tech is these days. I know that if decide to watch a neflix movie via sage/playon, I have to pay attention to make sure it'll finish before bedtime because I don't want to miss the last half hour... I can't pick it up where I left off the next day.

[darcilicious]

Yeah, that's definitely a playon issue. With native Netflix clients, I can usually stop a show or movie on one device and pick up where I left off on another (Sometimes it doesn't work but for the most part, Netflix is pretty good at "remembering" that for me).

[davidjames]

Originally Posted by Fonceur

It's probably because people have lost the concept of planing ahead... Why take the time to sync some specific videos/albums when you can stream anything instead... It's no longer about quality, but about quantity...

I think it's more about society trending towards A.D.D. Our constant need for stimulation, everything available to us whenever we want it. The concept of "downtime", sitting around and just doing nothing, is becoming abhorrent.

[stuckless]

I don't particularly care for video streaming... especially given data caps. But I have been using netflix for a few months and i do like it. For 7.99 - i get an easy to use interface to 1000s of tv shows and videos.

On the other hand it sucks when you go into netflix and you get the "Can't connect to Netflix at this time"... and the popcord is already popped, but you have nothing to watch... that has happened to me 3 times now with netflix in the last month. I'm not sure it's netflix or the ps3... but it's annoying.

Streaming will be the future (and probably will have some growing pains)... People will resist... I sure people scoffed as well when people started bringing those cable lines into their houses... "that fad will pass"

[valnar]

I think part of the problem is the World (not me) is willing to give up quality for convenience. DVD-Audio and SACD are clearly better than CD audio, yet people are willing to listen to crappy compressed MP3 files for convenience sake. We all want to buy good 1080p TV's yet people are happy streaming sub-par video to it. I'd rather have Blu-Ray in all its glory, which might be the last media based video format ever.

It's sad to see this, because the mantra for decades was always to improve the A/V experience. Now people settle for less.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Dargason

Media delivery is clearly heading towards streaming (ok... heading is probably inaccurate... we're there already). I just don't understand why consumers like this.

I understand why Hulu, netflix, etc. like streaming. It gives them more control over the stream and the advertising revenue. But the user experience and the network efficiency sucks.

I think it really comes down to cost and breath of available content. Streaming services are cheap, really cheap, and you get a ton of content. You get current seasons, past seasons, stuff that hasn't aired in years. You don't have to rent a cable box or DVR, you don't have to spend $20-25/disc to get it.

If I'm on the road and somewhere and streaming is the only option, that's fine. But I'd MUCH rather download the entire file or copy it from my home system before I go. That way I don't have to stay connected and I'm not at the mercy of some crappy hotel internet. I can also pause, resume, skip forward and back etc.

Which you can do with some services (Vudu, Xbox Live/Zune, Amazon, etc) but these are all pay-per-view models and end up costing almost as much as streaming services for the first or second movie, vs a whole month of unlimited content.

Does anyone else see it my way or am I just an old fart that needs to get with the times?

I think it (Netflix in my case) is a great supplement to other options services. I love netflix streaming, but what I love it for is TV shows and the like that I'd previously only watched via disc from netflix. Actually for most of this (available on DVD to begin with) the quality is rougly comparable. But this is all "casual viewing" type content.

For the more critical viewing, like the weekend movies, I only view Blu-ray, either from Netflix, or that I purchased (for the good movies).

Originally Posted by Dargason

Well, it's not just about picture / audio quality. I don't expect that to be great on a portable device. It's just that I get frustrated by the limitations of streaming... glitches, dropped connections... can't pause and resume where I left off, doesn't work well if I'm moving in a car or at all on a plane. Stuff like that. I would think that stuff would be a deal-breaker for a lot of people, but maybe they're just used to it. Or don't realize that there are better ways.

And regarding convenience... if I have the bandwidth and time to stream a file, there's a very good chance I could download it instead. For example, set up a bunch of downloads in the hotel overnight from my SageTV server and watch them the next day in the airport or on my flight. Of course this requires a tiny bit of planning and preparation which I suppose is where it falls apart for many people.

It also requires purchasing or PPV, which is a lot more expensive. The streaming/service business model does not support downloading.

Originally Posted by Dargason

Yeah, obviously I don't stream much so I'm not sure exactly how far advanced the tech is these days. I know that if decide to watch a neflix movie via sage/playon, I have to pay attention to make sure it'll finish before bedtime because I don't want to miss the last half hour... I can't pick it up where I left off the next day.

Seems like a lot of your issues are related to Playon, I'm guessing you've not used Netflix through a proper device. Netflix throug a proper/official device is very nice. HD is pretty good quality, probably better than DVD, maybe almost satellite HD quality. It remembers where you've been, and unless you've got a crappy connection is quite stable.

[clayfree]

I agree with stranger89, when properly set up streaming is an entirely different experience.

Over the past couple of years I have become more interested in streaming, I eventually felt it was the future. One thing I never understood was why Sage did not put more emphasis on it. I know they demonstrated Netflix & Hulu and it never panned out but what streaming they did have felt shoved in a corner. It took 3rd party plugins to access Playon.

We found ourselves watching so much streaming that eventually I felt Sage was the wrong vehicle. As an experiment I tried a jailbroken Apple TV with xbmc and the experience has been fantastic. It has more direct pluging. There are even services that offer 720 streams and they are as good as anything I watch. I've even watched them on the projector in my theater which I thought would never happen.

It was also a mental thing, I've always preferred to have content on my servers but 90% of what we watch will never be watched again. Do I really want a season of Mike & Molly taking up disc space? There are certain things I still like to keep.

I feel like streaming IS the future and maybe now so does Sage/Google.

[phelme]

The fact is most programming that comes through on broadcast and cable television isn't available via streaming or any other VOD format. Streaming is still a battlefield for the broadcasters. For example, I watch a lot of Formula 1 and IndyCar, much of it on Versus. NBC/Universal (who owns the Versus channel) recently fought back against IndyCar concerning its webcasting of the actual races. NBC let it slide for a couple years, but decided for this season that it was biting into their Nielsen's and told IndyCar to quit it.

[flavius]

Here's some hard data for a family of 5 where 4 have switched to streaming services pretty much.

I have watched this for almost a year know. Comcast puts the cap at 250GB. Heavy usage by 4 people have accumulated to more than 200GB once. We never breached the 85% line.

However, should bandwidth increase further and the quality of streams improve further, I don't think we'll be able to manage with 250GB without rationing.

As to availability of Netflix, for example, there were very few outages, I think it's up 99% of the time. The Apple TV2 needs a reset every few weeks or so. PQ is generally more than acceptable.

Of course, you mileage may vary.