Jun 1, 2018
4,523

Primal Sage

Virtually Real
Member
Nov 27, 2017
9,928
When will this go in effect? I am still getting 4k streams in both netflix and youtube.

And you will keep getting that. EU asked Netflix and youtube to lower the resolution without knowing that lowering bitrate would have the same effect.

So they lowered the bitrate. Something which they have always been allowed to do without lowering prices.
 
Oct 25, 2017
2,212
Still manage a higher bitrate than HBO nordic. It's such a shame HBO Nordic don't want to deliver a quality experience to their customers, but gobble up so many series.

On topic. I get it. I think it's a good idea, though I think they should keep it fluid and just reduce it if it shows signs of congestion. But I guess they are kind of doing that in only doing it during some periods of the day ?
 

Segafreak

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,756
I'm watching Steve Jobs on Netflix and I've never seen a movie look as bad as this.

Getting 0.8Mbps at 1080p???
 

Ashhong

Member
Oct 26, 2017
16,782
Is there any word on Netflix doing anything in the US? Trying to watch HDR content and it's not working. I don't mind, just want to know if my TV is fucked up or not lol
 

Ploid 6.0

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,440
My ISP along with many others in the US have removed caps for at least a month. They are going to use this as an excuse to why they need to go back to caps I bet. :(
 

Prine

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
15,724
Feels like the EU should have no say this. Every country is different and the service providers know whats best. German Telekom said there are no problems because of this virus atm. No reason to take away the last few things people can have fun with alone.
What are they taking away that prevents you from watching Netflix? Reducing your precious view time to SD is taking away your fun? Get some perspective, show some lenience and endure a little inconvenience at this time, and stop assuming life will be normal. Their will be cutbacks in all areas, that's the reality to protect vital services and comms.
 
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Rubmifer

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,595
Second night in a row where the streaming quality is just complete shit when watching Netflix. I mean I get why they do it, but this is just unwatchable. I can almost count every individual pixel.
 

electricblue

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,991
damn that sucks Netflix bitrate was shit enough as it was
honestly would probably drop Netflix if they did that here
 

shenden

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,338
Is it visible worse? Sure, but I don't think it's such a big deal at all. There are far worse concerns in the world. But Netflix definitely should lower the subscription price during this period since you clearly don't get what you're paying for.
 

Amnixia

▲ Legend ▲
The Fallen
Jan 25, 2018
10,484
I've not really noticed any changes in quality so far (Netherlands).
 

NekoFever

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,009
Is it visible worse? Sure, but I don't think it's such a big deal at all. There are far worse concerns in the world. But Netflix definitely should lower the subscription price during this period since you clearly don't get what you're paying for.
Netflix, Amazon, iPlayer and Disney+ aren't too bad here, although admittedly I'm at my girlfriend's house and it's not a brilliant or huge TV. YouTube looks terrible – it was already operating on the borderline of acceptable bitrates and now I'm seeing visible compression on stuff that it could usually handle, like head and shoulders studio shots. Something fast moving like game footage looks absolutely dreadful, like online video circa 2005.
 

Arkanius

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,144
How many bets that they won't raise the bitrate back and keep it like this, to minimize bandwidth costs?
 

MrCibb

Member
Dec 12, 2018
5,349
UK
How many bets that they won't raise the bitrate back and keep it like this, to minimize bandwidth costs?
Na. Can't do much about it right now, there's bigger fish to fry, but after the pandemic's under control if they continue to charge the same price for inadequate streaming they'll get nailed.
 

shenden

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,338
Netflix, Amazon, iPlayer and Disney+ aren't too bad here, although admittedly I'm at my girlfriend's house and it's not a brilliant or huge TV. YouTube looks terrible – it was already operating on the borderline of acceptable bitrates and now I'm seeing visible compression on stuff that it could usually handle, like head and shoulders studio shots. Something fast moving like game footage looks absolutely dreadful, like online video circa 2005.

Yeah to be fair I don't know how bad it's compared to where you or anyone else lives of course (I live in Sweden). Maybe the quality progressively looks worse in other countries with weaker infrastructure when it comes to internet, I can just say what my experience is and it ain't too bad. I do see compression artifacts which is annoying but again, I can live with it. For now...
 

Deleted member 1726

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,661
It's funny how U.K. ISPs say the infrastructure can cope with any increase in demand, but here we are with services lowering video quality.
 

natestellar

Member
Sep 16, 2018
835
Yeah Netflix looks like shit on PS4 for me.

Bitrate seems capped at 0.7Mbps.

Some movies were 720p but others were 540p.

Spiderman: Homecoming was unwatchable, compression artifacts galore.

I was streaming Ozark last night on PS4 and it hovered at 0.7 to 0.79Mbps between episodes.

However, when I streamed the same episodes on my MacBook the bitrate was 3.5 Mbps. I don't know what's going on with Netflix tbh.
 

Tyaren

Character Artist
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
25,021
Oh, that is what that was yesterday evening/night! For the first time ever I just wasn't able to stream Youtube in 1080p, it would all the time stop to load, and even 720p wasn't working well.
 

demon326

Member
Nov 3, 2017
103
Watching Netflix on my OLED tv makes the lower bitrate even more frustrating. Full HD hovers between 0.7 to 1.5Mbps UHD around 3 Mbps. Its most visible in dark scenes..
 

Kernel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,998
I was streaming Ozark last night on PS4 and it hovered at 0.7 to 0.79Mbps between episodes.

However, when I streamed the same episodes on my MacBook the bitrate was 3.5 Mbps. I don't know what's going on with Netflix tbh.

Yeah my mobile devices seem unchanged. Prime and Disney+ look normal as well.

Netflix is potato quality on PS4.
 

Nightfall

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,988
Germany
Watching Mandalorian on Disney+ yesterday was really bad. A lot of ghosting and artifacts due to the lowered bitrate. Some scenes with looked great though. Very inconsistent.
 

natestellar

Member
Sep 16, 2018
835
Yeah my mobile devices seem unchanged. Prime and Disney+ look normal as well.

Netflix is potato quality on PS4.

Prime went SD for me last night, Netflix is holding resolution but bitrates are so varied. I still don't understand why streaming via PS4/TV/Firestick is resulting in potato quality. But, the same on a Mac looks pristine.

Doesn't sit right with me, it should be consistent across all platforms.
 

Messofanego

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,519
UK
speaking of traffic, here's study from 2018 (note: EU is part of EMEA)

sandvine-global-internet-phenomena-report-october-2018.png



variety.com

Netflix Eats Up 15% of All Internet Downstream Traffic Worldwide (Study)

Netflix streaming video consumes a significant 15% of all internet bandwidth globally, the most of any single application, per a new report.
15% of all internet bandwidth globally, wow! Glad Netflix and YouTube lowered the bitrate or video quality. Hopefully this helps people who need the network to be in good standing like in hospitals and clinics.
 

notBald

Member
Oct 27, 2017
393
I still don't understand why streaming via PS4/TV/Firestick is resulting in potato quality. But, the same on a Mac looks pristine.

Doesn't sit right with me, it should be consistent across all platforms.
Interesting. So far, I've done all my streaming with a W10 laptop and wondered why nothing looked worse.
 

Halbrand

Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,630
Yeah Netflix looks like shit on PS4 for me.

Bitrate seems capped at 0.7Mbps.

Some movies were 720p but others were 540p.

Spiderman: Homecoming was unwatchable, compression artifacts galore.
Yeah I'm on Apple TV and I couldn't see what the bitrate was but I wouldn't be surprised if Hot Fuzz was 540p. A shame because all the movies I was watching for the last month were on Netflix, but I just can't use it anymore if it's going to be this unwatchable.

Looks like I'll have to buy/rent more movies on Apple TV.
 

Haint

Banned
Oct 14, 2018
1,361
How many bets that they won't raise the bitrate back and keep it like this, to minimize bandwidth costs?

Some of the sevices will try for sure and hope no one notices or raises a big enough stink about it. If it eventually garners news coverage they'll claim it was unintentional, a misconfigured data center or something.
 

Primal Sage

Virtually Real
Member
Nov 27, 2017
9,928
I did some tests and the whole "Netflix lowered their bitrate by 25%" isn't what you'd think. How much the bitrate is lowered varies wildly from title to title. Some titles aren't lowered at all. And 1080p series have different bitrates per episode. This leads me to theorize that either:

1: They are selecting which titles to lower bitrate on based on statistics showing them how much bandwidth each title takes up. For instance, all titles using x amount of bandwidth are lowered 50%. Titles using y amount are lowered 20% etc. This could explain why some series have higher bitrates in newer episodes because more people are watching them than earlier ones.

2: The titles that haven't been lowered are simply ones they haven't gotten to yet.

Before the changes, these were the normal bitrates:
1080p: 5.9Mbps
4K: 24Mbps

4k streams (regardless of having Atmos and Dolby Vision) seem to be consistently at 7.6Mbps now.

1080p streams vary greatly. These are the bitrates I have observed. They are consistent per title/episode tested:
1.5Mbps
2.2Mbps
2.8Mbps
4.6Mbps
5.9Mbps

An example of a series with different bitrates depending on episodes is Star Trek: The Next Generation. Episode 1 of season 1 is 1.5Mbps while episode 1 of season 6 is 2.8Mbps.

Example of title with no change to bitrate (5.9Mbps) is La Bamba.