Netflix Throttling Instant Video Streaming 207
rsk writes "For the last few weeks I've been experiencing terrible streaming video performance from Netflix on both my Xbox 360 and PC. While my Xbox 360 would at least stream at a lower resolution, my PC cannot seem to avoid 2-hr. buffering times before playback even started. I smelled shenanigans and started digging. With some help finding the debug menu for the streaming video player, I set out to figure out why playback was so slow. It seems that Netflix is significantly throttling Watch Instantly users (on the PC) down to an unusable cap — in my case, 48 kbps — on a per-connection basis."
maybe they only have so much bandwidth? (Score:3, Insightful)
were you watching during a high peak time? maybe they need to invest in more bandwidth.
Faulty reasoning? (Score:5, Insightful)
Now we have confirmed that Netflix is throttling instant streaming PC-users to a rediculous 50 or 60 KB/sec cap
That's an interesting argument. He showed that each thread was throttled to 50 or 60 KB/sec, but he never had any evidence to support his argument atht it's netflix at fault, not his ISP or some other internet issue.
bad conclusions (Score:5, Insightful)
I read this article, and it seems to me this guy came to a conclusion before he came to an experiment.
What he DID prove is that a Netflix server in LA was only handing out 50KB/sec per http socket. Most web type servers will do this when under heavy load- better to give everybody a little bit than a few people a lot and the others nothing. I think this is correct behavior for a heavy-load situation.
However, when he accuses them of throttling, along with the way this article is titled, STRONGLY implies that they are throttling specific users who use too much. If he wanted to prove this the test is simple- log out of netflix and log in with a friend's account, preferably a friend who doesn't stream much.
Throttling also implies that Netflix is intentionally reducing the connection quality. I see no logical reason for them to do this to EVERYbody, as that would make the Instant Watch service useless for everybody. Far more likely, as stated above, is that he's on an overloaded server.
So my take on it is this article is incompletely researched, draws a bad conclusion (which doesn't make much sense) from too little evidence, and doesn't perform the one test needed to actually verify it's claim.
Your ISP is the more likely culprit... (Score:5, Insightful)
If there is any throttling going on, it is more likely that your ISP is responsible for it. Cable companies and DSL providers who are getting into the video on demand business may not like Netflix beating them to market with a more cost effective product...
Re:Not Netflix fault. (Score:5, Insightful)
FFS (Score:5, Insightful)
Perhaps you should go back to reading books and not use
Yes I do feel 2 posts in 8 hrs is excessive. And yes I fully expect your "friends" to mod me down.
The lunatics are running the (Slashdot) asylum (Score:5, Insightful)
Netflix streaming seems to work just fine to my PC - I just tried it. It works fine to my Tivo as well. On occasion, there are problems - but as a reasonably intelligent adult, my first assumption isn't that Netflix is causing these problems intentionally. And you know what? If I go back and try again later, things usually have sorted themselves out!
I have to wonder about the average age and/or maturity level of some Slashdot submitters, as well as the editors approving these "stories"...
Re:maybe they only have so much bandwidth? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Time to cancel Netflix if true. (Score:5, Insightful)
Throttling streaming video is so nonsensical that my personal suspicion is PEBCAK or an ID10T error.
Re:Time to cancel Netflix if true. (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh well.. I tried to go legit, but time to fire up bittorrent again, I guess. They are just shooting themselves in the foot.
And that justifies downloading the movies? If you're going to do that, then do it, don't act as if netflix committing one sin is justification. I don't like the MPAA or the RIAA, but that's not why we download music or movies without paying for them. We do that because we can and it's cheaper than paying for it. Pointing to things netflix is doing wrong and saying "that's why I'm doing this" is just rationalization.
Re:Faulty reasoning? (Score:1, Insightful)
lol, I love reading about USians and their Internet connections like they were stuck in the '90s.
Re:Look carefully at the web site. (Score:3, Insightful)
This must be the 20th comment slagging kdawson.
You know, there's two ways of looking at this ... one way being that the article is posted and the community then gets to either verify or debunk it. If Netflix WERE throttling, instead of individual IPSs, the only way to know would be to get people from all over to post their observations. So, aside from posting the article, can you come up with another mechanism that gets feedback from everyone?
Not every rumour is true - but this is as good a way as any to weed out the wheat from the chaff - put the problem to the community to either confirm it with multiple data points, or debunk it.
Re:Time to cancel Netflix if true. (Score:4, Insightful)
might just be his ISP throttling him if he streams a lot or is a heavy user or if theyre generally craptastic.
Re:immersive suspension of disbelief --lost (Score:1, Insightful)
After pondering my own post it dawned on me that maybe the answer to the puzzle here is not that netflix is throttling but that silverlight is cheating a bit.
silver light and xbox are of course microsoft products. So if silverlight on x-box had say a better buffer or a better streaming protocol that was latency tollerant it could work better.
So why would this be. Well before leaping to the negative and assuming MS is rigging the game to favor xbox, perhaps it's again a DRM issue.
maybe silver light can permission from the content providers to do more buffering because it's a nominally locked down platform that can offer other DRM protections that a general purpose PC cannot.
Re:Time to cancel Netflix if true. (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't like the MPAA or the RIAA, but that's not why we download music or movies without paying for them. We do that because we can and it's cheaper than paying for it.
I don't download (because of the current legal exposure, and because much of MPAA/RIAA content isn't worth my time), but back when I did, it was never about it being cheaper. I would gladly pay significant sums of money for good content offered the way I want to view it. The *AA companies simply don't offer this, are not interested in offering this, and are more interested in suing their customers than figuring out how to offer it.
Use Watch Instantly daily, no probs w/ Verizon DSL (Score:4, Insightful)
I use the Watch Instantly all the time as I do not have cable and have no problems. I'd check with my ISP before blaming Netflix.
OP: Are you doing any P2P stuff with your connection? I think you better check all your activity before you go blaming Netflix.
Re:Time to cancel Netflix if true. (Score:3, Insightful)
For me, Netflix makes it as easy or maybe easier to consume media than piracy does, and the price is low enough that it's worth it. This is the perfect example of "the way forward" for media cartels - you will not beat piracy unless you can provide media that is of better quality, cheaper, or easier to consume than piracy can. At the very least you need to hit one of those three! In my mind, Netflix hits two (ease of use and price - while not free, it's well within what I'm willing to pay).
Now if they'd only get rid of that stupid DRM... I currently run (pirated!) Windows virtualized so I can watch streaming Netflix media. What with several big players getting rid of DRM for music, I can only hope that movies are next; when Netflix grows the backbone (and buys the lawyers) to shove DRM-free streams down the throats of the media providers, I'll be recommending Netflix to everyone.
As to the actual "article"... your connection to Netflix's servers is slow.. it happens. Could be your ISP, could be Netflix. Probably not throttling. This is the kind of thing you call your buddy about and say "hey is your Netflix slow too?", not post to Slashdot.