Streaming vs downloading?

Robin132

Just wondering does anyone know if its true that streaming a tv programme/film uses as much bandwith as downloading it would? I always thought that streaming would be less but was recently informed that its the same, anyone know if its true?

jor el

How do you suppose that the data would stream to your computer without actually being downloaded through your Internet connection? Data is data, whether it's streamed for a single viewing or downloaded for repeated viewing, it makes no difference.

Everything you get through your Internet connection is a download.

watty

If you watch the same thing twice via streamimg, it's twice as much. With download, it's only once, no matter how often you watch it.
A PVR to record and Replay TV uses none of your traffic. Gives better quality too.

Baneblade

streaming is usually lower quality so the bandwidth would be less but it would not be a massive difference

kenyard

Baneblade wrote: »

streaming is usually lower quality so the bandwidth would be less but it would not be a massive difference

yeah but that means that its blurry to watch then also...
i often download the streamable material (when its not live) and the file sizes are much smaller in most cases, sure, but the quality is such that i cant watch it after starting downloading proper movies in proper quality

L31mr0d

I don't really know that much about streaming, but does it use a different container to stream and a different form of compression?

I mean there is a vast difference in size between, say, a 720p mp4 and a 720p mkv. I personally don't notice any drop in quality (I sit about a foot from my laptop so I'm close enough to tell)

I think a main difference with streaming size also is the audio quality. Most downloaded files have multiple audio streams (different languages, 2.1, 5.1... etc) included, with high bitrates (like DD5.1, HD DTS... etc)

When you are streaming you are more than likely only streaming an audio quality that is applicable to your setup.