jasonfrompaso robles

Q: Why does it take 15mins to download a 28min tv show? Come on apple, really???

Why does it take 15mins to download a 28min tv show? Come on apple, really???

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Posted on Aug 21, 2011 10:48 PM

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Q: Why does it take 15mins to download a 28min tv show? Come on apple, really???

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  • by Winston Churchill,

    Winston Churchill Winston Churchill Aug 22, 2011 1:55 AM in response to jasonfrompaso robles
    Level 10 (104,156 points)
    Apple TV
    Aug 22, 2011 1:55 AM in response to jasonfrompaso robles

    Welcome to the Apple Community.

     

    The first thing to check would be your internet download speed, you can do this at www.speedtest.net.

     

    HD movies require a recommended speed of 6 Mbps, while SD movies require a recommended speed of 2.5 Mbps.

  • by TallBearNC,

    TallBearNC TallBearNC Aug 22, 2011 6:53 AM in response to jasonfrompaso robles
    Level 1 (34 points)
    Aug 22, 2011 6:53 AM in response to jasonfrompaso robles

    Apples iTunes servers can be SLOW. I have a 145Mbit/15Mbit docsis 3.0 business class cable modem.

     

    The iTunes store at most gives me 35-50Mbits (4-6Megabytes/sec)... And quite often I only get 1-2 Mbytes/sec

     

    But the above poster is correct, if you have anything less than a 6MBit connection 600-650Kbytes/sec), things will take time, and residential cable modems share bandwidth and can tend to get slow during peek hours - that's why I got a business class - complete bandwidth priority over residential

     

    It's pretty easily to calculate. There are 8 bits to a byte. divide by 8 to turn Mbits to MBytes (or Kbits/Kbps to KBytes or KBps). So a 4Mbps dsl or cable will give you 0.5Mbyes/sec or 512Kbyes/sec. If your movie is 512MBytes, then on a 4Mbps connection, it would take... Approx 17 mins. Even on a 6Mbps connection a 512MB tv show would take 13-14 mins

  • by Winston Churchill,

    Winston Churchill Winston Churchill Aug 22, 2011 8:59 AM in response to TallBearNC
    Level 10 (104,156 points)
    Apple TV
    Aug 22, 2011 8:59 AM in response to TallBearNC
    It's pretty easily to calculate. There are 8 bits to a byte. divide by 8 to turn Mbits to MBytes (or Kbits/Kbps to KBytes or KBps). So a 4Mbps dsl or cable will give you 0.5Mbyes/sec or 512Kbyes/sec. If your movie is 512MBytes, then on a 4Mbps connection, it would take... Approx 17 mins. Even on a 6Mbps connection a 512MB tv show would take 13-14 mins

    There isn't any need to get so complicated, HD movies have a datarate of a little less than 5 Mbps, allowing for variable internet speeds and a few other minor details, a download speed of a little more than 5 Mbps will therefore provide you with instant playback

     

    The iTunes store at most gives me 35-50Mbits (4-6Megabytes/sec)... And quite often I only get 1-2 Mbytes/sec

     

    Download speeds are not typically reported in MBps (Megabytes per second), but in Mbps (Megabits per second)

     

    If the Apple servers slow down to 8-16 Mbps (1-2 MBps) as you say they do, they should significantly exceed the minimum required for instant playback, so no it isn't correct that the Apple servers are the cause of slow downloads (excepting occasional problems)

  • by TallBearNC,

    TallBearNC TallBearNC Aug 22, 2011 9:59 AM in response to Winston Churchill
    Level 1 (34 points)
    Aug 22, 2011 9:59 AM in response to Winston Churchill

    The topic has nothing to do with streaming video.  The OP was talking about outright download times. Most iTunes HD movies are 2-4GB is size. And SD movies run from 500MB to 1.5GB

     

    Considering those sizes, yes, their servers can be slow.

     

    In this case, video data rate is irrelevant.

  • by Winston Churchill,

    Winston Churchill Winston Churchill Aug 22, 2011 10:34 AM in response to TallBearNC
    Level 10 (104,156 points)
    Apple TV
    Aug 22, 2011 10:34 AM in response to TallBearNC

    TallBearNC wrote:

     

    The topic has nothing to do with streaming video.

    Really?

    The OP was talking about outright download times.

    I doubt it, think about it.....

    The OP may have asked "Why does it take 15mins to download a 28min tv show?", however if it only took 15 minutes to download a 28 minute video, it would start to play instantaneously and the OP would be unlikely to be complaining. I suggest that what the OP was asking is why does it take 15 minutes before I can start to watch a 28 minute video

    Most iTunes HD movies are 2-4GB is size. And SD movies run from 500MB to 1.5GB

    We know that, but understand the point of reminding us.

    In this case, video data rate is irrelevant.

    It's entirely relevant.

     

    Firstly, if the data is downloaded at a higher rate than the datarate of the video, playback can begin straight away, if it isn't then the user will have to wait until enough data is buffered to ensure contiguous playback before they can start to watch the video.

     

    Secondly relating to data rates eliminates the need to write an essay on how to convert file sizes into download speeds and back again.

  • by Alley_Cat,

    Alley_Cat Alley_Cat Aug 22, 2011 11:54 AM in response to Winston Churchill
    Level 6 (19,583 points)
    Aug 22, 2011 11:54 AM in response to Winston Churchill

    Must be very sultry in your neck of the woods as it is in mine today old chap

  • by Winston Churchill,

    Winston Churchill Winston Churchill Aug 22, 2011 12:54 PM in response to Alley_Cat
    Level 10 (104,156 points)
    Apple TV
    Aug 22, 2011 12:54 PM in response to Alley_Cat

    I assume you think I was a little harsh. Perhaps you're right. But unchecked T.NC may have left the OP thinking their problem is Apple servers and nothing they can do will solve their problem which of course is not correct and not particularly doing our best for the OP.

     

    It's been warm but not over humid here (don't like humid)

  • by Alley_Cat,

    Alley_Cat Alley_Cat Aug 22, 2011 3:08 PM in response to Winston Churchill
    Level 6 (19,583 points)
    Aug 22, 2011 3:08 PM in response to Winston Churchill

    Not harsh, just seemed more direct than usual.

     

    Didn't mean to sound critical - I was ever so slightly amused sat there without a shirt perspiring in a very humid room reading the forum...

     

    I'm not averse to doing those mental gymnastics at times though when explaining about movies taking some time to start....

     

    Not sure if I mentioned it but turned over to a bewildering scene on one of the Freeview channels the other day, then realised I'd  tuned into the middle of the Watchmen and the blue dong suddenly made a bit more sense - had never seen the film before.

     

    AC

  • by Winston Churchill,

    Winston Churchill Winston Churchill Aug 22, 2011 4:36 PM in response to Alley_Cat
    Level 10 (104,156 points)
    Apple TV
    Aug 22, 2011 4:36 PM in response to Alley_Cat

    I've been involved in a couple of similar threads in the last few days, I don't want to discourage new blood but it's not helpful when it gets confusing for the OP.

     

    Aghh, the blue dong strikes again hey, it's not going to go away you know. It doesn't seem that long ago, but it shows how time fly's by.

  • by RectorFromPaso,

    RectorFromPaso RectorFromPaso Aug 24, 2011 8:36 PM in response to jasonfrompaso robles
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 24, 2011 8:36 PM in response to jasonfrompaso robles

    Wow, a lot of anger and no answers??? It's entirely relevant when I have to sit around and wait for a short flick to "upload", netflix  seems to have no problem, pay per view, etc. I don't have to consider anything when dealing with the short comings of a defective Apple product and I certainly don't need to be criticized for posting in the "wrong" place. Mr. Churchill can go chill somewhere else, yes.

  • by Alley_Cat,

    Alley_Cat Alley_Cat Aug 24, 2011 11:41 PM in response to RectorFromPaso
    Level 6 (19,583 points)
    Aug 24, 2011 11:41 PM in response to RectorFromPaso

    Assume you and 'jasonfrompasorobles' are the same person?    Otherwise not sure where Winston has replied to you.  Where has he suggested you're in the wrong forum ? (common practice to tell people if they are as you're more likely to get an answer in the correct forum.)

     

    I refer you to Winston's first and only reply to jason... where he welcomed him to the forum - what is the download speed - measure it at speedtest.net on a computer.

     

    Netflix works completely differently - it works out your internet speed and reduces the quality of the stream (accordingly so starts much quicker on slower connections by degrading the quality with a lower bitrate stream.

     

    Apple's rentals are fixed sized files - HD 3-4GB, SD 1-1.5GB or thereabouts depending on film length - for fixed sized files with a given playback average bitrate/sec (Apple's tend to be up to 5 Mbps) if the connection speed is lower it is impossible to playback the movie instantly and continuously - it would stop and start all the time - so AppleTV calculates how much needs to buffer to allow the movie to be watched without stopping/starting - if your speed is very slow this could mean many hours for a HD title, and as TallBearNC suggests you can make some rough calculations to show why this happens.

     

    Other factors could be at play but the first thing to look at is always the average download speed on your internet  connection.

     

    AC

  • by F.R.V.,

    F.R.V. F.R.V. Aug 25, 2011 12:30 PM in response to jasonfrompaso robles
    Level 1 (60 points)
    Aug 25, 2011 12:30 PM in response to jasonfrompaso robles

    I figured out a long time ago, that sitting and waiting for a download to complete, makes is seem like it takes longer than it actually takes. 15 minutes is good time to make a cup of tea and get some cookies. With all focus on technical aspects, it is easy to overlook psychological aspects. You would probably also have felt disappointment if it would have taken, like, 11 minutes...

  • by Alley_Cat,

    Alley_Cat Alley_Cat Aug 25, 2011 12:59 PM in response to F.R.V.
    Level 6 (19,583 points)
    Aug 25, 2011 12:59 PM in response to F.R.V.

    F.R.V. wrote:

     

    I figured out a long time ago, that sitting and waiting for a download to complete, makes is seem like it takes longer than it actually takes. 15 minutes is good time to make a cup of tea and get some cookies. With all focus on technical aspects, it is easy to overlook psychological aspects. You would probably also have felt disappointment if it would have taken, like, 11 minutes...

     

    It's a new way of renting/viewing - if you have decent broadband it'll work almost straight away - if not it entails a wait and that is not Apple's fault but the slowness of the connection.

     

    I used to wait 8-10 hours for a movie to download a few years ago on AppleTV1 on avery slow connection but it was ok if I rented in advance say in the morning of viewing or night before.  Not exactly a life or death issue.  Funnily enough with a slow but faster connection of 4 Mbps, having to wait 30-40 minutes is worse!

     

    AC

  • by David Thalenberg,

    David Thalenberg David Thalenberg Jun 28, 2016 11:58 AM in response to Alley_Cat
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPod
    Jun 28, 2016 11:58 AM in response to Alley_Cat

    No, that's wrong. I have a 50MB connection, and can't watch a video until it has downloaded. With Netflix and Amazon, there is no difficulty. I have been an Apple customer for 30 years or more, and this is very disappointing. I won't purchase video from iTunes any more, only Amazon. Netflix uses too much data, and I can't download onto my mobile device.

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