Does Apple TV use reduced frame rate as a way to lower bandwidth?

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Does Apple TV use reduced frame rate as a way to lower bandwidth?

I sometimes notice jerky motion in scenes where there isn't a lot of overall fast action, as if the frame rate has dropped to 12-15 fps instead of 24 or higher. I noticed this effect a few times while watching the latest episode of Shōgun this evening.

Is this due to excessive video compression, and, if so, is it the best quality for which some content will ever be seen, or is it an on-the-fly response to network congestion?

This is in relation to the Apple TV streaming service, as viewed on third-gen 4K Apple TV hardware.

Posted on Apr 16, 2024 11:02 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 17, 2024 12:57 AM in response to skyviewcafe

Shōgun is on FX (Hulu, fuboTV) (on Disney+ outside the US), and this show streams in the quality that the content provider decides on (possibly influenced by bandwidth metrics). Apple TV itself doesn’t alter the quality.

If this happens when you should have good bandwidth, then try restarting the app, for a fresh attempt at regular quality.

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Answer 2

skyviewcafe Author

Level 1

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Apr 17, 2024 1:31 PM in response to Urquhart1244

My apologies for misidentifying the streaming provider.

I'm just seeking confirmation that reducing frame rate is ever used by any provider as a means to reduce bandwidth. Googling on this subject has been fruitless. No matter how I phrase my query, 95% of what I get is about gamers streaming their own game play, not about services like Apple TV, Disney, Prime, Netflix, etc.

It's fairly obvious that Netflix reduces resolution and bit rate on the fly (but not frame rate that I've ever noticed). Quite often when I start up a Netflix show the content looks like severely over-compressed JPEG images, until enough time has passed to buffer more of the incoming stream.

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Answer 3

Apr 20, 2024 11:34 AM in response to skyviewcafe

I'm just seeking confirmation that reducing frame rate is ever used by any provider

I haven’t ever experienced that, nor have I read about such behavior. Maybe others can chime in on this?

In my opinion, lowering the frame rate below 24 fps, is one of the worst ways to reduce bitrate, as even the least discerning user notices that and hates that.

If frames are skipped, that is normally neither due to the sender nor the receiver, but mostly about a bad network connection with ‘packet loss’. That may be on the internet itself, or on the home network in use.

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Does Apple TV use reduced frame rate as a way to lower bandwidth?

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