This is a quick one regarding a great example of adaptive streaming technology that has been adopted by most if not all streaming services, it just happens I am a massive Friends fan, so Netflix it is!
Now if you are like me, you are unfortunately stuck with boardband at a less than satisfactory connection speed that even my little 1.0 Volkswagen Up! could out perform… However adaptive streaming to the rescue.
It is this HTTP protocol service that allows the video to be delivered to my screen in the most efficient way possible to ensure smooth and good video quality. It become evident as I start my favourite episode of Friends “The One Where Ross Moves In” that the video quality was indeed awful, blocking and blurry but within a few seconds as my bandwidth settled down and the streaming server learnt my connection speed, the picture quality improved as I am served with a higher bitrate video (Bitmovin, 2018). In fact after roughly a minute or so, I am probably at HD ready quality which might as well be standard definition on my UHD 4K LED backlight TV!
This all being said and jokes aside, this is actually a great example of adaptive streaming that we all benefit from but do not always appreciate.
References
Bitmovin. (2018). Adaptive streaming – a simple explanation of how it works. [online] Available at: https://bitmovin.com/adaptive-streaming/ [Accessed 2 Nov. 2019].
Video Streaming & Display Technology Blog 