General Hardware and Software

[jpoldo]

Does anyone know how much bandwidth Netflix and the other movie downloads consume?  Our concern is multiple people in family downloading movies, plus impact if a HD movie.  Is minimal Comcast speed enough or do we need more?

[reasd]

Hello,

Netflix Movies (HD): These guys are around 3.8Mbit, which means it's about 3600MB for a 2 hour HD movie.
Netflix Movies (SD): Each of these movies are around 500-700MB each, depending on the length of the movie.
Netflix TV Shows (HD): A 30-minute TV show will be about 1500MB.
Netflix TV Shows (SD): A 30-minute TV show will be about 400MB.

[EG]

FWIW, the 250 GB bandwidth cap is currently suspended.

[jpoldo]

GREAT !

[EG]

You can read about it here;

http://forums.comcast.com/t5/Connectivity-and-Modem-Help/Comcast-to-Replace-Usage-Cap/m-p/1286423/hi...

[sabretooth]

Go to Netflix and select your account.  Then go to Settings/Manage Video Quality and make your selection.

Manage video quality

We know that some of you have Internet data caps and we want to make it easier for you to manage how much data you use.

We offer 3 video quality settings to help you manage your data usage. No matter what level you choose, your Netflix membership price will remain the same.

1. Good quality (up to 0.3 GB per hour)
2. Better quality (up to 0.7 GB per hour)
3. Best quality (up to 1 GB per hour, or up to 2.3 GB per hour for HD)

[EG]

What part about no current cap is not understood ? Yes, this is likely not permanent but why bother to worry right now ?

[sabretooth]

What part of the OP did you not read?  He didn't ask anything about the cap.  He asked how much bandwidth.  

[EG]

Wouldn't the worries be one in the same dude ???

[sabretooth]

What if he has the lowest tier like 3 Mbps speed?  Could he handle HD movies?  He has his answers.

[jpoldo]

Yes, I want to know if 3 Mbps is fast enough for viewing multiple HD movies.  The data consumption amounts are nice to know relative to a cap, but I really want to know what "speed" or data rate is needed to support multiple users.  What happens when my daughter starts a movie, then my son starts one 30 minutes later, then I want to start a movie before the first one finishes.  We'll have 3 movies download at the same time, so will we all get the dreaded "buffering message?" 

[sabretooth]

OK, full HD movies require 6-8Mbps for one movie streaming.  So your 3Mbps will not handle what you are looking for.   Luckily not all movies are in HD so this will vary.  From what you want I would suggest the Performance Plan should suit your needs for now and you can upgrade if necessary.  But you can tweak a little with Netflix like I mentioned above.  Maybe EG will add some thoughts on this as he is helpful.

[EG]

My bad. Disregard.

[jpoldo]

Thanks, Sabertooth.  So if a HD movie needed 3 Mbps, does a SD movie only require only 1 Mbps or less?  Does a TV show require even less or the same ?  It appears 12 Meg service could handle our demand with ample reserves.

[BruceW]

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jpoldo wrote: ... It appears 12 Meg service could handle our demand with ample reserves.

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It should. Here's the Netflix gigabytes-per-hour table converted to megabits-per-second (if I did the math right):

• Good quality  0.3GB/hr = 0.7 Mbits/sec
• Better quality 0.7GB/hr = 1.6 Mbits/sec
• Best quality    1.0GB/hr = 2.2 Mbits/sec
• HD quality      2.3GB/hr = 5.1 Mbits/sec