Forum Moderators: Robert Charlton & goodroi
A few friends of mine have been watching NBA videos on Google Video with mixed results. They say that it starts out quickly and then slows down so that they have to wait forever for it to buffer before they sit down to watch it. I decided to try it myself today.
It started out in the 350-400kB/s range and loaded probably half an hour of the 2+ hours running time, but after that it slowed down to ~60kB/s and has stayed there ever since. At that rate I would have to pretty much walk away for an hour and a half to two hours before I could even start watching it again and I was already 30 minutes into it. It's not my connection as I've tried other things and they've downloaded plenty fast and I ran speed tests which confirmed I still have close to 5mbits available. The speed is consistently in the 60kB/s range and never strays which to me suggests it's there on purpose and from there end. This is similar to what friends described to me when they tried to use the service.
I'm just wondering if anyone knows if they actually do throttle you back, and if so, why? To interrupt a user 30 minutes into a 2 hour program and make them wait an hour or so to watch the next hour seems crazy to me. If we have to pay $3.95 to watch it at least we could do so without interruption. Watching basketball it isn't so bad, but if I was watching a movie I would be furious. Anyway, any info would be appreciated. Thanks.
