The quality of the video clip you are watching mainly depends on two
factors: (a) the speed of your Internet connection and (b) the bit rate
(speed) of the video clip. The faster the bit rate of the video clip,
the better the quality. However, the speed of your Internet connection
will limit which video clip bit rate that you can watch. For example,
if you only have a 56kbs dial up connection to the Internet, the
highest video clip bit rate that you will be able to watch will be
56kbs or less (most likely less as the majority of dial-up connections
only get speeds of 28kbs or less due to phone line issues). If you try
to watch a video clip with a bit rate of 300kbs over a dial up
connection, the video will not play. That is why we offer multiple bit
rates for each video clip. Each bit rate is optimized for the different
types of Internet connections available (Dial-up/DSL/Cable Modem/T1).
As you can see, it is very important that you select the proper video
clip bit rate for your Internet connection. For the best viewing
experience, we recommend a high speed Internet connection such as DSL
or Cable Modem.
It
is important to note that even if you have a high-speed (DSL/ Cable
Modem/ T1), Internet traffic congestion affects your connection speed
and/or video performance. You will get slower or faster speeds at
different times depending on peak or off-peak use hours. You may also
get slower speeds during the morning and afternoon, but faster speeds
late at night when fewer people are online. Also, streaming quality
decreases when multiple people share the same Internet connection (e.g.
at work or on a home network).
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This occurs when the speed of your Internet connection is lower than the bit
rate of the video clip you are watching and can be caused by either (a)
your selecting of a bit rate for the video clip that is to high for
your Internet connection or (b) Internet traffic congestion reduces the
speed of your connection below what it should be (for example, you have
a high speed DSL or cable modem connection to the Internet, but due to
Internet congestion or shared usage, the effective speed of your
Internet connection is actually closer to a 56kbs dial up connection).
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