Latency in relation with and its impact on bandwidth

[vhfu]

Hi

I'm running a website with several video streams.

Every stream is recorded in 15 different bitrates. I measure the bandwidth of the user an deliver the video with a matching bitrate.

But: I somehow think that latency also plays a role if the video plays fluently or stutters.

So I'm wondering if there is some calculation or rule of thumb that I can use in my javascript for selecting a video with apropriate bitrate for high vs. low latency.

[Cornucopia]

Latency plays a role in the complexity of buffering, but only to the extent where the bandwidth is lower than the supplied bitrate. Latency has more to do with how MUCH needs to buffer to achieve a smooth remaining playback and what kind of GOP structure the file has (long GOPs inherently have more latency because a whole GOP needs to be processable before the non-I-frame frames are viewable).

I'm curious as to what protocol you are using to stream the files (http? rtsp? mms?,...) and what server software is monitoring & facilitating this protocol. It should be determining your playouts automatically - that's what they do. Or are you trying to do this all manually via JS on a standard, self-hosted website? If so, that's part of your problem.

Scott

[vhfu]

I do it on self-hosted site with complex js algorithm delivering via http.

[Cornucopia]

Well, then that's your problem. Http wasn't built for streaming. That's why there are other protocols used when dealing with those types. They were built specifically to handle what you are attempting, and they were built by people who understand the infrastructure better than you (sorry).

Why are you trying to reinvent the wheel? That is surely taking up a good deal of your time.

Scott