A Dissertation on the Delivery of Streaming Video

A Dissertation on the Delivery of Streaming Video
by Mr. Thomas Wise, Esq.

There are a few factors which determine the quality and enjoyment of the particular video you wish to, and do, watch on your device, whether that be a television, computer, notepad, or phone.

(1) The Print.
(2) The Conversion, or Transfer.
(3) The Upload.
(4) The Stream.
(5) The Carrier.
(6) The ISP.
(7) The Router (Wi-Fi).
(8) The Device.

(1) The Print.
This simply means the reel or file from which the conversion, or transfer, is made. In olden days, original film prints were transfered to secondary prints for cinema showings. Television prints might be from the original film print, or the secondary print (we will not here discuss edits, crops, or other changes made by television stations). Today, many original "prints" are digital recordings, but this doesn't mean it, or copies made therefrom, cannot have issues. The quality of the print is therefore the first and primary concern. What are you watching? Is it an original print, a problematic secondary or television print, or perhaps it is a restored or remastered print?

(2) The Conversion, or Transfer.
Whoever converts, or transfers, the print unto a "streamable" file uses a particular canister, encode, and parameters. The end result can be faithful to the original in every regard, or may change, slightly or drastically, such things as aspect ratio, sync, color (saturation, tint, hue, etc), grain, audio, and other elements. As well, conversion, or transfer, can introduce new problems, such as glitches and hangs. It is thus of utmost importance to trust whoever converts, or transfers. Even hard media, such as DVD, may be unreasonably flawed this process is handled carelessly.

(3) The Upload. 
The place where the "streamable" file is uploaded shall be its repository and, basically, projectionist. In today's advanced technological landscape, it is still not quite guaranteed that the uploaded "streamable" file will not undergo some alteration to the fit the guidelines or whims of the repository. Thus, YouTube may alter an upload more so than, say, Putlocker. Where the repository holds not uploads but rather conversions, or transfers, such alterations may be fewer. Thus, Netflix might be said to be more faithful to the print (and naturally, a DVD is likely yet more faithful than the same film found on Netflix, although this too is not guaranteed).

(4) The Stream.
When a "streamable" file is accessed, the "projectionist" at the repository streams it to you. This may incur some further alteration of the file to fit in-house guidelines (whether arbitrary or necessary due to, say, technical limitations) or perhaps legal constraints. More likely, however, the power of the projectionist has much to do with the quality of the stream you receive. If the projectionist cannot handle the number of simultaneous requests for "streamable" files, picture quality may suffer, buffering will occur, or perhaps the "page" accessed will simply crash and ask you to "reload" it.

(5) The Carrier.
When a file is streamed, the information travels. This may be on particles from a satellite, or along a fiber-optic network. Either way, the "streamable" file being carried along thus is subject to attack and failure. This may be due to weather conditions, quality of the carrier's equipment and routing (both of which can degrade or scramble the signal, and thus information), and even outside attack from hackers, ranging from anarchic individuals to entire-government operations. One of the most common hacker attacks is DDos (distributed denial of service) which may slow down, or even stop, delivery of digital information.

(6) The ISP.
Once the "streamable" file reaches your neck of the woods, the ISP (Internet Service Provider) should deliver what has been received in the most faithful manner. However, ISP's have both issues and agendas. Regarding issues, ISP's may use substandard equipment, such as older satellite dishes and modems, or faulty cable. Regarding agendas, ISP's have the power to interfere with streams which are considered piracy (we shall not here discuss why YouTube is permitted to stream copyrighted material but other websites which do the same thing are maligned). Thus, a perfectly sound stream may be corrupted by your ISP.

(7) The Router (Wi-Fi).
A perfectly-good stream, not corrupted up to this point, may be ruined by a substandard router which cannot handle any particular load of information, whether one large file (such as a 3-gigabyte MP4 1080p HD stream) to a single device, or many small files to multiple devices. How do you know if you need a new router?  Stuttering, loading, and buffering may be symptoms of an inferior router, or it could be in the stream before the router. Since you never know, the best policy is to have the most up-to-date router for the loads you anticipate (for example, two adults, two children, 6 devices total). All cables in and out of the router should be tight and as short as possible to avoid signal loss. Obviously, Wi-Fi not under your control, such as at a hotel, cannot be tweaked without difficulty.

(8) The Device.
Routers send signals to devices. In order to have a good viewing experience, today's devices must be powerful and up-to-date (sorry, but manufacturer-level spyware is almost a given these days). Whether a computer, a notebook, a phone, a stick, or a smart TV, it is important to correctly set up and maintain the device. Configure the device for best signal reception (yes, we basically still use the "antenna" precept) and audio/video display. Periodically clean the cache(s) and data as necessary. If possible, block advertising which can interfere with signal and viewing pleasure. Minimize the number of running programs, as use of memory, data, CPU, and network all contribute to buffering, loss of quality, and even crashing of the stream. Keep in mind also that no two devices work in the same way, and therefore your phone may stream more seamlessly and with better quality than your smart TV.