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Question about TV and Internet Streaming

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TranceStorm 1616 Posts July 11 2011 03:34 GMT #1 One of the common criticisms of the NASL throughout the entire tournament was that its stream was susceptible to lag spikes. This led me to wonder: why are television 'streams' (I don't know what else to call it) so smooth and generally problem free? Even when major networks broadcast their events on the internet (March Madness and the Olympics are prime examples) they also lack the smoothness of television. Doing a bit of research myself, I found that television streams have the standard format of MPEG transport streams. (That explains the prevalence of MPEG files haha). More can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG_transport_stream. Can anyone explain why television streams are capable of being higher quality yet smoother at the same time?

Neo27 United States154 Posts July 11 2011 20:53 GMT #2 There are many more factors to consider for Internet streaming video: Server throughput / bandwidth Potentially, the number of clients connected to the stream How many "hubs" the packets must pass through before it gets to your computer (have you ever typed "tracert www.teamliquid.net " at the command prompt?) The throughput / bandwidth of each hub Your ISP speed Finally, your computer's processing payload Cable, Satellite dish, or Over The Air tuning can have lag spikes, but there are much less factors to consider. Typically, Cable and OTA are rock solid unless there is actual equipment problems, and Satellite dish would get lag spikes during snow or rain storms,

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