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Anyone using that BT Infinity internet?

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    #21
    We have FTTC with VISPA. We had a really crappy unreliable 512k ADSL connection before so FTTC is great for us. Speed of FTTC is quite variable depending on time of day, right now we have 21mbps down and 8 up. Tomorrow morning it will be around 32mbps. We are about 800 metres from the BT cabinet. I can recommend FTTC if you are plagued by a bad ADSL connection, we have had FTTC since Feb 2011 and it has been 100% reliable.

    Just tested my FTTC speed this morning, very good result.

    Last edited by Fred Bloggs; 27 August 2011, 06:05.
    Public Service Posting by the BBC - Bloggs Bulls**t Corp.
    Officially CUK certified - Thick as f**k.

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      #22
      Originally posted by d000hg View Post
      Is that taking into account the better compression available in modern codecs - e.g how a DVD is about 4Gb but you can get the same quality for a fraction of the size with a cutting-edge codec?

      Probably not, though achieving same quality is subjective. It usually involves some degradation to make significant size savings, but most people probably can't tell the difference or don't have the right setup (large screen at close viewing distance) to notice.

      Even 1080 HD is wasted if you have a typical 40-50 inch TV but sit more than about 6 to 8 feet away. Discovered that when wondering why many blu-rays didn't look massively better than DVD.

      1080p charted: Viewing distance to screen size -- Engadget

      Blu-rays are about 30-50gb. Not tried it myself, but apparently they can be compressed down to 10-15gb without significant visible degradation, especially if the HD audio tracks can be downgraded from lossless due to not having a decent surround sound system to capitalise on it.

      So there will be ways that HD streaming can be made to fit with current broadband tech, it just means that for the moment there will be a significant compromise in quality.

      The current recommendation is to move your sofa back a few metres and revel in the delights of DVD at that distance. It makes HD a waste of time.
      Feist - 1234. One camera, one take, no editing. Superb. How they did it
      Feist - I Feel It All
      Feist - The Bad In Each Other (Later With Jools Holland)

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        #23
        BT Infinity also has line rental fees on top?

        Looks like BT are putting up prices again. 5% may be in line with inflation, but they've already increased prices by 10% a year ago and 9% in April.

        BBC News - BT to increase phone call charges by 5%

        Telecoms giant BT is to raise call charges for residential customers by up to 5% on 3 December - the second increase this year.

        Does Infinity allow you to use the line just for broadband or are you still getting mugged off for line rental when you only use your mobile (with all those included 'free' minutes) for calls?

        I'm wondering if it's cheaper to get a basic Virtual Private Server somewhere (that usually includes many gb per month and a 100mb connection) for all your internet use, then connect to it using mobile broadband and remote desktop software. Can probably get a non-Windows VPS for less than BT charge line rental.
        Feist - 1234. One camera, one take, no editing. Superb. How they did it
        Feist - I Feel It All
        Feist - The Bad In Each Other (Later With Jools Holland)

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          #24
          Originally posted by PAH View Post
          Probably not, though achieving same quality is subjective. It usually involves some degradation to make significant size savings, but most people probably can't tell the difference or don't have the right setup (large screen at close viewing distance) to notice.
          I don't know about blu-ray, but with DVD it's certainly possible - the algorithms used to encode DVDs are MPEG-2 IIRC and this is certainly not as good as MPEG-4 - however the latter is much more computationally expensive. A bit like how you can tell WinZip to compress extra hard if you want it to take longer

          Maybe the encoder algorithms used in blu-ry are already near-optimal without losing more quality.
          Originally posted by MaryPoppins
          I'd still not breastfeed a nazi
          Originally posted by vetran
          Urine is quite nourishing

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            #25
            Originally posted by d000hg View Post
            Maybe the encoder algorithms used in blu-ry are already near-optimal without losing more quality.
            Blu-ray supports several codecs, some more efficient than others.

            The most efficient HD codec is probably H.264, which some blu-rays are already compressed with, so not much space to save with those unless sacrificing quality or discarding extras and soundtracks.

            Great movies are good at any reasonable standard above Video-CD as you get so engrossed in the film you stop looking/noticing the sharper image of HD.

            So HD is only a benefit for crap movies.
            Feist - 1234. One camera, one take, no editing. Superb. How they did it
            Feist - I Feel It All
            Feist - The Bad In Each Other (Later With Jools Holland)

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              #26
              It's reckoned that H.264/MPEG4 can achieve about 1/2 the bitrate of MPEG2 for the same quality. It depends on the encoder and profile chosen as well, with any of H.264, VC1 or MPEG2 you have a choice of profiles and levels which dictate which compression features are used, the maximum bit rate, number of pictures in a GOP and so on, plus of course you can tweak various parameters to try and get better quality, although I would expect that people who encode Blu Rays and DVDs for a living spend a fair bit of time doing just that.

              Most discs aren't full to capacity and most have multiple soundtracks, trailers and "extras" you can do without, so I think it's better to go on the bit rates. DVD has a maximum bitrate of 9.8Mbit/s of audio & video, the average bit rate on a disc is more like 5-8Mbit/s and that's using MPEG2, so you should be able to reduce that a bit by using H.264, lets say to 4Mbit/s, meaning 2 hours in DVD quality will run to about 3.6GB, with no loss of quality compared to a physical disc.
              While you're waiting, read the free novel we sent you. It's a Spanish story about a guy named 'Manual.'

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                #27
                Looking into Infinity a bit more, PlusNet's fibre service looks like it might be better if you don't need a lot of data. 40/120Gb limits on thier packages, BUT free download midnight-8am which doesn't count towards the limit. OTOH BT's TV service lets you use iPlayer, 4OD, etc, without it counting towards your limit.

                BT's big plus would be the 10Mb upload on the higher-level package, but I reckon even as a SVN user, 2Mb will seem fast compared to ADSL.
                Originally posted by MaryPoppins
                I'd still not breastfeed a nazi
                Originally posted by vetran
                Urine is quite nourishing

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                  #28
                  Originally posted by doodab View Post
                  Most discs aren't full to capacity and most have multiple soundtracks, trailers and "extras" you can do without, so I think it's better to go on the bit rates. DVD has a maximum bitrate of 9.8Mbit/s of audio & video, the average bit rate on a disc is more like 5-8Mbit/s and that's using MPEG2, so you should be able to reduce that a bit by using H.264, lets say to 4Mbit/s, meaning 2 hours in DVD quality will run to about 3.6GB, with no loss of quality compared to a physical disc.
                  I think the iPlayer and other online streaming stuff on my TV (which is often sub SD resolution but H264) is better quality than the majority of SD digital channels (which are MPEG2), and that can be at quite low bitrates, maybe 1Mb/s judging by the web version. H264 is much much better, and MPEG2 is very old technology. Sky HD channels use about 8Mb/s, and whilst not as good as BluRay is clearly going to be more than good enough for the vast majority of people.

                  So 1080p streaming services are well within the kind of bandwidth we're talking about. The problem is getting the consistency across the internet, not the last bit to your house.
                  Will work inside IR35. Or for food.

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                    #29
                    If it's at all possible, I suggest going with cable -



                    The upload is a bit crap at the mo, apparently we are being upgraded to c5Mbps "soon".
                    ‎"See, you think I give a tulip. Wrong. In fact, while you talk, I'm thinking; How can I give less of a tulip? That's why I look interested."

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                      #30
                      BTInfinity will do 10Mb upload and 30+ down - how is cable better?

                      In the end we've decide to go with regular broadband, but move to O2's better ADSL implementation. Considering we currently get 2Mb and they reckon 12-19 is the range we'll see, I'm happy with that at a significantly lower price.
                      Originally posted by MaryPoppins
                      I'd still not breastfeed a nazi
                      Originally posted by vetran
                      Urine is quite nourishing

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