Samsung Smart TV - internet requirement

[SaiyanZ]

What's the required internet speeds in order to view the view the video content on the Smart TV. The current internet connection being used is MWeb uncapped 384kbps via wifi router, but it gives a message saying the speed is too slow.

This is for my parents new TV and I don't stay nearby. Told them to upgrade to 1mbps because MWeb just dropped their prices. So I'm wondering if the 1mbps line will be sufficient for viewing the videos/clips on the Smart TV? Can't find much info on the net.

 

[Franna]

Wait till June - all 384Kbps lines will be automatically upgraded to 1Mbps. Search the forum for more info.

 

[SaiyanZ]

No point in waiting when they can get 1mbps speeds right now. If/when Telkom upgrades the lines they can just drop back down to 1mbps.

Main reason for this thread is what speeds are sufficient for using all the Smart TV options like video feed. Any other Smart TV users out there?

 

[GforceD]

First your Wifi router will probably be giving you 54Mbs as long as its got good signal. So that won't be an issue, since your bottleneck will be you ADSL linespeed.

1 Mbps should be sufficient.

However, an average TV episode is ~350Mb for about 42Mins @ a resolution of 480i
So 350/42 = 8.3 Mb/min or 138Kbs
The 1Mbps give you a download speed of 128Kbs Max (shaping and real world conditions will limit that.)

So realistically it's going to have to buffer so you wont get a seemless stream, a 2Mb line will obviously give you a much better viewing experience.

But Youtube and such should be fine depending on the quality too

 

[Boris Becker]

First your Wifi router will probably be giving you 54Mbs as long as its got good signal. So that won't be an issue, since your bottleneck will be you ADSL linespeed.

1 Mbps should be sufficient.

However, an average TV episode is ~350Mb for about 42Mins @ a resolution of 480i
So 350/42 = 8.3 Mb/min or 138Kbs
The 1Mbps give you a download speed of 128Kbs Max (shaping and real world conditions will limit that.)

So realistically it's going to have to buffer so you wont get a seemless stream, a 2Mb line will obviously give you a much better viewing experience.

But Youtube and such should be fine depending on the quality too

Good explanation there guy

 

[HAL 9000]

ADSL LAN connection to Smart TV

The best solution (if possible) is to run a Cat 6 LAN cable from the ADSL router to the LAN port at the back of the TV set, thereby giving the maximum data throughput available on your ADSL line to the TV set, as the Wi-Fi connection is FAR slower (802.11g is only 54Mb/s maximum with a proportional decrease over distance) whereas CAT 6 cable can be run for up to 100m before requiring signal amplification.

 

[LazerFazer]

Good explanation GforceD, but you are confusing your bits and bytes. As a rule, bytes are specified with capital letters, bits with lower case in abbreviations. With that in mind, the following is the corrected version:

First your Wifi router will probably be giving you 54Mbs as long as its got good signal. So that won't be an issue, since your bottleneck will be you ADSL linespeed.

1 Mbps should be sufficient.

However, an average TV episode is ~350MB for about 42Mins @ a resolution of 480i
So 350/42 = 8.3 MB/min or 138KB/s
The 1Mbps give you a download speed of 128KB/s Max (shaping and real world conditions will limit that.)

So realistically it's going to have to buffer so you wont get a seemless stream, a 2Mb line will obviously give you a much better viewing experience.

But Youtube and such should be fine depending on the quality too

Also, realistically you shouldn't expect more than 90kB/s from a 1Mbit line. So to answer your question succinctly: No, a 1Mbit line won't be sufficient for buffer-free streaming.

As for the suggestion to run a cable, it probably won't make a difference unless your wireless signal is so weak that the transfer rate drops to below 1Mbit/s. Best bet would be to try and stream something to the TV from a local networked PC connected via wired connection to the wifi router. If it plays fine, you don't need to run a cable between the router and TV.

 

[Scooby_Doo]

Good explanation GforceD, but you are confusing your bits and bytes. As a rule, bytes are specified with capital letters, bits with lower case in abbreviations. With that in mind, the following is the corrected version:



Also, realistically you shouldn't expect more than 90kB/s from a 1Mbit line. So to answer your question succinctly: No, a 1Mbit line won't be sufficient for buffer-free streaming.

As for the suggestion to run a cable, it probably won't make a difference unless your wireless signal is so weak that the transfer rate drops to below 1Mbit/s. Best bet would be to try and stream something to the TV from a local networked PC connected via wired connection to the wifi router. If it plays fine, you don't need to run a cable between the router and TV.

From my experience 110kB/s is the max, not 90, just saying. Maybe phone or email Samsung and ask for specifics?

 

[SaiyanZ]

Thanks for the advice. Will wait for them to try it out with a 1mbps connection.

 

[Roman4604]

Thanks for the advice. Will wait for them to try it out with a 1mbps connection.

By video content do you mean Explore 3D? If so then you need full 4Mbps running perfectly, probably 6Mbps to be comfortable (no chance of buffering). Youtube a bit less, but not much as the Samsung app still selects 720p res by default if available.

Bottom line 1Mbps is not really going to cut it.

 

[ShawnStar]

The best solution (if possible) is to run a Cat 6 LAN cable from the ADSL router to the LAN port at the back of the TV set, thereby giving the maximum data throughput available on your ADSL line to the TV set, as the Wi-Fi connection is FAR slower (802.11g is only 54Mb/s maximum with a proportional decrease over distance) whereas CAT 6 cable can be run for up to 100m before requiring signal amplification.

Rather just use normal CAT 5e, that 100Mb port on the back of the tv does not warrant a CAT 6 cable, unless you get the cables for the same price...

 

[rljansen]

Tried the SmartTv on 1MB line. Will work but sometimes it pause to buffer. Explore3D even buffers on a uncapped 4MB line from Mweb.

Although all the rest including Netflix works seamlessly on a 4MB line. I even canceled my DSTV.

 

[HAL 9000]

My suggestion to run CAT6 cabling was merely to future proof the installation if new Smart TV or ADSL hardware becomes available with Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports at a later stage, so that another cable run is not needed again.

If cost is a factor, then CAT5e cable is the cheaper alternative, as you suggested.

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

For streaming, the rule of thumb is get the fastest line you can. 4Mbit should be your starting point.

 

[Speedster]

Someone already mentioned it earlier, but it is worth repeating - wifi, even at 54 mbps, is more than adequate. The bottleneck will be at the internet connection not the internal network. I'd agree with DrJohnZoldberg in that faster is better. 384kbps is definitely not going to cut it, 1mbps could work and 4mbps should be fine.

My suggestion is that they upgrade to the 1mbps to see if it works and if it doesn't they could always just upgrade again. Another option would be to look at one of the 3G packages. I have the 8ta 10GB special at home and stream a lot of sport to my laptop via it.

 

[ShawnStar]

My suggestion to run CAT6 cabling was merely to future proof the installation if new Smart TV or ADSL hardware becomes available with Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports at a later stage, so that another cable run is not needed again.

If cost is a factor, then CAT5e cable is the cheaper alternative, as you suggested.

CAT5e works 100% on GB speeds as well, but yes, always good idea if you want to future proof it.

Edit: Got one of the Smart TV's two days ago, my 4Mb line does not cut it either way to slow unfortunately. (Capped Unshaped non-throttled account...)

 

[Dolby]

Edit: Got one of the Smart TV's two days ago, my 4Mb line does not cut it either way to slow unfortunately. (Capped Unshaped non-throttled account...)

I've heard a few people with this :/

How does it work that it's slower?
Does Youtube stream on a PC?

 

[xrapidx]

The best solution (if possible) is to run a Cat 6 LAN cable from the ADSL router to the LAN port at the back of the TV set, thereby giving the maximum data throughput available on your ADSL line to the TV set, as the Wi-Fi connection is FAR slower (802.11g is only 54Mb/s maximum with a proportional decrease over distance) whereas CAT 6 cable can be run for up to 100m before requiring signal amplification.

CAT6 is over kill considering our ADSL speeds., wireless trumps our ADSL speeds currently - the only way ethernet would benefit is if you're pulling movies off a home server

My suggestion to run CAT6 cabling was merely to future proof the installation if new Smart TV or ADSL hardware becomes available with Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports at a later stage, so that another cable run is not needed again.

If cost is a factor, then CAT5e cable is the cheaper alternative, as you suggested.

Future-proof in IT? No such thing.

e.g. You're assuming when a newer TV comes along - Ethernet will be the standard.

 

[Roman4604]

How does it work that it's slower?
Does Youtube stream on a PC?

It's not slower, it's just that the quality (bitrate) of video it requests is higher. If your line can handle 720p off YouTube to a PC without buffering, the TV shouldnt either.

Explore 3D is another story, the quality (bitrate) of the videos are higher than YouTube.

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

CAT6 is over kill considering our ADSL speeds., wireless trumps our ADSL speeds currently - the only way ethernet would benefit is if you're pulling movies off a home server

I agree. Cat6 is overkill for any home installation really, unless you have a really big home. You will not notice a difference between cat5e and cat6 in a installation of this size, unless you have some serious electrical interference problems in your house.