Ive just had a quick thought about Satellite Internet or VSAT Broadband, if they claim Satellite Internet is a poor performer for general use due to its high latency and low speeds, howcome DSTV transmission is instant. IE where the signal is broadcasted from and were its received is instant, shouldn't Satellite Internet be the same?
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Satellite Internet
- Thread starter Rickster
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Hamish McPanji
Honorary Master
Latency is just below 600ms, the time it takes for the radio waves to travel. Compare that to latencies on ADSL of say 25-50 ms, and you are talking about 12x as slow, that is for each request and response of which many occur even when opening up a single web page. This makes stuff like VoIP close to unusable as any extra latency that gets added makes a 2 way conversation a bit of a chore
Which ties in nicely to your comment about DSTV. There is a clear difference because it is as you said its a broadcast....the same information is sent to everyone, and your decoder is what filters out the channel you want to watch. It is essentially a 1 way system, as opposed to the internet which is a series of request....response. The information sent to you is custom, with a lot of the multimedia content cached.
And by the way, satellite internet will always have a market, and will still thrive for a long time especially for secure applications and rural locations.
You'll be amazed at the latency on satellite television - you aren't seeing the content as it is broadcast but rather half a second or so later.
Streaming video isn't actually latency sensitive if it is designed well
Hamish McPanji
Honorary Master
If you have ever watched a football match that is playing on Dstv and sabc at the same time you will notice this latency. Please note however, that the sabc needs to be from your antenna and not the one on your dstv decoder
HavocXphere
Honorary Master
How exactly - in your mind - have you arrived at the conclusion that the DSTV signal is broadcast and received simultaneously? I'd love to hear that thought process...
Only Rickster can come to that conclusion. That thought process never happened though.
Sadly though there's only space for one "rickster move" in my signature.
koeksGHT
Dealer
Used YahClick 10MBps, would personally keep for daily use its so fast. Downside is ping of 600ms+ but you click a page wait half a second and bam its open. Ping is slow but connection is 100% so just phone calls/skype you would have to get used to. Games are a no go unless you play overseas anyways as point of presence is in Europe making MMORPG's playable.
If you goto DSTV and watched their display to yours at home you would notice there is a lag of a few seconds
If you goto DSTV and watched their display to yours at home you would notice there is a lag of a few seconds
It's not instant, to verify this for yourself you will need two tv's one fed by dstv tuned to a local channel like SABC2 and the other tv fed be a terrestrial antenna also tuned to SABC2 and you will see/hear the delay between the two. If the tvs are in different rooms just turn the sound up and go stand somewhere in the middle and you will hear the dstv sound 'following' behind the terrestrial signal sound.
The latency is not important when you have a one way streaming service because it makes no difference whether you see the the stream right now or even 5 mins later. Latency becomes an issue with two way communications like voice or video calling, same goes for online gaming. Even when you make a voice call that goes via satellite it becomes annoying due to the delay between the two parties, always feels like the other person first pauses before responding.
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JerryMungo
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Question:
How many forumites does it take to make a point?
How many forumites does it take to make a point?
bekdik
Honorary Master
Broadcast TV is like a garden hose. When you turn the tap on it takes a while before the water starts coming out of the hose, but once it's flowing it's continuous. A casual observer probably wouldn't realize that the water exiting the hose is not that which is entering it, it entered some time back.
If you introduced different coloured dyes every minute at the tap end the delay would be apparent.
If you introduced different coloured dyes every minute at the tap end the delay would be apparent.
koeksGHT
Dealer
Question:
How many forumites does it take to make a point?
1
and more to make a racket
Unfortunately I dont have my Doctorate in Computer Science and an IQ of 200 unlike you.
You really don't need any of the above, high school physics which covers light and the universal constant 'c' (speed of light in a vacuum) should be sufficient.
JerryMungo
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Yeah, but only few people have mastered the art of imparting knowledge without looking down their nose at you.
JerryMungo
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Ok