{"id":177029,"date":"2016-08-24T09:46:02","date_gmt":"2016-08-24T07:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=177029"},"modified":"2016-08-24T09:48:39","modified_gmt":"2016-08-24T07:48:39","slug":"showmax-bandwidth-calculator-launched","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/177029-showmax-bandwidth-calculator-launched.html","title":{"rendered":"ShowMax bandwidth calculator launched"},"content":{"rendered":"

ShowMax has launched an online bandwidth calculator<\/a><\/strong> to help you estimate the amount of data you need to watch streaming video.<\/p>\n

This comes after\u00a0a\u00a0recent consumer survey, which ShowMax commissioned, revealed that the most common reason for not signing up to internet TV services in South Africa is the cost of data.<\/p>\n

The amount of data needed to stream TV shows and movies can be one gigabyte (GB) per hour or more, ShowMax said.<\/p>\n

To help manage this, it\u00a0has introduced bandwidth capping functionality that it says reduces data consumption by as much as 75% by lowering the quality of the video being streamed.<\/p>\n

As with most\u00a0other video streaming services,\u00a0ShowMax’s apps monitor\u00a0your\u00a0connection speed and automatically adjusts\u00a0the video\u00a0resolution to the make the most of the available bandwidth.<\/p>\n

Subscribers can then select a low bandwidth cap of 0.3 GB per hour, a medium cap of 0.7 GB per hour, or leave usage uncapped.<\/p>\n

The low usage setting equates to capping resolution at\u00a0360p, medium\u00a0is\u00a0standard definition (480p), while uncapped can deliver up to 720p high definition.<\/p>\n

ShowMax said that watching five hours per week, which is enough for 15 episodes of The Big Bang Theory or 7 episodes of Suits, the maximum amount of data used would be as follows:<\/p>\n