Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : AUTOHOME, Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bob Zacks who wrote (595)	11/3/1997 8:53:00 PM
From: ftth	Respond to of 29970

I'm assuming you mean you want to download the entire "file" from some website, and then view it locally at your leisure (as opposed to live viewing, which is an entirely different animal because it must maintain a certain uninterruptible delivery rate). In the file case, you treat it like any other file--it just happens to be a file of video information. Here's an approximation since were dealing with numbers that vary: If you know the file size in bytes, multiply that number by about 1.4 (assumes about 40% of the data transferred is overhead), then multiply by 8 to get bits, then divide that number by the send-end average information transfer rate in bits per second. This gives approximately the typical transfer time to the cable modem, and assumes you were allocated every time slot and carrier (unlikely). The actual number of time slots and/or carriers you are allocated depends on demand and priority levels. You'd have to experiment at various times of the day, various file sizes, and various sites. The service providers are talking about charging tiered rates if you want a "guaranteed" priority level, but that's probably not worth paying for until the number of users increases dramatically. In short, "how long" depends on all the limitations I mentioned before. dh