Time to download HD Rental

[Vikash]

Hi guys,

Have been searching the forum, but everyone seems to be saying something else...

I have a 5 mbps connection (550 kilobytes per second). So, how long would it take to download a HD Rental? And after what time will I be able to watch it?

SD movies become watchable after 1/2 minutes.

Thanks for the answer

 

[megfilmworks]

I've been getting HD downloads on my 5 mbps cable in 90-100 minutes with start to watch: approx. 1 minute

 

[brogers]

Well, I use Time Warner's Road Runner and it took about three minutes for Apple TV to say I could watch the movie (HD rental), but I waited and popped some popcorn. I think it took about 30 minutes to completely download, but I was not really counting. Overall, my two HD rental experiences have been as expected...no issues all.

br

 

[Avatar74]

I have 15 Mbps downstream FIOS from Verizon.

I'm not sure about how long it takes to download a feature-length HD film entirely, but they're buffered enough to be watchable without any errors in about 15-20 seconds. It should take about 30 minutes to download an entire HD feature at this speed, but that varies depending on numerous factors including network traffic on the sender's end. Often, Apple seems to keep the download shaved back just far enough that the bistream runs almost realtime... i.e. around 5 megabits per second, corresponding with the HD bitstream's own data rate. At that rate, it would take 120 minutes to download a 120 minute feature, assuming you have better than a 5 Mbps connection (10-20% of your bandwidth is lost to background processes).