The end user likely won't notice the difference between 4k and 720p. They also aren't likely to notice the transition from one to the other.
The person on the VPN, VoIP call, video conference, video game, etc. will very much notice the congested link, even if it's only a few seconds.
Yes, Netflix video is very efficient, if not the most efficient. They're also one of if not the largest slingers of bits on the Internet. Small changes in usage of such a huge player totally eclipse most other usages on the Internet.
Netflix recommends 25 megs for Ultra HD, while only 5 megs for HD. That's a 5x difference in something people likely won't notice and would make a big difference on the additional VPN, VoIP, video conferencing, etc.
From: "Blake Hudson" <blake@ispn.net>
To: nanog@nanog.org
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2020 9:01:18 AM
Subject: Re: COVID-19 vs. our Networks
Yes, but does that matter? If there's extra capacity on the link, Netflix runs at full rate. If there is not extra capacity Netflix rates down to prevent congestion. While streaming video (including Netflix) uses a lot of bandwidth, I don't see Netflix causing congestion. It gets a bad wrap, and I think that's unfair because Netflix is actually really efficient and really conscientious compared to others.
To: nanog@nanog.org
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2020 9:01:18 AM
Subject: Re: COVID-19 vs. our Networks
Yes, but does that matter? If there's extra capacity on the link, Netflix runs at full rate. If there is not extra capacity Netflix rates down to prevent congestion. While streaming video (including Netflix) uses a lot of bandwidth, I don't see Netflix causing congestion. It gets a bad wrap, and I think that's unfair because Netflix is actually really efficient and really conscientious compared to others.
On 3/20/2020 8:52 AM, Mike Hammett
wrote:
Some of the pipes Netflix goes through is also used by other services that aren't as adaptable.
From: "Blake Hudson" <blake@ispn.net>
To: nanog@nanog.org
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2020 8:32:45 AM
Subject: Re: COVID-19 vs. our Networks
On 3/19/2020 12:22 PM, Mark Tinka wrote:
>
> On 19/Mar/20 18:07, Matt Hoppes wrote:
>> Agreed... 720 or 1080 Netflix will work just as fine as 4K for the
>> next month or two.
> Well, the article claims "Drop stream quality from HD". That means 4K,
> 1080p and 720p.
>
> If you have an OCA on your network, how does this encourage consumers to
> use the "extra bandwidth" for anything else?
>
> Are we assuming we know how consumers want to spend their time now?
>
> Mark.
Across several eyeball networks I'm not seeing any noticeable increase
in peak (95%) demand between now and January. Since Netflix
automatically scales down data rates in the event of congestion, the
only thing I foresee forcing Netflix to reduce data rates [ahead of any
congestion] would accomplish is causing excess link capacity to go
unused (wasted). This sounds like a policy decision made without a
technical argument... e.g. not a data driven decision, but a decision
made out of fear or panic.