Is bitrate a measurement under 1,000bits/1kbs for video?
Such as 0,950 bitrate
Thanks
Ken Volk
Subscriber Discussion
Bitrate Vs. Bandwidth
JH
John Honovich
May 10, 2015Ken, good question!
They both measure the same thing - bitrate and bandwidth both express data used over time.
In common usage, bandwidth is more often refers to network speeds (100Mb/s, Gigabit, 10Gig, etc.), while bitrate refers to bandwidth consumption of a device (this camera has a bitrate of 2Mb/s).
Generally, you can use the terms interchangeably and most people in the industry will know what you are referring to.
Btw, people generally don't use the expression "0,950 bitrate". Also, rarely (in 2015) are you going to have a bitrate / stream / bandwidth under 1kb/s anyway.
KV
Ken Volk
May 10, 2015TC
Trisha (Chris' wife) Dearing
May 10, 2015Hey, Ken.
Without taking anything from John's explanation, I would also add that bitrate and bandwidth do have some nuanced distinctions that can help when deciding on which word to use.
One difference is that the actual bitrate is never more than the actual bandwidth used. Bandwidth is often used to mean the maximum bitrate that a medium is capable of, giving rise to the common usage John cited above regarding devices and networks.
It may also refer to a portion of that total capacity, e.g. used/unused bandwidth.
So you will typically hear:
- We purchased more bandwidth bitrate for the WAN.
- The camera was streaming at a bitrate bandwidth of 2 Mbps.
- The total bandwidth bitrate is insufficient to support the higher bitrates bandwidth created by the cameras.
KV
Ken Volk
May 10, 2015Thanks Chris:
If understand correctly the Bandwidth is the total sum purchased, say 2Mbps as example above. To make the camera function at peak performance, the Bitrate Stream will need to be 1Mbps. This would leave leave 1Mbps for something else. In laymans terms, is this right?????
TC
Trisha (Chris' wife) Dearing
May 10, 2015Essentially yes.
You could then say that you have 1 Mbps available bandwidth and/or that you could support an additional stream with a bitrate of up to 1 Mbps.
JH
John Honovich
May 10, 2015"the Bandwidth is the total sum purchased"
The problem is many people say the word 'bandwidth' and do not mean it in this manner. I hear and read descriptions of this camera consumed of X Mb/s of bandwidth routinely.
TC
Trisha (Chris' wife) Dearing
May 10, 2015...this camera consumed of X Mb/s of bandwidth...
I'm 100% ok with that, since you are consuming a portion of capacity.
What I would avoid is saying 'this camera's bandwidth IS X Mbps.' Not that people don't say that, or that they won't understand you, they just might think you don't get out much.
Like if you go around talking about cameras made by Dah-HOO-ah. Like I used to.
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