Netflix wants to offer ‘DVD quality’ at 250kbit/s in airplanes

Netflix is ​​working on more efficient encoding for its video service, allowing it to offer ‘DVD’ quality at 250kbit/s. In any case, the company wants to offer this to airline passengers, as part of the Netflix Inflight 2.0 service.

Speaking to Apex, Netflix Vice President of Finance & Investor Relations, Spencer Wang, said the company is working on more efficient mobile encoding, enabling “DVD-quality” video streams for mobile devices at 250kbit/s. The company does not provide details on the encoding or definition of DVD quality. Netflix currently requires a connection of at least 500kbit/s to use its video service, but it recommends a minimum speed of 1.5Mbit/s, while 3Mbit/s is required for SD quality streams. At the same time, the company uses a maximum bitrate of 600kbit/s for streams via mobile internet and at least in the US the maximum resolution is 360p or 480p, depending on the provider, to prevent users from incurring high data costs.

Wang made his statements ahead of the announcement of Netflix Inflight 2.0 at the Apex Expo. With this service, Netflix wants to increase the use of its service on aircraft. To this end, it not only wants to use more efficient coding, but also gives airlines insight into stream statistics, such as the number of seconds it takes for a stream to start after pressing ‘play’ and the number of rebuffers per hour. To do this, the airlines must provide the video service with the IP ranges they use for in-flight WiFi. According to Netflix, Inflight 2.0 can then reduce the bandwidth for Netflix users so that airlines can actively promote video streams as part of their inflight Wi-Fi.

Netflix already partners with Aeromexico, Qantas, Virgin America and Virgin Australia. The company does not charge customers extra for use on aircraft.