If you have a reality TV junkie in the house then the Hayu streadming service available at Hayu.com may be worth checking out. Hayu provides access to all the seasons and all the shows for popular reality shows like The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Vandepump Rules and many more.
However one thing to watch out for is the Hayu streaming service does not provide the ability to selected the quality of the stream. If you have unlimited data this isn't an issue. However, if you're using mobile data, or a plan with more limited data, then not being able to adjust the streaming quality could be a real, and/or costly issue.
Recently I had 28GB of data that was used in just five days. That's a lot of data and one thing I thought may be using the data was Hayu. This wasn't necessarily the case but it did make me realise I needed to check Hayu and see if I could control the streaming quality.
This is an important lesson. When reviewing streaming services it's a good idea to make sure the streaming service has the ability to set the maximum streaming quality. With ultra HD now available from some services and consuming many gigabytes per hour, you could rack up some serious data usage and possibly bills, watching streaming media at a much higher quality than needed.
This page from the NBN site provides some useful information on different streaming services and the data they use.
Hayu doesn't appear to have an option to set the streaming quality. What they do state on their site is:
Most episodes last around 42-44 minutes. On wifi we will deliver the strongest quality video which will mean that your data consumption will be higher.
For mobile we use 'adaptive technology' which means we work out what is appropriate for the device. If you are at all concerned about your mobile data usage we suggest that you only watch videos via a wifi connection.
There can be a handy clue in this information. If the software just sees Wi-Fi it may not know the data is coming from a mobile broadband device. If the streaming is using a mobile device there's a possibility this could use less data. The only way to know is to perform testing to see how much data is being used.
The real issue with Hayu is if you can't set the streaming quality, you don't have control. For some that is not an issue, but for others it may be an issue with data usage.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
IT support.
However one thing to watch out for is the Hayu streaming service does not provide the ability to selected the quality of the stream. If you have unlimited data this isn't an issue. However, if you're using mobile data, or a plan with more limited data, then not being able to adjust the streaming quality could be a real, and/or costly issue.
Recently I had 28GB of data that was used in just five days. That's a lot of data and one thing I thought may be using the data was Hayu. This wasn't necessarily the case but it did make me realise I needed to check Hayu and see if I could control the streaming quality.
This is an important lesson. When reviewing streaming services it's a good idea to make sure the streaming service has the ability to set the maximum streaming quality. With ultra HD now available from some services and consuming many gigabytes per hour, you could rack up some serious data usage and possibly bills, watching streaming media at a much higher quality than needed.
This page from the NBN site provides some useful information on different streaming services and the data they use.
Hayu doesn't appear to have an option to set the streaming quality. What they do state on their site is:
Most episodes last around 42-44 minutes. On wifi we will deliver the strongest quality video which will mean that your data consumption will be higher.
For mobile we use 'adaptive technology' which means we work out what is appropriate for the device. If you are at all concerned about your mobile data usage we suggest that you only watch videos via a wifi connection.
There can be a handy clue in this information. If the software just sees Wi-Fi it may not know the data is coming from a mobile broadband device. If the streaming is using a mobile device there's a possibility this could use less data. The only way to know is to perform testing to see how much data is being used.
The real issue with Hayu is if you can't set the streaming quality, you don't have control. For some that is not an issue, but for others it may be an issue with data usage.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
IT support.
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