Nowadays, a good part of the streaming video services offer different viewing qualities. Quality is normally associated with resolution and each platform, with the exception of HBO and Prime Video, allows us to choose the one that best suits us so as not to cause a hole in our data rate. And in this article let’s see the steps to take in each of them.
Both Disney +, Apple TV + and to a certain extent Netflix (now we will see why it does it to a certain extent) allow us to control the quality of the video we see in streaming. Be careful, it is not about managing the quality of the downloads, which is a different section. Here it is about manage the resolution so as not to eat the data rate, especially if we are connected to a mobile network.
Disney +
They are all especially easy to configure, but among all of them, Disney + is the one that offers access that I think is the easiest. Simply access the Disney + page via the web and look for the icon of our avatar or profile which usually appears in the upper right area.
If we click on it we will see a drop-down menu with different options from which we will choose “Application settings”. This menu opens the way to three different options, each of which also offers us an estimate of the volume of data consumed:
- Automatic– Play at the highest possible quality up to 4K UHD (4.2 Gb / h)
- Moderate: use less data and play back up to HD quality (1.2GB / hr)
- Save data: use the minimum amount of data and play back at SD quality (0.6 GB / h)
Apple TV +
For users of the Apple platform, just open the Apple TV + application on the computer and click on the section “Preferences” that appears inside the “TV” tab in the options bar at the top of the macOS desktop.
A new window opens, with several tabs, but we are going to look at the one with the title “Reproduction”. If we click, we will see a section entitled “Transmission quality”. Here we can choose between three options:
- Best available
- Higher
- Good
Once we choose, all you have to do is click on “OK” and the changes will be saved.In addition, here we can see how another section appears under this section that allows setting the quality of the download.
Netflix
In the case of Netflix, we can choose the quality of the streaming and the quality of the download and in the first case with more variables than other platforms. To do this, we can click on the icon of our profile, on the top right, and then on the “Account” section.
Once inside “Profiles and parental control”, we must click on the profile you want to modify and next to “Playback settings”, click on “Change”.
In section “Data usage per screen” we can choose between four options depending on our needs:
- Automatic– Default video quality and data usage
- Low– Basic video and audio quality with up to 0.3 GB / h
- Medium– Standard video and audio quality with up to 0.7 GB / h
- High– Optimal video and audio quality with up to 3GB / hr for HD and 7GB / hr for Ultra HD content
With these simple steps you can save yourself a nasty surprise, especially when you use a mobile data rate.