In response to the Viasat customers who have expressed a desire to bring back Video Data Extender feature, we have launched a new Data Saver Feature Experiment with the goal of trying to eliminate the problems of VDE (buffering, poor video quality) while preserving the data savings. If this sounds interesting to you, read on.
At a high level, the idea is to enable the Data Saver Feature Experiment for customers who participate in exchange for their feedback. In particular, we want to know when you experience problems watching videos while the feature is enabled. In some cases, we can fix these problems by increasing the max video stream rate. In general, this allows us to discover the settings that work best for our users in the hopes that we can eventually relaunch a better version of the Video Data Extender.
To participate in Feature Experiments, you will be added to a private group on this forum. So participation requires a Forum username. If you do not have one, then please sign up.
Using the same email that you used to sign up for the forum, you will need to fill out this survey (https://forms.gle/pdgvMoFk4iRkBGei8 ) which includes the terms of the program.
Once you complete the survey, please post a reply to this thread and we will get the process started to enable the Data Saver Feature Experiment.
We will add you to a private group on the forum and as you use your service, please report any feedback you have (good or bad) there - for example: pixelation, video pausing or buffering, data usage, general improvements or issues etc.
Notes:
This experiment does not include support for enable/disable in the MyViasat app. If you want us to disable the feature, let us know either by direct message or by posting in the private group and we will disable it for you.
The usual phone and chat based Viasat support has no knowledge about this feature experiment so this forum is the only place you will get help with it.
Together we hope this will result in a better Video Data Extender for all!
I have the Data Saver hub and I absolutely love it! So far this month I have saved 5 GB while watching Mandalorian on Disney +. Can’t wait for you to add more options.
I set it to 2.6 Mbps. You can run a speed test on fast.com and check if that’s the speed you have now.
If you find any issues (e.g.: buffering, etc), please let us know. We can adjust the speeds up to 4.5Mbps if necessary.
If you use Amazon Prime, you’ll still have to adjust the video quality manually (we have been working on that, so that won’t be necessary in the future). To adjust the Prime video quality, please follow the instructions in this video: How To Adjust Streaming Quality On Amazon Prime Video - YouTube
I set your video download speed to 2.6 Mbps. You can run a speed test on fast.com and check if that’s the speed you have now.
If you find any issues (e.g.: buffering, etc), please let us know. We can adjust the speeds up to 4.5Mbps if necessary.
If you use Amazon Prime, you’ll still have to adjust the video quality manually (we have been working on that, so that won’t be necessary in the future). To adjust the Prime video quality, please follow the instructions in this video: How To Adjust Streaming Quality On Amazon Prime Video - YouTube
Any feedback is very welcome. This is still experimental, so your comments can help us improve the feature.
Sorry about that! I just enabled the Data Saver for you at a 2.6 Mbps video speed. To validate this, you can run a speed test on fast.com and check if the results align with that.
Just signed up. How do you know that data saver feature is installed? Mainly have troubles with amazon prime. but buffering occurs on other sites with video. yes I know how to reduce video quality
