Windows 7 - RE: WMP12 Streaming Video

Hello,
Contemplating the possibility that we can use WMP12 to stream videos so that my people can watch movies that are on my HTPC from their homes. By movies, I mean, Some 700MB avi DVD Rips, which should stream just fine AND some mkv Bluray rips. Mkv files are 4GB to 11GB in size. So to you networking guys, or guys who know: What kind of bandwidth would be appropriate for this purpose? I have TimeWarnerCable Turbo@10Mbps, we can assume the clients will have whatever normal broadband tops out at (1.5 - 6Mbps ?).

For the 700 MB rips - those are easy to stream. A whole movie at 700 MB that's 90 minutes long works out to ~7.78 MB/min. That's equal to ~1.04 megabits/sec. That's roughly 1/10 your bandwidth if you're saying you have 10 mbit upload.

Now take 7000 MB which is around 7 GB (yes I know the 1024 thing. Just making it easy.)

7000 MB/90 min = ~ 77.78 MB/min

77.78 MB/min x 8 bits = ~ 622 megabits/min = ~ 10.37 mbits/sec necessary bandwidth.

That second example will put a hurting on the connection and/or cause buffering if even one client is streaming.

Moral of the story: Get those .mkv rips converted to XviD in an .avi container with either AC3 or MP3 audio, if you intend to stream them to clients. If they're high def, you will have to lower the resolution while converting, too.

What may make things nearly impossible for your current connection: Many 10 mbit/sec service plans from ISPs actually only have 1 mbit upload cap. 10:1 is normal standard ratio available, so you may only have 1 mbit up. 1:1 connections are kind of rare for US consumers. Run an online speedtest and you could know for sure.

No you're right, up load speed is about 1. And yub, nothing new here, was just hoping there is something I don't know regarding the math of this. In this case, the alternative solution would just be to give people access to my server and they'll download the files to their comps before watching, though, still, this would be quite a bandwidth hog.
Edit: Thanks.

You're welcome. A good solution in this instance would be to run an ftp server with a daily download cap of say, 1 GB or so for each user account.