1.9 seconds for average channel change

The average amount of time taken for a set-top box to change channels is around 1.9 seconds, according to Paris-based monitoring firm Witbe.

Witbe studied 30 operators in 16 countries on four continents using its Quality of Service monitoring technology, and measured channel change time on DSL, cable, FTTH, satellite and terrestrial platforms. It measured the average channel change time using the channel up/down or P+/P- buttons to be 1.9 seconds. However, if the user selects the channel themselves the time increases to 3.4 seconds.

Traditional broadcast platforms were found to be twice as slow as on IPTV. Microsoft Mediaroom came out best in channel up/down with 0.6 seconds, narrowly edging other platform, which managed 0.7 seconds.

Factors such as decoder performance, buffering policy and retransmission mechanisms all had an effect on change times, the company said.