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Found this dusty antique from the days when video players would let you buffer. If only this were still a thing.
(startrek.website)
Why did this change? Was it a greed thing?
HTML5 made video a first class citizen of your browser and buffering is handled automatically now 🙂
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Guide/Audio_and_video_delivery/buffering_seeking_time_ranges
Oh! I just assumed they were trying to save $ on all those looong "___ 10 hr version" videos or something.
It's both. Buffering the whole video was a waste of bandwidth and the changes for HTML5 means they could get away with lowering the buffering limit without destroying everyone's viewing experience.