Tiered content streaming

A method comprising:

• receiving, by a first device, at least a portion of media content from a second device;
• sending, by the first device to the second device, an indication of a selection of a first quality level or a second quality level at which the media content is available for the first device, the first quality level having a first bitrate, and the second quality level having a second bitrate that is different than the first bitrate, wherein the media content is associated with a quality change defining an acceptable change by at least one transcoder between quality levels;
• and
• receiving, by the first device, transcoded media content from the second device, the transcoded media content being transcoded to the first quality level or the second quality level based on the selection of the first quality level or the second quality level, wherein a difference between the first bitrate associated with the first quality level and the second bitrate associated with the second quality level satisfies the quality change acceptable for transcoding.

A first device comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• memory accessible to the one or more processors, the memory storing instructions, which upon execution by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations to:
• receive at least a portion of media content from a second device;
• send, to the second device, an indication of a selection of a first quality level or a second quality level at which the media content is available for the first device, the first quality level having a first bitrate, and the second quality level having a second bitrate that is different than the first bitrate, wherein the media content is associated with a quality change defining an acceptable change by at least one transcoder between quality levels;
• and
• receive transcoded media content from the second device, the transcoded media content being transcoded to the first quality level or the second quality level based on the selection of the first quality level or the second quality level, wherein a difference between the first bitrate associated with the first quality level and the second bitrate associated with the second quality level satisfies the quality change acceptable for transcoding.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium of a first device having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

• receive at least a portion of media content from a second device;
• send, to the second device, an indication of a selection of a first quality level or a second quality level at which the media content is available for the first device, the first quality level having a first bitrate, and the second quality level having a second bitrate that is different than the first bitrate, wherein the media content is associated with a quality change defining an acceptable change by at least one transcoder between quality levels;
• and
• receive transcoded media content from the second device, the transcoded media content being transcoded to the first quality level or the second quality level based on the selection of the first quality level or the second quality level, wherein a difference between the first bitrate associated with the first quality level and the second bitrate associated with the second quality level satisfies the quality change acceptable for transcoding.