A player decodes and renders encoded digital data received from an encoder. During processing, the player periodically monitors dropped frames as well as time spent. If the dropped frames are below a minimum, the player determines to signal the encoder to increase bit rate or frame rate by consulting a table. If the player determines to increase bit rate, the player signals accordingly. However, if the player determines to increase frame rate, the player first verifies that the spent time is below a minimum. To the contrary, if the dropped frames are both above the minimum and a first maximum but not a second maximum, the player determines to signal the encoder to decrease bit rate or frame rate by consulting the table and signaling accordingly. However, if the dropped frames are above the second maximum, the player signals the encoder to decrease the frame rate without consulting the table.