On-Demand Streaming Problems on Panasonic - ideas please !

[Portoman]

Hi

For some reason when I try to access the IPlayer or Yourube, the playback is terrible - plays for 5 seconds, buffers for 5, plays for 5 - so I can never watch anything because of this. Yet Netflix plays well on through the same TV (Panasonic Viera).

I thought it might be a broadband prob (Sky), but it Netflix plays okay through the tv, then why would would the others not ? Could it be an adapter probem - I connect to the internet through a Panasonic wireless adapter in the back of the tv.. The router is in the same room as the tv by the way.

Any ideas would be good.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Portoman]

Should I buy another adapter ?

 

[Paul.]

Can you temporarily wire the router to the tv? That way you would know if it's an internet problem or a wireless problem.

 

[daveh75]

Netflix is adaptive (i.e it will switch bitrates on the fly, depending on available bandwidth) iPlayer and AFAIK YouTube (on TV clients) aren't, which is why they may buffer when netflix doesn't.

I suspect WiFi is the most likely cause of the issues though, I would connect the TV to the router with Ethernet if at all possible or failing that use homeplugs.

 

[Portoman]

Thanks. Do you think it's worth contacting my ISP?

 

[abacus]

1. Try re-starting your router.

2. Make sure your internet connection is fast enough to allow streaming, (You need approximately 2Mb for SD and 5Mb for HD continuous) also make sure no one else is using the internet or wireless connection.

3. If you are using a Sky router then the wireless performance of them is very poor, (Even the new ones) so as mentioned try it wired direct.

4. If the above are all OK then by all means contact your ISP.

Hope this helps

Bill

 

[Portoman]

I have some network adapters which can be plugged in - are they okay?

 

[jonathanRD]

Can you temporarily wire the router to the tv? That way you would know if it's an internet problem or a wireless problem.

Have you tried this?

 

[Portoman]

Unfortunately the cable is too short to connect to the tv.

I tried the network adapters, which you plug into the plug sockets and then into a device, but they haven't made any difference.

 

[Portoman]

.

 

[jonathanRD]

Can you check your internet speed on your computer/laptop using one of the internet speed checker sites?

Have you got a telephone extension wire - allowing you to move the modem next to the tv temporarily? Then you can connect your modem directly to your tv. You should be able to purchase a 5 or 10m cable for a few pound (always useful to have as a backup when things go wrong like this).

I use iplayer and lovefilm a lot - usually my internet speed is around 16.5 mb download speed. Sometimes I get 'dropouts' - when the speed drops to about 2mb/s the player will stop. When you are using iplayer - what download speed is it showing?

 

[daveh75]

Have you got a telephone extension wire - allowing you to move the modem next to the tv temporarily? Then you can connect your modem directly to your tv. You should be able to purchase a 5 or 10m cable for a few pound (always useful to have as a backup when things go wrong like this).

I wouldn't advise this. ADSL and telephone extension wiring is a recipe for disaster.

Better to leave the router where it is (hopefully connected to the master socket) and run ethernet instead

 

[jonathanRD]

Have you got a telephone extension wire - allowing you to move the modem next to the tv temporarily? Then you can connect your modem directly to your tv. You should be able to purchase a 5 or 10m cable for a few pound (always useful to have as a backup when things go wrong like this).

I wouldn't advise this. ADSL and telephone extension wiring is a recipe for disaster.

Better to leave the router where it is (hopefully connected to the master socket) and run ethernet instead

Hi Dave - not wanting to cook up a disaster - why is this not a good idea? :?

 

[Tarxman]

I think the weakness here is the wifi. If hardwiring with Ethernet isn't possible, I would suggest using a power line adapter instead. The better ones will cross circuits so can be used on any power point in the home and I find I get ALMOST Ethernet speeds.

 

[Cofnchtr]

Hi,

What speeds are you getting on the PC when using YouTube/iPlayer? Should look to achieve this on the TV with an ethernet cable for best results.

Buying a longer ethernet cable to go from router to TV would be my recommendation.

Cheers,

Cofnchtr.

 

[Portoman]

Hi

Sorry for the late reply..

Good news. I contacted Sky and after they monitored my phone line etc and things to do with the test socket, they agreed to send an Open Source engineer round. He was able to increase the speed to around 4Mb, which is a great improvement from the awful .7.

So thanks Sky for that

BUT now I seem to have another problem - Netflix.

Netflix is on my Smart tv and since the broadband improvements Netflix is being a real pain i.e. not loading up, taking ages to load up the access menu, sometimes saying it is unable to connect.

Does anyone know why this would happen now ??

Thanks