I made the mistake of updating to latest firmware, 6.0.2. Ever since, Netflix quality *****. SuperHD used to be so sharp and crisp. Now it's pixelated and NOT hd in the least bit!
How can I undo the software change? Has anyone else had this issue?
GaryJR4 wrote:
Really? I even have issues with it on Chromecast now where before it was rock solid, You don't have to look back far in this thread to see problems with Roku and other devices where there were none before.
In general people aren't reporting much information. Certainly not the CDN. Which one are you connecting to when you have problems?
JesseBob,
You do seem to have a unique issue with streaming on your iPads. I am running on an iPad 3, 7.0.4. I have streamed up to 2 hrs (I think that was the last length of a movie the other day). No lockups or loss of the airplay icon. In the past two weeks I have streamed at least 20 shows from my iPad.
The fact that you can reproduce this on three different versions of the iPad, that *****.....
(Sorry got zero suggestions).
What ISP do you have? Do you have a friend with a different ISP? Would be interesting to test this out using a different ISP. The only common point between your 3 iPads is your network and ISP. And iOS 7.0.4 of course.
Bodosom,
I have not been able to figure out just how to display what CDN I am connecting up with......
Still working on that ......
Bob Hickman wrote:
What i did find interesting was when I connected up my ATV to my Verizon Mifi 4G LTE. Speed tested that link at 18 Mbs down, 10 up. My ATV was perfectly happy streaming at 5800 SHD, it did drop to 4300 for a few seconds, but then popped right back up to 5800. So if the stream is clean enough, the new ATV app can stream at 5800. It's very confusing that many with cable and 25 to 50 Mps down also have the exact same issue.
The LTE connection vs. TWC path is completely different and you probably have two different CDNs as bodosom points out. Most of the ISPs backhaul the customer network to a POP/Regional egress point before the subscriber requests get out of the ISP network to cross network borders between ISPs.
On the Netflix website, under "Your Account", I changed "Playback Settings" from "Auto" to "High". Although the picture doesn't seem to be as sharp as the intermittent Super HD, at least it isn't the more common pixelated mess streamed under the "Auto" setting.
Possibly relevant details:
1080p screen
Apple TV 3 with latest updates installed
50 Mbps down hard wired Internet connection
No problems with 1080p from any other streaming services
Netflix support, as stated by others in this forum, had no idea about this. It seems at this point it should at least be recognized as a "known issue" that they are trying to resolve. After the call, I emailed their support copying a link to this forum.
@bodosom.. Off-topic but your experience with nTop may help me get this working.
- https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5763514
Bob Hickman may also be interested.
^
I do all my network measurements on my gateway machine. It runs Linux and I use VNC (to my MacBook) should I need to run X applications. I've long since given up on ports.
I've mostly used etherape and ntop to look at the Netflix problem.
It is beginning to sound to me like there may be several different factors that are affecting people differrently. My issue is definitely Netflix/ISP/CDN related, drawn from this set of facts:
So, for me, it is not the hardware or software on site, and it is obviously not WiFi quality since everything is hardwired (they are all right next to each other, connected with short, quality Ethernet cables). It is time-of-day related, and is solely Netflix, and is independent of which box I use (ATV or TiVo).
Perhaps I should shoot and post a video of the Example Short running at both times so that Netflix/Apple techs can have a look, though it seems to me to be more Netflix/FIOS interaction, and local to the CDN?
I am able to get nTop to work after a bit of hacking. I still get the error messages but I can see my devices including the ATV3. Will post some nTop information later tonight.
Loner T wrote:
Bob Hickman wrote:
What i did find interesting was when I connected up my ATV to my Verizon Mifi 4G LTE. Speed tested that link at 18 Mbs down, 10 up. My ATV was perfectly happy streaming at 5800 SHD, it did drop to 4300 for a few seconds, but then popped right back up to 5800. So if the stream is clean enough, the new ATV app can stream at 5800. It's very confusing that many with cable and 25 to 50 Mps down also have the exact same issue.
The LTE connection vs. TWC path is completely different and you probably have two different CDNs as bodosom points out. Most of the ISPs backhaul the customer network to a POP/Regional egress point before the subscriber requests get out of the ISP network to cross network borders between ISPs.
Group,
Yes, I understand the fact that there is most likely two different CDNs. And obviously two completely different networks. The LTE networks keeps my ATV happy, the TWC network does not.
So who owns the CDNs, and who is responsible for selecting the CDN that I stream from? For my TWC ISP, which from what i gather is not part of this Netflix open connect, does TWC direct my ATV to a specifc CDN, or is that part of the handshake between my ATV and Netflix, in which Netflix would control which CDN.
Take a look at this link - http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~viadhi/netflix.pdf
The CDNs are owned/operated by Netflix (or on their behalf).
TWC has very little control where to point you to for content. They control the network egress and routing within their internal domain and associated traffic shaping.
Loner T wrote:
Take a look at this link - http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~viadhi/netflix.pdf
The CDNs are owned/operated by Netflix (or on their behalf).
TWC has very little control where to point you to for content. They control the network egress and routing within their internal domain and associated traffic shaping.
Loner T, I think you have provided one of the most useful contributions to this thread with this link. The paper seems to be a couple of years old, but provides great insight into what goes on with Netflix's content distribution.
They make a couple of interesting points, for example:
Of course, much has probably changed since this paper was published. But the principles and data presented go a long way toward explaining how it is Netflix's distribution which is leading to the problems discussed in this thread.
Fellow posters, before you return your Apple TV, go from wireless to direct ethernet connect, change DNS, revert your ATV's operating system to an earlier version, cycle your router, etc., etc., READ THIS!
Many thanks for providing this, Loner T.
Bob Hickman wrote:
So who owns the CDNs
They are owned by various companies. Netflix has contracted with various networks over time and I think they currently have overlapping five year contracts with Limelight (which is pure services) and Level3 which is a Tier 1 network provider that runs a CDN. Both of those contracts are nearing end of term. Netflix also runs their own CDN and their strategic direction appears to be to consolidate their traffic onto their own network.
Bob Hickman wrote:
who is responsible for selecting the CDN that I stream from?
Netflix.
Of course if your ISP has a Netflix cache then nominally none of this applies. You're served from the cache. If your ISP peers with Netflix then presumably these effects are minimized because that peering point would be prefered.
Loner T wrote:
Take a look at this link - http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~viadhi/netflix.pdf
This is a useful introduction but in my corner of the network it doesn't work as described in the paper. I suspect the state of the art at Neflix has moved well past what they saw in 2011 or it may simply be that the Silverlight client is a special case.
This may also be of interest in this thread - http://tinyurl.com/mq9waa7
Netflix quality HORRID after update
