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21-24 Mbps not enough bandwidth to stream On Demand!?!

35K views 130 replies 43 participants last post by  veryoldschool 
#1 ·
Every time I try to watch an On Demand HD movie I get a message saying my download speed isn't fast enough to stream and do I want to just download the movie for later viewing. How much bandwidth do you need to stream? I can download a movie by bit torrent in less time than it takes to download an On Demand movie. How many people even have 21 Mbps? If that ain't enough, then very few people can watch streaming On Demand.

Your thoughts, please.
 
#103 ·
pdxBeav said:
Unfortunately, the amount invested doesn't always translate into an efficient system.
This is what I don't get/understand.
It works pretty well for me, so I don't understand if others have higher expectations or what.
I pick something to watch and "watch now" almost always works, and when it doesn't I download it and can watch it after it's downloaded enough to not run out of buffer, "The worst" has been taking twice as long to download as the program is. If it's 2 hours, I wait 1 and can watch.
 
#104 ·
veryoldschool said:
This is what I don't get/understand.
It works pretty well for me, so I don't understand if others have higher expectations or what.
I pick something to watch and "watch now" almost always works, and when it doesn't I download it and can watch it after it's downloaded enough to not run out of buffer, "The worst" has been taking twice as long to download as the program is. If it's 2 hours, I wait 1 and can watch.
RIght on! I have a 20/5 FiOS connection and get constantly at least 18. and have no problems using watch now feature.
 
#106 ·
count me in as SLOW on demand as well.

I've tested my ISP and nothing else is slow other than ON demand. Even hooking laptop to the very ethernet cable going into the HR24 to test that cable to see what type of speeds I'm getting and it's the same....Using Youtube on the HR24 is fast too, apps load fast.

I did a speedtest and got 21.5 mpbs down, 1.71 mpbs up..........downloaded a LARGE test file and it topped out downloading at just over 3000 kb/s. Pingtest.net showed line quality as A

No clue why it's horribly slow. It took 8 hours to download a 47 minute program from HGTV on demand.
 
#107 ·
I've only ever had 1 issue with the download speed and it was when a movie was just released on demand through Starz. I hate to hear other people having issues, granted i rarely get anything off regular networks. I primarily just use the premium network on demand pages.
 
#108 ·
cypherx said:
Sounds like a peering issue. Not enough peers to the internet backbone.
"Sounds like" is just a [maybe educated] guess.
To really get an idea of what and how DirecTV compares to other companies that are streaming based, one would need to look at the streaming rate of the playback after downloading.

U-Verse is a streaming based company, and I've been able to compare the exact same program between DirecTV SAT feed and U-Verse. U-Verse uses only 66% of the DirecTV bit-rate.
Now DirecTV OnDemand "mostly" gives the same bit-rate as with the SAT feed. The only place I've seen a difference was with a "watch now" verses the same show downloaded. The watch now was 720p resolution, while the download was 1080i.
 
#109 ·
It was a few years ago when used comcast's OnDemand and it was terrible. I had plenty of movies/shows that would pixelate or just stop altogether and give me some error message. If it wasn't those issues, the lip sync would slowly get worse and worse until there was a 3-4 second delay. I would imagine they've gotten better but I haven't used it recently so it would be for someone else to confirm.
 
#110 ·
Whatever my problem was seems to be corrected after I went to settings and reset network to defaults, then re connected to the internet and network services and everything connected with no errors.......After doing that ........It took 44 minutes to download a 43 minute program........Compared to last night 8 hour download, that's a major improvement.
 
#111 ·
mark40511 said:
Whatever my problem was seems to be corrected after I went to settings and reset network to defaults, then re connected to the internet and network services and everything connected with no errors.......After doing that ........It took 44 minutes to download a 43 minute program........Compared to last night 8 hour download, that's a major improvement.
Hmm,
That's interesting. Maybe there is a bug in the network stack or some kind of loop or memory exhaustion that a reset clears? I mean there have been flaky performance issues on PC's for years with bad drivers. Could be a bug in the network drivers in the set top?

That could also help explain why some people have problems while others do not - even on very responsive connections.
 
#112 ·
peds48 said:
RIght on! I have a 20/5 FiOS connection and get constantly at least 18. and have no problems using watch now feature.
Do you have a Genie? If so, try to watch Chernobyl Diaries using Watch Now. My Genie refuses to play it, even though other DVRs in the house will. No problem recording and immediately starting it though.
 
#115 ·
raott said:
Do you have a Genie? If so, try to watch Chernobyl Diaries using Watch Now.
tried it. played fine. No issues
 
#116 ·
raott said:
Do you have a Genie? If so, try to watch Chernobyl Diaries using Watch Now. My Genie refuses to play it, even though other DVRs in the house will. No problem recording and immediately starting it though.
I tried it on my HR34 also, watch now works fine.

FWIW I don't use VOD much. I didn't really expect watch now to work. I've tried a few programs since I saw this thread. Cinemax, HBO, a DirecTv training video all work fine. All come through in 720p. If I download VOD in 1080i to watch later it can sometimes take awhile.

I live in the sticks and DSL is my only option. 4mbs on a good test with a 42 ms ping. ;)

When we first started doing HDDVRs and internet I spent a lot of time playing with settings on my router to get everything to work just right. VOD, TV Apps, Pandora, YouTube they all just work. Now.
 
#118 ·
Rebooted. HR34 still claims my internet connection is "too slow" to Watch Now. Despite the fact I get 30 down. Despite the fact that I can hit record on High Quality and immediately watch the same show with no problem. Despite the fact I can hit record Lower Quality and download and about a 2-3/1 ratio and despite the fact that other DVRs in the house can Watch Now with no issues.
 
#120 ·
acrow@directsatusa said:
Directvs VOD & watch now has nothing to do with "servers". It strictly depends on your Internet connection and how it is connected to the DTV system.
If you are using a wifi deca you could have all sorts of problems, seeing how that is wireless!
If you use a broadband deca you more than likely never experience the "not enough bandwidth" error. Hard wired is always the best connection choice no matter what you are doing.
I don't think this is correct information. While it is possible to get WIFI interference which could cause issues for some users, I am experiencing the same problem on a Coax CCK. I also tested this on more than one ISP, the issue is on DIRECTV's end. Server bandwidth and delivery method have a lot to do with it when you have a large amount of internet connected customers. Software could also be at fault here.
 
#122 ·
mark40511 said:
Well mine is still perfectly acceptable AFTER I reset everything. Before that, forgetaboutit!
I tried the watch now and it worked, although it buffered, but just for ten seconds, then the rest of it played all the way through.....
Just to be clear to others, this "reset everything" was ONLY resetting the network settings and NOT a receiver reset everything that wipes out the recordings.

I've gone through so many [local] network [re-]configurations, that restoring network defaults is all most my first step. :lol:
 
#123 ·
veryoldschool said:
Just to be clear to others, this "reset everything" was ONLY resetting the network settings and NOT a receiver reset everything that wipes out the recordings.

I've gone through so many [local] network [re-]configurations, that restoring network defaults is all most my first step. :lol:
I resetting the network settings tonight to see if I can get my Watch Now back on my HR34.
 
#125 ·
I don't know. I remember back when I had a Belkin router, it did not like the directv receivers at all, I tried EVERYTHING and Youtube wouldn't work even though I had an internet connection to the receiver..........A few months ago I upgraded to a Netgear WDNR4500 and there is never an issue with my internet working with the D* receivers (until I tried on demand)..........All I did, (using the remote) was settings,network (restore defaults) the reset up network (it said "congrats, you're receiver is connected to the internet), I then went to network services, set that up and the first two times it wouldn't connect, then the third try it connected successfully........ I hear network services has nothing to do with anything, but I stil wanted to set it up and connect just to make sure.

That's all I did..............before doing this, the 43 min on demand show from HGTV took 7 to 8 hours to download...........After that, it is taking 30 to 40 minutes.

I didn't reboot the receiver because prior to doing the steps above, I had rebooted receiver anyway.

And in addition to this, the bedroom and the office receivers (an HR21 and and HR24) both do on demand just fine without me having to reconfig anything........

I wonder if it has something to do with some peoples' routers
 
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