5 ms·

I've noticed that ATV+ looks the best, which is much appreciated. However, what has been driving me insane with all these services is how the bitrate is comple

I've noticed that ATV+ looks the best, which is much appreciated. However, what has been driving me insane with all these services is how the bitrate is completely inconsistent throughout, depending on network congestion. Every service I subscribe to will "automagically" lower the bitrate if the network can't handle it. Which is fine, I get it. The thing is, it's the only way to watch anything, and depending on the content, it can absolutely ruin it. I'm on Comcast, and Netflix will constantly ping pong between 480p and 1080p, and is very unpleasant to watch. It's ok for some shows, but certain ones like Planet Earth 2 become unwatchable (to me). I really wish there was a setting to add a bit of wait time before playing to avoid this. ATV+ buffers a bit more than the rest, but has the same issues. Edit: To clarify, this issue happens both wired and wireless. The main contributor to the inconsistency is the time of day I decide to watch.

chiph 6y ago
And this is why I still get discs by mail. No dropouts, no unexplained drops in resolution, and it has a deeper catalog.
- baggy_trough 6y ago
  Scratched discs.
  - ddingus 6y ago
    That almost always play nicely. I still use optical media myself.
  - tomc1985 6y ago
    You'd be surprised just how resilient optical media can be. Damage to the metallic substrate is usually a bigger problem than most scratches Plus, with optical media you can easily make bitperfect copies!
  - chiph 6y ago
    Actually, hasn't happened all that often. I've had more of a problem with discs arriving broken.
sbierwagen 6y ago
Are you streaming over wifi?
snailmailman 6y ago
On my phone it lets me download Apple TV+ content. The files are shockingly large compared to what Amazon Video downloads are. A 1 hr clip was maybe 800mb in prime, but a few gigabytes from apple. (I don’t have any on my phone atm, but a quick search is telling me episodes of “For all mankind” are ~4GB and an hour long) It looks noticeably better, a massive step up that is completely worth the extra bytes. On my desktop I always rent stuff through iTunes just cause I can download it in advance, and don’t have to deal with buffering or reduced quality.
- Izkata 6y ago
  > A 1 hr clip was maybe 800mb in prime, but a few gigabytes from apple. Assuming x264 encoding, that sounds about right for 720p vs 1080p.
- xzel 6y ago
  There is a setting in Prime Video to download the highest bitrate which is often around 4GB for a 2 hour movie, iirc. Totally agree with you on the download in advance rentals. With good enough internet it makes the experience of rentals so much more enjoyable.
- ksec 6y ago
  >It looks noticeably better, a massive step up that is completely worth the extra bytes. I keep thinking if their reason was to push for higher capacity iPhone sold.
wmf 6y ago
Try doing "offline" downloads (with "highest" quality of course) in the app then casting to your TV. For true videophiles there's Kaleidescape but it's less valuable now that there are so many exclusive shows.
- coder543 6y ago
  Airplay is limited to 1080p, and I don't think it includes HDR. Definitely not what I would call the pinnacle of quality. I'm surprised that Apple TV apps don't allow you to download content, considering it is based on essentially iOS, but it is clearly a conscious choice.
laurencerowe 6y ago
In case you are using Google/Cloudflare DNS try switching back to Comcast's DNS servers so you get directed to a Netflix Open Connect box within their network.
- dmitrygr 6y ago
  > switching back to Comcast's DNS servers A scary thought (they highjack NXDOMAIN, MiTM http to "bring you important messages", etc)
  - thomasfortes 6y ago
    That's when you set up dnsmasq or something similar and use your favorite dns server for most of the sites but a specific one for sites that will work better with it.
- namibj 6y ago
  Google DNS supports EDNS-subnet info, and should work just as well as Comcast's DNS for Netflix. Cloudflare won't, though.
  - laurencerowe 6y ago
    Do you know if this used to be an issue that is now resolved? The poor streaming quality I experienced was watching Netflix over Comcast cable internet with Google DNS several years ago. It was night and day different after changing DNS resolvers back to Comcast, though I guess it could have been a coincidence.
    - namibj 6y ago
      It should not have been an issue in the last few years. I do not know if this was a problem early-on, but Google themselves use it for their CDN-boxes they offer ISPs to offload what's likely mostly YT videos and popular android APKs.
jedberg 6y ago
Under your profile settings you should be able to force HD. It will cause it to buffer instead of downgrade if your internet gets too slow, but it will also do a bigger buffer (depending on the device and how much memory the device makes available to Netflix for the video buffer).
floatingatoll 6y ago
Does a speed test report that you have severe Bufferbloat issues? I don’t experience this issue with Netflix on 50 down 5 up Comcast at 50/5 but I do at 150/15, unless I install a shaper (eg. IQrouter, Eero SQM). I ask because if you have too high latency, such as the 1200ms I’ve seen on Comcast with bufferbloat due to upstream overcommit, Netflix might detect that as a loss of bandwidth.

chiph 6y ago

And this is why I still get discs by mail. No dropouts, no unexplained drops in resolution, and it has a deeper catalog.

baggy_trough 6y ago
Scratched discs.
- ddingus 6y ago
  That almost always play nicely. I still use optical media myself.
- tomc1985 6y ago
  You'd be surprised just how resilient optical media can be. Damage to the metallic substrate is usually a bigger problem than most scratches Plus, with optical media you can easily make bitperfect copies!
- chiph 6y ago
  Actually, hasn't happened all that often. I've had more of a problem with discs arriving broken.

sbierwagen 6y ago

Are you streaming over wifi?

snailmailman 6y ago

On my phone it lets me download Apple TV+ content. The files are shockingly large compared to what Amazon Video downloads are. A 1 hr clip was maybe 800mb in prime, but a few gigabytes from apple. (I don’t have any on my phone atm, but a quick search is telling me episodes of “For all mankind” are ~4GB and an hour long) It looks noticeably better, a massive step up that is completely worth the extra bytes. On my desktop I always rent stuff through iTunes just cause I can download it in advance, and don’t have to deal with buffering or reduced quality.

Izkata 6y ago
> A 1 hr clip was maybe 800mb in prime, but a few gigabytes from apple. Assuming x264 encoding, that sounds about right for 720p vs 1080p.
xzel 6y ago
There is a setting in Prime Video to download the highest bitrate which is often around 4GB for a 2 hour movie, iirc. Totally agree with you on the download in advance rentals. With good enough internet it makes the experience of rentals so much more enjoyable.
ksec 6y ago
>It looks noticeably better, a massive step up that is completely worth the extra bytes. I keep thinking if their reason was to push for higher capacity iPhone sold.

wmf 6y ago

Try doing "offline" downloads (with "highest" quality of course) in the app then casting to your TV. For true videophiles there's Kaleidescape but it's less valuable now that there are so many exclusive shows.

coder543 6y ago
Airplay is limited to 1080p, and I don't think it includes HDR. Definitely not what I would call the pinnacle of quality. I'm surprised that Apple TV apps don't allow you to download content, considering it is based on essentially iOS, but it is clearly a conscious choice.

laurencerowe 6y ago

In case you are using Google/Cloudflare DNS try switching back to Comcast's DNS servers so you get directed to a Netflix Open Connect box within their network.

dmitrygr 6y ago
> switching back to Comcast's DNS servers A scary thought (they highjack NXDOMAIN, MiTM http to "bring you important messages", etc)
- thomasfortes 6y ago
  That's when you set up dnsmasq or something similar and use your favorite dns server for most of the sites but a specific one for sites that will work better with it.
namibj 6y ago
Google DNS supports EDNS-subnet info, and should work just as well as Comcast's DNS for Netflix. Cloudflare won't, though.
- laurencerowe 6y ago
  Do you know if this used to be an issue that is now resolved? The poor streaming quality I experienced was watching Netflix over Comcast cable internet with Google DNS several years ago. It was night and day different after changing DNS resolvers back to Comcast, though I guess it could have been a coincidence.
  - namibj 6y ago
    It should not have been an issue in the last few years. I do not know if this was a problem early-on, but Google themselves use it for their CDN-boxes they offer ISPs to offload what's likely mostly YT videos and popular android APKs.

jedberg 6y ago

Under your profile settings you should be able to force HD. It will cause it to buffer instead of downgrade if your internet gets too slow, but it will also do a bigger buffer (depending on the device and how much memory the device makes available to Netflix for the video buffer).

floatingatoll 6y ago

Does a speed test report that you have severe Bufferbloat issues? I don’t experience this issue with Netflix on 50 down 5 up Comcast at 50/5 but I do at 150/15, unless I install a shaper (eg. IQrouter, Eero SQM). I ask because if you have too high latency, such as the 1200ms I’ve seen on Comcast with bufferbloat due to upstream overcommit, Netflix might detect that as a loss of bandwidth.