Poor video performance

[xune]

I am a regular Netflix viewer on my iPad.

I stream movies without stopping or starting via wifi and over 4G, pending I've got a strong enough signal of course.

Mike245: check to see if any carrier, Sprint or Clear for example, offers 4G coverage in your area. If so, I'd recommend looking into it.

I, and a few others on this forum, are using 4G with our iPads, some paying as little as $25/mo for unlimited data/no contract. Depending what is offered in your area, your Internet speed/price/plan may vary.

One things for certain: I'm not going back to paying AT&T (or anyone else for that matter) for slower 3G speeds unless I have to.

 

[DaveSt]

How do you explain video playback without hiccups on 2 different laptops, 1 desktop and 2 Droid phones on the same home network that iPad plays videos as painful as watching paint dry?

I understand what you are saying. I have a bit of the same issue myself and I have yet to find a root cause for it. I stream Netflix through various devices in my house, including a Wii which I initially thought would have had the worst performance seeing as it is sitting almost on the floor beneath a 52 inch TV, next to a large speaker and various other electronic gadgets. The only device I have ever seen drop into the low quality video mode in the four months I have had Netflix is my iPad. I would say on average during a one hour session I will see the video drop to low quality two or three times for a period of a minute or two. None of my other devices do this, and that includes a six year old HP laptop with average at best wireless performance.

I don't know if the iPad is more prone to interference than my other devices or if it might be the very small amount of buffering available on the device that creates the issue. I am guessing that Netflix sends out a signal test periodically and if you get unlucky and have low throughput at that time you will drop to low quality until the next test is performed. It could be that the iPad works better with certain routers as well, although I have seen the same issue with an old Linksys WRT54G and a new Dlink DIR-655.

Just as an addendum somewhat off the subject, I would NOT recommend the DIR-655 if you are shopping for routers unless you like network wide disconnects on a frequent basis!

 

[Mike245]

I am a regular Netflix viewer on my iPad.

I stream movies without stopping or starting via wifi and over 4G, pending I've got a strong enough signal of course.

Mike245: check to see if any carrier, Sprint or Clear for example, offers 4G coverage in your area. If so, I'd recommend looking into it.

I, and a few others on this forum, are using 4G with our iPads, some paying as little as $25/mo for unlimited data/no contract. Depending what is offered in your area, your Internet speed/price/plan may vary.

One things for certain: I'm not going back to paying AT&T (or anyone else for that matter) for slower 3G speeds unless I have to.

They don't have any better speed at this time (actually lucky to get what I have in this part of Oklahoma!). I really don't watch movies on the IPad, that's what I bought an HD TV for, but the inability to smoothly play a 5+ minute streaming video is irritating to say the least. Overall, I can live with it but this limited buffer thing just doesn't make sense to me. I guess I looked at the 64 gigs of flash memory as kind-of like 3 or 4 gigs of RAM in a desktop with an similar improvement in buffeting, etc. At any rate.....love this thing!

Thanks for the replies, they helped this old man.

 

[accordlayingkit]

I have wifi only ipad and streaming netflix movies does fine and dosent stop.....but jus to watch a couple min youtube video u have to wait for it to download..why is that, what's the difference.....don't have to wait for a netflix movie to download

 

[Hermeses]

New member. Variation on same problem

It seems that in most places (including home), my ability to stream is better with 3G than with wireless. Most wireless networks leave me with halting etc in video stream. I then simply switch off wireless and most streams clear right up. It seems that no matter how bad the router, wireless should have better rates than 3G right? Any thoughts?

 

[joeygrantini]

Hi

I have tried most of the suggestions on the pausing problems I suffer in video mode and must say I am pretty disappointed Inmy I pad at the moment!!

 

[reag1380]

Hello! I have an iPad2 and the Netflix Quality on it (iPad display or HDMI cable to the TV) is veeeery downgraded than when I use my MacBook Air with the exactly same WiFi Network, on the same day and hour and movie I'm trying to watch. I have always asked why should it be . When I connect to fastest WiFi networks, iPad2 resolution is better; but the MacBook Air resolution is even better than iPad2 in that very same network. Any help?