Friday, December 5, 2008

Streaming Performance

Recently some Netflix members using Roku or Xbox movie players noticed lower quality streaming than they had experienced earlier. This was a temporary issue that we believe we have resolved. Working with our content distribution partners and key carriers, we made some specific changes that should restore everyone’s experience to where it was before – high quality streaming.

332 comments:

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Jesse Curry said...

UPDATE: I've continued to use the Netflix streaming and have had great quality during the day, but from about 8p-11p I cannot get more than 1 bar, and sometimes get a message instantly that my connection is too slow.

I've run speed tests on my connection to various hosts around the US and have had nearly identical speeds all day long. It looks like this is a Netflix server issue, perhaps not enough bandwidth to deal with all of the new holiday subscribers?

Anonymous said...

One bar issue in St. Louis MO.

Steve Sweeney said...

One bar for video quality, long buffering times, Milwaukee, WI via TimeWarner RoadRunner. I actually have their Turbo product at 15MB service.....this is a NetFlix issue!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I am using xbox and my connection is a 6mbit from road runner. Streams great on the PC, terrible on the xbox. It says "your internet connection appears to be too slow for this content." What bs. Why am I paying for this crap service?

cadams500 said...

I'm having the same issue on my XBOX here in Kansas City, MO

1 bar and "too slow to play" --- just did a speed test and I'm downloading at over 17MB/sec, so it's obviously not my connection.

Hopefully Netflix monitors these comments to see that this is a widespread issue.

aram said...

Located in Beaufort SC just got netflix for my xbox360 and just had internet installed in my apartment. Wasnt sure if it was my internet or netflix, did a internet speed test, my internets working great, but netflix is still saying i have a 1 bar connection. Netflix's has a problem deffinently worth fixing!

Anonymous said...

During off peak usage the last two days have had 4 bars on each 30 minute tv episode. I just started back up during peak time and got the quality is not good do you want to continue.
My router shows upload and download speeds so I hit play on my 360 and my router was showing 900 kb at the most. Got the message and answered yes. Then while it took about 20 seconds or longer to buffer my router was showing 5 to 7 mb download. I upped my Time Warner to the 10 down with 16 burst and my connection has been fine except during peak time. I guess buffering more for higher quality won't work since they seem to have a bottle neck anyway.
Funny thing is when I had the 7 down speed netflix was maxing out while playing at 4 bars. Now that I upped it the download is going around 14 to 16. So it is sending data more quickly or a higher quality of 4 bar quality?

Anonymous said...

I am having the same issue in the Milwaukee, WI area. Fast internet speeds but poor Netflix service on my Xbox. I was just about to get rid of my blockbuster online and switch to Netflix but now I am not so sure.

PissedInVegas said...

Still a problem..... Hey Netflix, where is the solution? A two year customer is waiting for one....soon.

Anonymous said...

don't get to worried a ton of people are working off their hangovres and watching netflix without commercials instead of the boob tube.... great service et flix keep it up but please do address the problems... I would even pay more for a better picture if that must be...

Anonymous said...

One bar here tonight in Berkeley, CA over Comcast 20mb down, 3mb up through Xbox 360. Unwatchable...

Anonymous said...

Same problem here in Pittsburgh, 10Mb down, 1.5 up, one bar, looks worse than youtube.

We'll see if it gets better by 11...

Paul McCain said...

One one bar in St. Louis. Was fine previous three/four days! What the heck is going on Netflix??

Anonymous said...

One bar also... Usually a rock solid 4 Bars on SD and HD. Right outside DC in VA. This sucks!

Paul McCain said...

We are having huge problems here in Saint Louis. Only one bar strength. Weird thing is that it was working just fine for the past week, four bar/full strength.

Then tonight can't get past one bar.

Paul McCain said...
This post has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

It is 8pm here in the west coast... the one bar issue is also bugging us here in Seattle, WA. I switched about a week ago from Blockbuster, purely due to the XBOX 360 service and it worked flawlessly since, but I'm rethinking it as of now, due to this video quality issue. As someone else mentioned, step it up Netflix!!!

Eric said...

Well, still no official word from Netflix, eh? Seems like if I want to watch anything at all, it's got to be the middle of the night, or I've got to take off a day from work. This is unacceptable, but I don't know when to say I've had enough. I mean, they might be working on it, but how would we know??

It's really simple Netflix: Recognize the problem, address it, announce your intentions.

jason collins said...

Wow, not only will some folks complain about anything, they don't even know what the source of their problems really are. Here's the scoop folks:

#1 - Quality
I find it hard to believe that no one drew the connection between when xbox began supporting streaming video and when everyone began to have issues. It's called bandwidth, folks. You, me, your neighbor, your mom.... we all have bandwidth at home and residentially speaking, it's the equivalent of a drinking straw compared to the alaskan pipeline. It's great for us, and things are fast, but companies that deliver mass amounts of data to millions of people need, of course, more bandwidth. If everything is flowing smoothly, you get great quality streaming. But then, let's say, Netflix expands it's bandwidth in anticipation of the xbox tapping into it's system. Only, the amount of folks that have utilized the service has perhaps exceeded what was expected. The result? You get lower quality video (which uses less bandwidth). It's not like flipping a switch. Increasing bandwidth means installation, testing and implementing more hardware. Give them a few months to expand their pipeline.

#2 - Selection
A lot of folks complain about the lack of "new releases" allowed for streaming. Then they place the blame on Netflix. That would be like blaming your car for the cost of a gallon of gas. Netflix would love to stream everything they can. Think of all the savings they would get if the eliminated half of their postage, no more 'lost' dvds, nor needing to maintain a massive library, or employee all the folks at distribution centers. No, who you need to blame is the studios. They only allow licensing for streaming on whatever they see fit. if they stream the NEW releases, then everyone would use these services and the sales of DVDs would plummet. This is why you can still rent new releases from your cable company's on-demand service or xbox's video rental system. These charge a pay-per-play instead of a flat rate, and thus, the studios still reap in the dollars. Once a movie drops off the 'hits' list, they'll make more money by opening up streaming by charging providers (like Netflix or Vongo) a nice sum, and then you get to watch it instantly. It's not Netflix, folks, it's the studios.

On a side note, some of these streaming shows and movies are delivered straight from the studio's data bank (Netflix is a middleman). The studios feel this protects the integrity and security of their product. Each studio will also need to expand bandwidth to accommodate the ever increasing demand.

I hope this has cleared up a lot of the similar complaints people have posted, and hopefully you can direct those complaints to the right folks than calling out Netflix as your scapegoat for everything. The world is interconnected, folks, you have to realize this and get to the source of the issues these days.

Anonymous said...

We're having audio sync issues with roughly 1 out of every 5 movies in our queue. LAME. Instant streaming of movies is a great thing, but if the audio/video sucks then it's worthless.

Our rec: don't make the mistake we did and buy the Roku player etc. until these issues get addressed.

Anonymous said...

Same problem here... I can hit speeds of 15/2 megabits consistently everywhere on the net. Go into NetFlix and watch a simple movie. 1 bar and thats it. I can sit and watch the bandwidth monitor on my router barely poking along as the video looks like YouTube on my 360. I'll give it another week or two and my account is getting cancelled if it isn't fixed.

Anonymous said...

1/2/09 Xbox 360 streaming is not fixed yet. I called last night and was told "they are working on it"

Anonymous said...

10mbit uverse here and had full bars with netflix until week ago. Now I get one bar. Netflix says they are working on it. Hopefully they hire someone technical to fix it soon.

Anonymous said...

I've been having problems streaming to my 360 since Thanksgiving. Works great in the morning during the work week, but once people start coming home and streaming stuff, my quality goes to the pits. It's bad enough that I'm generally surprised when I'm pulling in as many as 2 bars at 3pm.

Like many other people, I've got more than enough available bandwidth on my end during these times (20mbit to various speed testing services and locations) and I've done everything within my power to ensure that at the very least, my end is clean (had them recheck all of the lines, replace my modem, flashed my router to the latest tomato firmware, logged multiple trouble tickets with Netflix, ISP, and Microsoft, etc).

At this point, I've pretty much given up hope of it working right and have just gone back to working my way through the physical queue. Afterall, a good two or three dozen movies in my instant watch queue just disappeared because of licensing issues anyway.

It's a shame, too. While other people complain about the lack of new blockbuster releases, I'm in awe at the number of quality TV shows and older films that I'd want to watch but ultimately can't because of the poor quality of the service.

Maybe it'll get better this year, but I'm not holding my breath. They keep adding support for more devices and more customers without taking care of the ones that they already have. Way to put the cart in front of the horse, guys.

Anonymous said...

just adding to the pile... normally i get 2 bars and a decent looking picture, but for the last few days i've gotten no more than one bar, and last night i got an error message saying my internet connection was too slow to watch the movie at all. i did an internet speed test on my laptop and my connection is fine, so this is clearly a problem on netlix' end. fix it soon please!

brad said...

portland maine, tw road runner turbo 15/1 Mb

xbox, went from weirelss to hard wired, still the same, crappy performnce. sometimes its ok, but not often enough....

the McGraws said...

We are LOVING the instant streaming on our Xbox 360. But we do have a suggestion. ;P

We want a setting that allows us to select "always low quality" instead of having to wait through the network test every...single...time.... (This goes for PC streaming too.)

One of the tradeoffs to living out in the boonies is having a slow network. We accept that. :) But until they roll fiber out here (in the year 3000), please, stop rubbing it in.

Anonymous said...

Still with no service here in central WA. unable to play movies. have a 6 mbp connection wich is working fine. I guess will continue to wait.

Chuck said...

I've got Cox in Baton Rouge, 15MB down - I've tested the actual network throughput from the router the Xbox is connected to and it pulls 10-12MBps consistently - so I'm positive my network is NOT the problem.

Sometimes I get full bars and it's great, sometimes (seems like at possible peak use times...) I get 2 bars, one bar.

I'd bet you a nickle this is a problem on Netflix's sever end.

I was really excited about this service - these problems are really disappointing.

Anonymous said...

Xbox360 Netflix streaming sucks! I am very disappointed. The first week was awesome. HD quality streaming....now I get 1 bar, and half the time, it won't even work at all I hope that Netflix solves this issue soon!!

Chuck Adams said...

If Netflix is starved for bandwidth, then perhaps they could allow for larger buffers on devices that are able to support it? In fact, they could decrease their overall bandwidth use that way because a larger cache means larger latency tolerance.

Heck, when I rent HD titles from XBox Live Marketplace, the _whole movie_ buffers, and it's just as well copy-protected as if it were streamed (the 360 has some awesomely tough DRM).

Anonymous said...

I am rarely able to watch anything after 6-7 pm central time (prime time). After that time, my signal quality always goes from 4 bars to 1 or 2 bars, which means nothing streams in high definition and the video quality is so low that it's almost unwatchable. Also, I constantly get interruptions saying my signal quality has decreased, which then drops the video quality from unwatchable to beyond unwatchable. I think Netflix rolled this streaming thing out too early.

-Rakden- said...

This was fixed on my xbox for a little while but as of Saturday January 3rd, 9AM CST I can only get 1-2 bars on multiple titles on my xbox, and full dots (HD even on 30 Rock) on my Roku, I've tested wired and wireless on both this morning (I'm a nerd so sue me :P)

Does anyone know if the Xbox content comes from a different CDN? After the initial problems at the NXE launch my Roku has been performing flawlessly again but the Xbox problems are back.

Vhato said...

I think we are asking too much of certain routes on the internet. My connection from my home to the ISP is 11mbps. However, routes through AT&T seem to choke to about 2mbps. Some Level 3 routes seem OK. But 2mbps is too low for Netflix HD. So this could be out of Netflixs hands.

Anonymous said...

I'm on XBOX 360 and Comcast. I have solid communications and video quality no where near what I expected from Streaming Netflix. I called them and they said to contact Comcast. I asked why, since everything else was perfectly fine, speed test results, etc. I did not get any satisfaction from Netflix. DVD quality it isn't...

Anonymous said...

There are two problems with getting Netflix to fix this problem. The first is that about half of the problems reported here are not caused by Netflix or are unrelated to this thread (xbox locking up, won't play at all, etc). Each "bogus" report plants the seeds of doubt about the real cause of the problem (Netflix).

The second problem is that as soon as Netflix confirms the problem, the timer starts. People will only hold on to their subscription for so long once the cause is confirmed so the standard practice is to wait as long as possible to admit responsibility.

Justin said...

same issue here in IL on Mediacom. Fix it netflix

Anonymous said...

I've spent hours (yes hours) with tech support from Netflix, Roku, and my ISP (Metrocast). I'm now waiting to hear back from Roku's technical escalation team.

Part of the problem may be my wireless router, which I'm about to replace. But I drop from 4 dots to 2 dots even when Roku is connected directly to my cable modem.

Netflix tech support also told me that some customers have issues with BBC content. They are "looking into it."

And to think I was an avid Netflix/Roku customer for many months before this problem began.

By the way, a Netflix Tech Support manager told it it is their policy not to respond to comments on this blog.

Anonymous said...

Streaming hi-def with 4 bars in Los Angeles in prime time. Previously, could only get 2-3 bars up until Sunday. It appears something may have been fixed?

Eric said...

Still not fixed here in New Orleans. I can maybe get 2 bars after 15 to 20 minutes of constant attempts. If it comes up 1 bar, I cancel and immediately try again and again. It's no way to watch movies and shows, let me tell you....

Anonymous said...

Los Angeles, consistent 10 mbps road runner connection.

These issues, slow loading, rebuffering and reduced quality, seemed to improve for a while.

But after the "upgrade" they have gotten distinctly worse.

Moreover it is no longer possible to force 4 dot quality using the backdoor interface -- even when the highest (3.5mbps)selection is made

Bret said...

As of Jauary 7th at 2p.m. in Southfield,MI the video quality is currently at 1 bar on the Xbox 360 while when I play a movie on my computer the video is perfect. All connections to TV, 360, and internet are correct so it appears that Netflix still hasn't totally corrected the problem. Anyone have any advice?

Anonymous said...

I have Cox Communications and the one bar issue too. Can someone explain why a couple of my friends across town have no problems streaming? Matter of fact, wouldn't EVERYONE have the same issue regardless of location if their internet connection was ok?

What ever the problem is, I wish we had better support.

Anonymous said...

Knock on wood but I've been back at 4 bars HD since around Jan 1st. So the period between Dec 15th and Jan 1st were the down times in my case. I'm in Atlanta with a 10 mbps connection through Charter Communications. Who else is finding fixes on their end as of today?

Michael Schnuerle said...

It's Jan 9, and just called Netflix tech support about this issue. While they were nice, the didn't mention anything about this, and instead said it was my ISP's fault.

But it works on with 4 bars on my wireless laptop, but only 1 bar on my wired 360. Very frustrating!

Anonymous said...

Phoenix, AZ. One bar on xbox 360 and one bar on pc. Terribly frustrating. Tested internet speed, no problem there. 3500kbps. Any help here NetFlix?

Anonymous said...

As of today Jan 10, 2008 The streaming of titles is still horrible. This being on 10mb download road runner service in Los Angeles

Anonymous said...

all other sites stream fine but Netflix now just hangs up when trying to determine playback... used to work fine but lately is hit or miss. Hopefully, they're working on this.

GODFATHER said...

I have Cox here in Wichita Ks with a 15mb connection. I have done all of what you guys have done with the tests and such. My connection is awesome Bandwidth is awesome. But cant get more than 2 bars for the quality on the movie. Checked my bars on the games and I always have 4 bars ping. So this has to be a netflix deal. I have called them 4 times and they always say its on my end which is B.S. they say call your ISP and have them run this test. Well they say they cant run any tests like that. I even went as far as changing out my router with another that I had and still have the same stuff going on.

I was wondering if you needed to port forward for this to work also? I had to do this with my 360 for it to keep a good connection but no one knows about that I guess?

Anonymous said...

Hello everyone,

I rec'd my Roku box on January 31st and my family and I were quite excited to begin streaming videos to our tv. However, since the time we have rec'd the box, the streaming videos do one or all of the following:
1) THEY DON'T LOAD PROPERLY (SOUND DOESN'T MATCH MOUTH MOVEMENTS);
2) THE VIDEOS DON'T LOAD AT ALL;
3) THE VIDEOS CUT OUT OUT PERIODICALLY AND OFTEN THROUGHOUT THE MOVIE;
4) AFTER THE MOVIE CUTS OUT, IT EITHER TAKES A LIFETIME TO RELOAD OR IT WON'T RELOAD AT ALL

What gives? This really sux. I am going to give the netflix/Rokus morons one more week, then I am canceling for good.

I am located in Washington State. Is this a regional issue?

Thanks.
TE

Anonymous said...

Problem definitely not fixed for Cox users in Phoenix, AZ. Just signed up last week for a Netflix account (intended for XBox 360) and streaming was beautiful for a couple days, now I'm lucky to get two bars and some items won't even play. Ran speed tests and noticed a 50% reduction in my bandwidth vs a few days ago when all was well...has to be Cox throttling. I hate to have to abandon my Netflix account but this is ridiculous!

jairo said...

Yeah, I live in Phoenix, AZ too and have the same problem. I can only get one bar while the speed tests I have performed show an average of almost 12000 kbps, which is more than enough. I just got off the phone with a COX tech and they said everything is working fine. I tried connecting the xbox directly to the modem and still got the same results. This sucks especially when I know am capable of getting four bars...the first 2 days I used netflix.

masterage said...

Still one bar in NWA ragion. Using a T1 line, and this is the second time in the first few minutes of the movie that it's had to stop...17MB down, 3Mb up. This really shouldn't be happening.

The silverlight player help with a little video quality, but it's still not up to standard and the audio is still low-quality.

Jason said...

From Lafayette, LA...
I've been trying to figure out the damn problem. I always thought it was my roommate doing shit on the wireless upstairs. So, I completely took the router out of the picture and went straight from the modem to the xbox. I have Cox, 9 Mbps, 12 Mbps burst... about to upgrade to 15, 20 burst soon. Anyway, once I plugged it directly into the modem, I tried during the morning and it worked ok. 3 to 4 bars most of the time. and during peak times its either 1 bar, internet too slow error, or doesnt play at all. seriously netflix!... this blows. stop telling us that the problem is on our end when i can play COD4 on xbox live and have a huge download going on my comp and have no lag whatsoever... its definitely on your end! fix the problem and stop acting like its not your fault. grow some balls and buy some decent servers to handle the traffic during peak hours. and you want to know why? because that is when everyone uses netflix in the first place. unless you want to make profit... that just makes you a terrible company. please fix the problem. its not like its just me here. its the whole freaking US... thank you!

Anonymous said...

I've never had a problem. I'll never buy a dvd again now that I can stream movies.

Anonymous said...

Streaming to my xbox with 6Mb cable would constantly hang up after starting a stream. The xbox showed a great connection, but playback locked up a few seconds in, the xbox would then restream at a terrible quality.
I then switched to 5Mb DSL (saved some cash to) and I have never had the streaming problems again. Cable connections bottleneck when other folks in the neighborhood are online, so depending on your area, your 6Mb connection could be 2Mb in reality. DSL has no such problems, and is super quick if you're close enough to the hub. So in my case, it's not an xbox problem or a netflix problem - it was my crappy cable company (charter).

Anonymous said...

Seriously, what has happened at Netflix? Silverlight doesn't work on any platform, reliably. We were forced to change to it. The only cust. serv. option is by phone, now, and having called twice with an incident code, the guys clearly didn't have an answer or timeline solution. Netflix has gone downhill... anybody try another streaming service?

tony said...

unwatchable with Roku. "loading, please wait" message cuts into any movie constantly. This service is horrible. If your considering this and haven't yet, don't do it.

Anonymous said...

Been having the 1 bar issue for weeks now here in Lynchburg, VA on a 10meg down (16meg blast) connection. Obviously something is going on for it to be this widespread.

Anonymous said...

FIX THIS, This makes me so freaking mad. My computer does 4 stars awesome, but the xbox 360 goes from HD to Lower HD to 4 bars to 3 bars to 2 bars and then to 1 bar. Are you kidding me?

Anonymous said...

I've been streaming to my Xbox 360 via a 5MB down DSL connection since Christmas. After some initial hiccups all content--including HD material--has been playing perfectly. This is an amazing service. Like any new technology there are some bugs...Netflix knows that they must work these issues out. Given that Netflix streaming is being built into televisions & BD players...and given that this feature is being used as a selling point for these products....it is essentially certain that Netflix will make sure everyone can stream as promised.

Faisal said...

My netflix (xbox360) was fine until two weeks ago when the performance started going down, for the last three days its been so bad that at times it won't even play I am only getting 1 bar at most... whats going on? if this continues I will have no use for netflix, why pay for some thing you can't use... :(

Anonymous said...

I am having the same problem with my 360 as Faisal mentioned. it is driving me crazy.

Geefco said...

Has anyone noticed an issue with HD content not being presented in HD for the XBOX 360? I am 100% convinced it is not my connection speed because some content like Heroes Season 3, CSI Season 9 (Not most recent episode) and CSI NY Season 5(Not most recent episode) are all presented in HD with 4 bars. But when I select the most recent episodes of CSI Ss9 and CSI NY ssn5 they show 4 bars but not presented in HD.
Also, some other content like the ace venturas and sunshine of the spotless mind show 4 bars but not Presented in HD.
What gives, netflix?

Anonymous said...

In Arkansas here, having problems -- loads at 4 bars, stops, restarts, loads at 4 again, repeat, repeat... or we can't get above 1 bar. Would love to just be able to set it at 2 or 3 and leave it there! 4 bars NEVER plays for long.

Anonymous said...

Until about 10pm here in California (Roadrunner 10Mbits), Netflix streaming has been unwatchable for the past week. I can see it on the net monitor graph. During prime time I am pulling down 10-100 kbytes/s in a stream that varies dramatically. After about 10pm the stream evens out into a nice 350+ kbytes/s with few interruptions. It seems like you need about 300 kbytes to stream one of the high quality feeds.

Somebody did not plan well for the additional bandwith the X-Box users would require.

Anonymous said...

I JUST MOVED FROM PALM SPRINGS, CA TO ROCKLIN,CA IN NORTHERN CALI... WHEN LIVING DOWN IN SO CAL, AND I MEAN SO CAL, ALMOST AN HOUR OR TWO FROM MEXI CALI, I HAD FULL 4 BARS 95% OF THE TIME... I COULD TURN ON MY 360 AND VIEW NET FLIX AT 6MBPS VIA VERIZON FIOS WITH ALMOST SUPERB VIDEO QUALITY WITH LITTLE BUFFERING OR INTERUPTIONS IF ANY AT ALL...

NOW THAT IM UP IN NORTHERN CALI, I HAVE INCREASED FROM 6 TO 10MBPS WITH WAVE BROADBAND AND CANT EVEN GET A DECENT PICTURE TO COME IN VIA NET FLIX... NOW ITS LIKE A FLIP FLOP SITUATION... 95% OF THE TIME I HAVE A 1 BAR ISSUE... TODAY I GOT 4 BARS AROUND 1-2PM... BUT IT CUT DOWN IMMEDIATELY TO TWO OR LESS... RIGHT NOW I HAVE THE NETFLIX RUNNING ON THE 360 AS IM POSTING THIS INFO, AND IT KEEPS BUFFERING AND HAS BEEN FOR OVER 15MINUTES... WHY WOULD I HAVE HAD SUCH GREAT QUALITY IN SO CAL AND SUCH POOR QUALITY IN NOR CAL... I DONT THINK ITS A NETFLIX DEAL... IF IT WERE, I WOULD HAVE HAD THIS CONSISTANT PROBLEM THAT YOU ALL TALK ABOUT WHICH I NOW SHARE WITH YOU WHILE LIVING IN PALM SPRINGS... IM VERY FRUSTRATED AS I HAVE CANCELLED MY CABLE AND ONLY HAVE BASIC NOW... WHY PAY ALL THAT MONEY FOR MOVIE CHANNELS WHEN I COULD USE NETFLIX AND LESS THAN HALF THE COST... BUT WITH SUCH POOR QUALITY, I WENT FROM RELYING ON NET FLIX AND THEIR QUALIITY OF STREAMING TO FALLING INTO QUESTION NOW...

I FEEL LIKE I HAVE BEEN LET DOWN... NO ANSWERS AND BOTH THE CABLE COMPANY UP HERE BLAMES NET FLIX WHILE THEY POINT THE FINGER RIGHT BACK TO THE CABLE POVIDER...

HELP?!?!?!

Anonymous said...

I live in Pheonix, Az too.. I can watch HD youtube videos like its nothing and I have COX. Netflix streaming is broke. Im no longer going to pay for this BS. BYE

Blake said...

For anyone with Netflix and Xbox 360 problems - BOOM - here's the fix: openDNS. I had constant streaming problems. Tons of rebuffering. As soon as I entered open DNS- INSTANT FULL HD STREAMING!!!! Google openDNS- it's an easy fix. Enjoy!

Anonymous said...

OpenDNS on the Xbox 360 didn't help me. If anything, the buffering time seemed to take a little longer after the OpenDNS switch, so I just reset it back to Automatic mode.

This is clearly a Netflix issue. I can download an HD movie from the 360 video library in about 30 minutes. Clearly, I have the bandwidth to stream HD if I want to. But I can't even get a decent SD stream through Netflix over the last 2 weeks.

The service worked great for about a month. I always got 4 bars, about a 20 second buffer time, and then smooth sailing with great video. Over the last 2 weeks, it has gone to hell. I consistently get 4 bars video quality at startup, then a VERY long buffer (1.5 minutes), about 2 minutes of decent video, and the stop, restart, stop, restart, eventually ending up with YouTube quality video. So disappointing.

I hope that this is just an issue of the NXE Netflix capability being a lot more popular than they expected. I never considered Netflix until the NXE came out. I signed up in mid-December, and had a solid month of great streaming and about 5 DVD deliveries. But it looks like I am basically DVD only now. I can't watch this quality of movie.

Sharon said...

Started having the slow internet connection messages yesterday (located in Erie, CO). It had worked wonderfully for about a month, now the Xbox gives one bar for a long time and doesn't load the video. Very disappointing as this is the only reason I upgraded my netflix account and the only reason I got Xbox live. What's causing it and will there be a fix soon?

Anonymous said...

Im able to stream movies fine as long as they are not in HD.. locks up within a few minutes...ugggghhh
Ann Arbor MIch.

Ruiz said...

I have not had any problems with my Netflix until recently. I get 4 bars when my video is buffering. But about 5 seconds in, it will say it's experiencing issues and then downgrade the quality. It's been an issue all week.

Anonymous said...

MY brothers xbox player has hd but mine has 1 bar, i have comcast highspeed with liknsys 2 wire router great connection on my xbox games while playing on live and internet on my computer but netflix not im wirelesson the xbox but when i hardwire my xbox to the router/modem still have 1 bar? any answers?

Anonymous said...

I'm having the same problems now. On and off for the last hour and a half, and no issues with my connection speed anywhere else. Netflix, this service is amazing buy you will lose support quickly if we don't get it fixed.

Anonymous said...

I live in San Francisco and only getting 1 bar.

Anonymous said...

I've been having this issue for a few weeks now.. 1 bar is all I can get when I previously got 3-4bars..

Detroit area.

Michael said...

Lansing, MI area having the 1 bar issue where I used to have 4 all the time. My connection is a 6M dsl connection and I'm getting good connections everywhere else. This is a major pain in my ass! Buffering takes a while on my pc, but, then it seems to play just fine. xbox won't get more than 1 bar. Frustrated just like everyone else ;(

aaronmcnees said...

since netflix added silverlight, i cant use the online feature at all. i'm thinking about unsubscribing.

Anonymous said...

The "streaming" problem was non-existent before December 2008. I would always get 3 full bars, oh yeah. And Now? Forget about it, 3 bars is a thing of the past. I only get 2 bars when I'm lucky, otherwise it's just 1. And no my internet is not crappy, slowest DL is 400 KB/sec and slowest UL is 100 KB/sec.

Jon said...

we are also having ridiculous interruptions and low quality in the evening and afternoons on the weekends. i did a speedtest (speedtest.net) every time it slowed down today to SF, Chicago, Cinci, etc and i was above 5m download on every one. in a one hour episode of friday night lights we'll have 4 interruptions to adjust quality and then it'll have to re-buffer a couple of times during.

i too hope that netflix is monitoring these comments.

Frustrated said...

Xbox Netflix streaming is unwatchable now... Any content re-buffers every few seconds on a 10mbps line. Performance degrades so regularly in the beginning (weekdays 7-12PM) that I wondered if they are throttling bandwidth on purpose. But after a couple of weeks, everything is unwatchable any time... Either they put a cap on the bandwidth because they don't want to pay the bills or they chose a cheap cdn.

Abe said...

I am in Omaha, NE and only have 1 bar...this is very frustrating.

Abe said...

I am in Omaha, NE and only have 1 bar...this is very frustrating.

Anonymous said...

Same here in Michigan brothers! Netflix, button it up and get to work! This is horrible! Time to unsubscribe? The guy talking about bandwidth is dumb, if that were the issue, it would work at least SOME of the time. Getting this thing to stream well is like getting Jesus drunk... it doesn't happen!

Rich said...

Los Angeles, 10mbps download speed. All movies are either 1 dot or buffer for 2 minutes every 2 minutes making them unwatchable. Called Netflix and they blamed it on Microsoft servers and just said "sorry, it just happens to some people". Funny, thats not how I imagined keeping customers happy when you sell them anything else that doesn't work. Usually the company actually says they will try to do something about or can do something (even if they can't). Not Netflix, they just told me that I'm screwed. Thanks Netflix.

Christian said...

Los Angeles, CA Time Warner Cable 10mb down and 1mb upload.
When I first got the service the quality was okay during non-prime-time hours I was getting 3 bars maybe even 4 sometimes for HD. Now however the service has been atrocious. I don't mind watching at 2 bars but once the quality goes to 1 bar its unwatchable. Will give it a couple of weeks to fix it or I will probably cancel it. As I write I am getting buffering interruptions on 1 bar. I will cancel tomorrow.

carpeaquam said...

For anyone logging an image quality / rebuffering complaint it would be most useful if you would list your ISP, measured download speed (www.speakeasy.net/speedtest) and your physical location.

Anonymous said...

My streaming on my xbox 360 used to be perfect, but the past few days I try to watch something on it through Nexflix Instant watch thing on Xbox live and I first: have to select the program I want to watch multiple times (get a Playback is not avlbl message) then Second: it just hast constant spurts of rebuffering issues due to a slow connection. My Xbox told me I have a perfect connection and my downloads are super fast, but with netflix I seem to have all the problems with streaming whether it be the (Playback not avl) message, getting randomly sent back to the Play, restart, rate, remove series screen, or just constantly rebuffering. Again my internet is perfect in my house and I cant find any problems when Downloading from XboxLive, Netflix is the only thing causing me problems.

I live in Upstate NY and I use WiFiFee through a Linxsys router.

Sarah said...

Having massive problems lately with streaming on my Xbox as well -

Time Warner Cable
Measured download speed around 5400kps
Los Angeles, California

Anonymous said...

What I dont understand is that our PC gets a rock solid stream but the xbox flutters and spurts. The xbox often starts off with three or four bars, but then adjusts because the connection 'slowed'. If I'm using the same internet connection with the same networking equipment to my PC and Xbox, why is the xbox so much less conssitent?
TWC in San Diego, 10mb down 1.5mb up.

andy said...

the streaming on my xbox used to very good for HD content, but recently they all behaviors the same, it always starts with 4 bars, but it can only lasts for around 10seconds, then it said connection is slowed and needs to be adjusted, then I got the non-HD version streaming.. it happens to all movies i chose to watch.. it seems to work fine on my computer which shares the same connection.. I believe there must be something wrong, have they noticed this issue? by looking at the post here, I believe this is affecting lots of xbox users... when they are going to fix it??? I bought xbox for the only reason to stream netflix movies...

Mike said...

When NXE launched, Netflix was the first thing I tried and it worked awesomely. I was streaming HD within 10 secs of buffering. After the holidays, I noticed that I could no longer stream HD but was still able to get decent quality. Then it started to turn into 1 bar. Now I haven't been able to stream at all, whether on Xbox or PC. I can't use the service anymore. I have TWC Turbo. Speedtest shows almost 10mbps download. No way it's my connection speed. It's either Netflix or TWC. I'm extremely disappointed.

Anonymous said...

I also tried the 'Silverlight special' due to some issues with the player bandwidth test(not a problem with my bandwidth)and the Silverlight player is HORRIBLE. Completely unwatchable on a PC that meets the published specs from Netflix (P4-3.2Ghz/2GbRAM/Radeon 9250 256MB PCI card). OK when pix is low res but at 1920x1080 drops frames like crazy . This plays great with NetFlix Media Player version.
Checked in debug mode at SmoothHD and have same issue with the Open player. Frame drop 20+ out of 30 when at 1920x1080 on the P4 PC.
Tested with my development PC (Dell Precision 490 dual quad-core XEON, 32MB RAM, ATI FireGL V3400 on smoothHD and it drops frames also at 1920x1080 but much lower (3-5 out of 30).
SILVERLIGHT PLAYER NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME.
I refused to get off the phone with Netflix and finally got Level 2 support (or whatever THEY call it) and insisted that they flip the bit back so I now have the old Media player stream back.
Works like before
They do have a caveat...no support for the old player.

Greg said...

I'm totally bummed. Recently (the last two to three weeks) HD streaming has become horrible.

I have Qwest 12 MB with an Actiontec modem bridging to a router. My Xbox is connected to the router/switch with an Ethernet cable.

It doesn't matter - day or night, I launch the Netflix service and everytime I get four bars. A minutes in, a get the "connection slowed..." message and then again a few minutes later. After the second recalibration, the show looks like old YouTubes.

A few weeks ago, I could have two PCs on the LAN, one VPN'd to work and couple chatty email clients doing their thing and I could still stream HD. Seems like a XBL or Netflix issue to me. Please fix it guys. It's terrible right now.

Greg said...

I'm totally bummed. Recently (the last two to three weeks) HD streaming has become horrible.

I have Qwest 12 MB with an Actiontec modem bridging to a router/switch. My Xbox is connected to the router/switch with an Ethernet cable.

It doesn't matter - day or night, I launch the Netflix service and every time I get four bars. A minutes in, a get the "connection slowed..." message and then again a few minutes later. After the second recalibration, the show looks like old YouTubez.

A few weeks ago, I could have two PCs on the LAN, one VPN'd to work and a couple chatty email clients doing their thing and I could still stream HD. Seems like an XBL or Netflix issue to me. Please fix it guys. It's terrible right now.

Greg said...

Update: if you haven't tried Blake's suggestion of OpenDNS for Netflix streaming via Xbox, try it. I'm going to have to run some comparative packet captures and trace routes to see what's going on, but it works. I've had issues for weeks, and minutes after I posted my grief I found Blake's post on 1/26/2009. It can't be coincidence. I haven't been able to stream Heroes for a month, including earlier today. Now it's working and buffering is fast. Like he suggests, Google OpenDNS. Thanks Blake.

Airplane777 said...
This post has been removed by the author.
Airplane777 said...

Cox started a new technique called "Traffic Shaping" this has caused several online players to quit working such as the "Sling player"

Anonymous said...

I have been a Netflix subscriber for several years. The new and improved Netflix player only meets one of its claims - it is new! Netflix has dropped several features with its new Microsoft Silverlight player. Currently, I find Netflix streaming to be unusable, and streaming is the reason I became a NF member in the first place.

I work for Microsoft and have for a decade now, believe it or not, and I would tell the folks at NF that if this is the best you can get from MS technology, then go to something else.

At this point, if Blockbuster had a comparable plan that included streaming to PC (right now you have to pay for each movie you stream from BB) I would switch in a heartbeat. BB plan is better in every aspect, except the price of streaming. Boo, NF, boo!!!

Anonymous said...

Had N/Flix 4 about 3 months now and had no problems with getting 4 bars 4 instant moives on my xbox. 4 the last 3 days i can only get 1 bar !? Why ..I have no idea. I have RR and my connection speed is very fast. What's going on ? Any body know ? Upstate New York area.....

Anonymous said...

Had N/Flix 4 about 3 months now and had no problems with getting 4 bars 4 instant moives on my xbox. 4 the last 3 days i can only get 1 bar !? Why ..I have no idea. I have RR and my connection speed is very fast. What's going on ? Any body know ? Upstate New York area.....

Jonathan said...

Degraded Neflix performance on Xbox 360:

I have 3Mbs DSL service with AT&T. Occassionally the Netflix service freezes my xbox, and I am forced to reboot the xbox. I used to get 4 bars when viewing videos in 2008. Now in 2009, my best connections have been an occassional 3 bars, but I typically have 2 bars.

Does anyone know of a support line that consumers can call?

I am not please with the service.

Anonymous said...

I posted a few weeks ago that I was not able to get decent service with the new unimproved silverlight player. All tech support wanted to do was critique my bandwidth, meanwhile I am able to get extremely high quality streaming from Fox 24 episodes and ABC LOST episodes (as well as youtube and youporn ;-).

So, today I cancelled my netflix subscription and moved to blockbuster. Comparable plan BUT you can return/exchange your shipped disks at the local BB store. Much better deal, so long as you don't want streaming with your subscription - BB charges separately for streaming. Seeing that I was unable to use streaming with netflix (aka netHix) this feature did not matter. Goodbye Netflix (netHix) was a good run for a 3 year subscriber!

As a slap in the face, we get to hear all the netflix (netHix) officers bragging about their booming business in this economy downturn. Well, better spend it while you got it, because since you are obviously not investing in customer products, your success will surely be a flash in the pan. See ya!

Justin Ames said...

Please either allow language options or load your Anime in Japanese with english subtitles. This greatly affects whether or not I can recommend netflix to most of my friends.

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Anonymous said...

What the Flix!!! I have great speed on 1 desktop, 1 laptop, and 1 xbox 360 and everytime I try and stream some movie from netflix, I get a big whopping 1 bar for the 10 dollars I'm paying 1 time per month. I'd like to hear 1 solution so I can actually sit through 1 movie on any given night.

1

Anonymous said...

I was billed for a trial subscription!!! Your Account
Billing Activity

Monthly Subscription Charges

Date Method Description Charge Tax Total
06/27/08 Visa-5972 06/27/08 - 07/26/08 $4.99 $0.44 $5.43

never got my money back.

Anthony G. 510 659 1807

Anonymous said...

When are you guys going to fix this! I am on Triad Time Warner and the problem has gone from bad to worse. Where as before I couldn't play most videos, now I can't play any. I take my X-box to my fiance's house and everything is fine.

Anonymous said...

Hi All,

This solution may work for some: replace the router.

I was going through the same streaming problems as other folks here and finally called for a Comcast technician. The tech plugged my laptop directly to the cable modem and I saw steady 15 MB/s. Awesome.

Then he plugged my laptop into the router, a 5+ year-old Netgear WGT-624 v2 with the latest firmware. The result was astonishing. I dropped down to 5 MB/s.

I have since replaced the router and my download speed is consistently in the 12 MB/s range. I understand it's normal for there to be a loss in speed when going through a router, but this has been more than acceptable for clear Netflix streaming. Not a single hiccup, at any time of day.

Anyway, try doing speed tests direct through the modem and then through the router. It might be the router that's the bottleneck.

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

I used to LOVE Netflix streaming and convinced anyone who would listen to at least do the trial. Unfortunately they are all canceling now due to bad video quality. I just tried again today and over my 6mb DSL with nothing else running it downgrades me to BASIC. I think it's unfortunate because at one time it worked great in HIGHEF all the time over the same connection. I hope they figure it out instead of telling everyone it's their DSL quality... before someone else does.

Anonymous said...

The quality is hit or miss. Lately the movies start but just stop and kick me back to the menu screen. Now I'm having major problems with the app locking up my XBox completely.

D Schmidt said...

Netflix streaming quality took a huge hit when they began to force Silverlight on their users. It's not a bandwidth issue. Silverlight doesn't have the processing power to display high quality video, and there's really nothing that can be done apart from invest in a new high-powered processor PC. For most users, there are plenty of cheaper better quality options.

Anonymous said...

I'm having that freezing issue where I have to unplug my xbox 360 in order to solve the problem. I have full quality connection.

-Rakden- said...

Mine just started locking up requireing me to cut the power as well. What is up with that? Happened out of the blue.

John said...

mine is still only getting 2 stars and i have a high-speed connection.

Anonymous said...

I had the same issues of constant re-buffering and freezing that required a page refresh.

I was able to fix it completly by changing my DSL model "IP address lease time" from a default of 10 minutes to a much bigger time (days). 10 minutes is the default time in my ATT modem.
The lease renewal would toally stop the network connection that handled the movie buffering.
That is why the page refresh is needed - to restore the connection.

It took me about 4 or 5 days to figure out what the problem source was. My router also has a dynamic IP lease time setting, but wat was set to infinite.

I have not seen anyone else mention this fix, but since it is the default setting with my ATT DSL modem, I figure there must be alot of people with the same exact problem.

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Anonymous said...

i just wanna Mark (page 1) say that you are a doofus for canceling netflix and xbox live.... mine was going through the same thing, it was my tv settings and my xbox settings, they didnt match.... SOme of us get so discouraged today over something simple and quit....

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