Is Netflix putting caps on computer-based Watch Instantly users?
posted March 16th 2009 7:10AM
Depending on your choice of computing platform, possession of dedicated streaming hardware, and love of otherwise forgettable '80s films, Netflix's Watch Instantly service is either a godsend or a gimmick. Regardless, nobody likes arbitrary bandwidth caps, and that's what Riyad Kalla at The "Break it Down" Blog claims to have spotted, finding that Watch streams on his Xbox take multiple minutes to buffer, but that those on his PC (using the same connection) can take hours -- if they work at all. Doing a little snooping he found he was being capped to about 50 KB/sec per download thread on his PC, but if he spawned ten such threads he was able to get over 700 KB/sec. Something, it seems, is issuing a per-thread cap, but is it really Netflix? Or, rather, is it his Qwest DSL line doing a ham-fisted job of managing bandwidth? We've seen similar issues intermittently, but nothing consistent, so we're not quite ready to call this an internet-wide conspiracy just yet, but would love to hear about your streaming experiences lately.
Update: Based on the volume of "It's working just fine for me" comments both here and elsewhere it seems safe to say that if there is a conspiracy at work here, it's not Netflix's.
[Via Slashdot]
I've had similar issues, where I test my connection at speettest.net and get a download stream of about 22 mps, but when I am running netflix steaming on my samsung 2500 I either cant get HD OR SD content is running at 3/4 quality, sometimes much lower. Not sure why I've reset the router, the wireless LAN, but nothing seems to fix it other than trying again later.
my sammy streams HD perfectly... only had 1 or 2 issues with skipping audio but that went away after about 30-60 seconds. It buffers a little slower than my XBOX but its well within the acceptable range.
about 25% of the time, I connect to a stream that says it will take 30 minutes before it can start streaming, but if I just hit Refresh in my browser, I usually find a different server or something and my movie starts in
I have yet to have a problem with streaming but a couple of my friends said they have buffer issues. Not sure where the problem is coming from.
I have a samsung 2500 and a decent, dsl connection. I've switched to watching more streaming movies than rentals because the selection is improving and I don't experience more than a half minute (at most) delay. Was sick yesterday and watched 4 streaming movies ... with no delay past the initial 15-30 seconds and no stuttering.
I hope they aren't capping the number of streams. I just ordered a refurb TiVo HD DVR so I can ditch my cable DVR and Roku player and have my DVR and Netflix streaming all in one box.
Tom - I have a TiVO HD and stream Netflix frequently. The quality is glorious 720p. If there is a cap on streaming, it's not to the TiVO, but to computers.
BTW, I have COMCAST in Salem, MA. Just to see if there is a trend with service providers.
My roku box is working better than ever. This past fall it sucked pretty badly, but lately it's its been near perfect. My iMac, on the other hand does not perform as well. Choppy, pixelated, and it's connected directly to the router!
On my Macbook Pro over wireless (!) using AT&T DSL (I have a fairly basic service level, too; not anywhere near the highest), my Netflix streaming is great and buffering almost never takes more than a couple of seconds. I use it all the time.
Sounds like his router, or ISP is having trouble. Perhaps a neighbor that is "sharing" his WiFi did some QOS adjustment on his router.
I have no problems using:
- Comcast in California / 6Mbps down / 1Mbps Up
- MBP via Firefox
- Vista via IE
- XP via IE
- Netflix 1 at-a-time unlimited plan
I had an issue with Windows 7/IE8 and Firefox not buffering when it was playing the show, you would have to pause it to get it to buffer, but since its beta I'm not too worried...it works fine on Windows XP with IE7 and Firefox for me on FIOS.
I have Comcast and I have no problems streaming Netflix on my Xbox. It only takes a few seconds to buffer and then I'm good. Once or twice Netflix has had to "optimize" my stream, but it's not what I would call a problem.
I have Qwest DSL and haven't noticed any sort of delay or cap. In fact, I've had nothing but a positive experience with the Netflix Watch Instantly. That is... when I can find something worth watching on it.
Completely agree with you. Qwest DSL here as well, and Netflix streams great whether to my 360 or my PC. Whenever I feel the need to watch episodes of Alf or my gf wants to stream an exercise vid. ;)
Using silverlight on the pc, it's hit or miss. I'm either buffered in ten seconds or I'm off to fix dinner waiting for it. I figure it's just wherever you happen to wind-up in the streaming queue from their servers. My 360 experience has been very good. -But not appreciably better than on my pc. I mean, if it's 7 at night, I'm guessing it's just congestion.
False alarm if I've ever seen one. Kind of surprised it was even posted on SD, much less relayed here. At least Engadget went with a question mark instead of a period in the title.
Tell the guy to check his router.
I agree, this is a non-story. At worst, Netflix is having troubles with a couple of their LA servers.
This is absolutely a non-story as the commenters at /. rightly point out. Its alarmist and nonsense. The guy didn't prove it wasn't his network or (just as likely) his ISP, also its not 48kps, he said it was .48mbps which is kinda 480kbps, which is a drastic difference. He also equates latency to bandwidth and thus loses at the internet.
I agree. I have had problems lately with streaming through my laptop wireless. I tried rebooting the router and did speed tests, which are all good enough to get a "best quality" after two weeks of waiting and messing around I tried plugging into my router and my wired connection gets "best quality" I know it is not my provider or netflix, it has to be something with my wireless in my house, now it is just figuring out what...
Netflix used to stream in HQ, but some movies were PIXELATED beyond enjoyment. I cancelled
you must have been pissed you couldn't watch your stargate episode
hahaha
Yeah....this is really an irresponsible post. I don't have any problems at all streaming Netflix movies and watch them all the time with barely any buffering at all. Now, if you want to get me started on the CONTENT available (or not available as the case may be), that's another discussion....
Qwest DSL here as well...I had a similar problem with Netflix but it (mostly) went away once I set up QoS in the router to give my XBox and the PC I also use for streaming priority.
still waiting for netflix to come out with streaming only plans.
How much less than $10 a month do you want ?!
I live in the middle of nowhere and have basic internet access. I've always have trouble with streaming and have wondered if it's because of how far away I am from the backbone or server or if it's just the slow access speed I have. I have 512K maximum speed. Is that fast enough for streaming? I seem to get about 30-45 seconds of play before I see the buffering message. I wish they would let you buffer the whole movie before you started it playing.
Ouch, I would imagine 512kbps connection would not be good for streaming netflix at all, might want to get that plan bumped up!
No problems streaming to my HTPC thru Time Warner Road Runner. I often queue up a Disney show or kids' movie for my daughter and I've never had to wait more than a few seconds for buffering. We just watched some old Kim Possible eps Saturday night.
I've got 2WIRE Router from AT&T with DSL Elite. Buffering takes a couple of seconds and I am off! It's great. I watched all kind of movies on a wireless XPS 1530 with an excellent quality. I think it has to do with your Internet Service Provider.
I've been using it recently on a mediocre connection and it's been fantastic.
TiVO HD works flawlessly, smooth perfect, better than DVD quality video. On the computer, the quality is not nearly as good. Sometimes the video is pixellated, but mostly it's a jerkiness that is the real problem. About every 10 seconds it's as if a frame gets dropped. But then again, I'm very particular about watching movies.
By the way, it's not service provider causing the problem. Comcast at home, random providers in hotels, even a VPN to work and back to Netflix from Canada, on all types of computers too, laptop, desktop, slow computer / fast computer (quad core, X260 219core video card)... all do the exact same thing.
There is something about the PC connection versus TiVO.
I get dirt slow service streaming, dunno if its Netflix or Comcast in Chicago.
I have started using the VOD option on my Tivo using Netflix. I have Comcast in Norther VA and havent really seen a lag of any sort. (Yet)
I have verizon and it varies. Sometimes I'm stuck with the minimal sometimes I get the 4 bar 2.2mbps sd maximum. I wish I could set it to default to 2 or 3 bars to minimize the buffering of 4 and get rid of the poor 1 bar quality.
Good tip:
if you are frequently getting downgrade when watching stuff, pause right away, do someting for 15 minutes then come back and hopefully it is cued up enough to not stop.
So one guy is having trouble and the logical conclusion???
This seems to be jumping the gun a bit and I feel is a bit irresponsible journalism. Would like a bit more proof.
By the way, I use the same set up and while my 360 buffers quickly, so does my PC. And I watch alot over my 360.
I guess when you put a question mark at the end of a title, even with a huge Netflix logo as part of the story, you can say just about anything.
Obama dies in horrible car crash? That should get some clicks :).
I have never had problems with Netflix and Instant play...NEVER...and I'm on a PC. In fact, the buffering is lighting fast. Perhaps the user has some QoS issues with his network.
I'll repeat, I'VE NEVER HAD STREAMING PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS WITH NETFLIX
and we use it a lot. (over FIOS 10mbit connect).
Look at the source:Slashdot. Need I say more? Bad Engadget, bad.
Works perfectly on my X-Box & PC with Brighthouse Central Florida connection @ 15 down / 2 up. Normally takes about 10 seconds to start playing on best quality.
Comcast here in FLA. I stream Netflix on both PC and Xbox and no issues whatsoever. I blame his crappy DSL...
I use Comcast Business and my connection gets fed through the AC wall connector. My landlord provides the complex with the service.
I stream to my Mac and have an obcession over Criminal Intent right now. It streams anywhere between 400kbps- 1.2mbps for me and I'll go through six 43 minute episodes in a row.
It's definitely not a Netflix issue.
Hmmm.... thats news to me ive never had this problem my netflix always works fine. HD and all..
I am in south Palm Beach County in Florida, and I have used my Roku box with both Comcast and although, at times, the Roku box had to readjust the resolution due to speed problems, it works great with AT&T DSL and worked fine with Comcast.
I just want to repeat something - .48mbps is NOT under 50kbps... its 480kbps. C'mon, engadget, you're breaking my heart here.
Please don't cry, you're breaking our hearts. It was a KB vs. kb typo, and has been fixed.
I've monitored that bandwidth coming from Netflix to my computer many times. I was actually pretty amazed to see it consume my entire downstream (about 625KB/s or 5Mbps) for about 10 minutes until, presumably, the entire movie was buffered. I've had issues where Netflix didn't detect my speed properly and bumped me to a lower quality on occasion (horribly annoying, there should be some override), but other than that, speed has never been an issue for me.
Oh, thank god, Tim :).
Netflix over a 360 using Verizon in the Los Angeles area is workin fine!
Hey Riyad:
Either reconfigure your QoS router or stop your torrents.