Problems with streaming

[Lionel Mandrake]

Has anyone else had these problems? If so, what do you do (other than curse)?

1. When I try to connect to Netflix, a message appears saying I am not connected to the internet. To fix this, I must turn the router off, and then turn it back on.

2. When I try to pause, nothing happens for several seconds. Then it pauses (way beyond where I wanted it to).

3. Sometimes the picture freezes for no apparent reason, and none of the buttons on the remote control will do anything. To fix this, I must deprive the DVD player of electrical power for a second or two. Then I have to try to connect to netflix all aver again.

Do these problems mean that my DVD player is a piece of shit? Or is it Netflix's fault? Or maybe a little of both?

[Soylent Brice]

1. it's just netflix.

their servers go up and down all the time.

if you know you have internet connection and you're still getting that error, it's netflix.

[Lionel Mandrake]

9. Yes, if the DVD player says it's connected and Netflix says otherwise,

then Netflix is the culprit. This sometimes happens right after I re-initialize the router. A minute later, Netflix will admit that I am connected.

When the DVD player says it's not connected, that's because it doesn't know its own IP address. Since it's been turned off, the router may have decided to assign that IP address to some other machine (e.g., a printer). That's how DHCP works. I've tried assigning the DVD player a static IP address, but somehow that doesn't work any better. This sort of problem is not Netflix's fault. I tend to blame it on the DVD player, but I'm not sure about this.

[Mnpaul]

20. I get that with my Sony netbox from time to time

I have to go into setup and run through the setup procedure to get it working again.

[barbtries]

2. i only stream on my computer

and it's been pretty much trouble free.
i also just started getting the dvds again because they offered me a free month and the two movies i've received so far were fine.

[Lionel Mandrake]

10. I've occasionally had problems with DVDs from Netflix.

Sometimes they are unplayable. Other times they start up with no audio or bad color. When this happens, i eject the DVD and start over. Usually it works the second or third time.

A minor nuisance is "previews" that the muhfking disk won't let me skip or fast forward through. When that happens, I mute the sound, go out of the room, and do something else until the muhfking disk is ready to play the movie. I blame this shit on the assholes who manufactured the disk. Or maybe on the studio that owns the copyright.

[barbtries]

16. yeah that annoys the crap out of me.

i do not like being forced to watch commercials.

[NV Whino]

3. If you're on ATT&T, it could be them

Happened to me a while back. AT&T fixed connection and I haven't had any problems since. Netflix has bee. Very good lately.

[Lionel Mandrake]

15. I'm on Verizon, not AT&T.

[supernova]

4. Spotty streaming tonight

while we were watching "House of Cards"

We have Time Warner internet.

The feed will drop and have to restart. I don't Netflix does say "you are not connected to the internet." I don't know if it's netflix or time-warner.

[Lionel Mandrake]

11. I once was afflicted with Time Warner.

Never again.

[gateley]

5. I've only streamed on my iPad -- Comcast Internet -- and no problems ever. Yet. :-)

[Lionel Mandrake]

14. That's good if you like the small screen.

Occasionally I've watched a movie or an episode from a TV show on a computer, but I would rather watch it on the biggest screen in our house, which is a 40" (diagonal) TV set.

[jberryhill]

17. How far away from that screen do you sit?

[gateley]

19. I don't have a choice. :-)

[cbayer]

6. I have these problems all the time, but have attributed it to too little available

bandwidth from my ISP and this ridiculously stupid Samsung blu-ray player I am using.

The reason I conclude this is because it gets much better when the tourists leave during the week and resetting the DVD player often fixes other problems.

Anyway, I don't think it's Netflix, but could be wrong.

[Lionel Mandrake]

12. Maybe you could get more bandwidth

by paying a higher monthly fee to your ISP.

[cbayer]

13. I can't. It's the tower and demand on the tower, not my plan.

My only access is through my Verizon cel phone. When tourists come in on the weekend, the single tower can't handle it and it slows down to a crawl and drops all day (and night). When they leave, it comes back up.

It got so bad during the summer, that I canceled by Netflix and Hulu, but it's better during the week, during the winter.

[mockmonkey]

7. It could be both

I have a Roku and a Wii and for Hulu-Plus the Wii works better than the Roku for Hulu-Plus. Many of the things you describe for Netflix sounds like the issues I have with Hulu-Plus on Roku.

Is there a way to update the software on the DVD player?

[Lionel Mandrake]

8. Depending on your DVD player,

it may be easy to update the s/w, or it may be not so easy.

If you stream through your DVD player (not through your TV set), then it should be easy, first to check if you have the latest s/w, and then (if necessary) to update your s/w. The manual should tell you how to do these things.

I used to have a DVD player with no networking capability. To update the software, I had to download it on my computer, then burn a DVD, and finally load the DVD into the DVD player. Each of these steps was complicated. Ugh!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. Mysterious are the ways of streaming

This evening, I tried to watch "Inspector Coliandro" on MHz Worldview on the Roku, and all I could get was the logo.

Then I tried the iPad: the app opened but it said "No data."

However, I tried bringing up the program on my computer, and it streamed just fine.

Then, all of a sudden, the Roku kicked in.