Troubleshooting Netfilx Streaming Issues

A friend was asking if anyone else was having Netflix issues in the evenings. Here is a summary of some of the things I discovered: Be a squeaky wheel, I often Tweet when things are not working which generally gets multiple responses from TWC. Ping a server as a quick check, I've noticed even cable TV issues often clear up when running a test on speedtest.net which seems a bit suspicious. Worst case it gives you an indication of the line quality. Check the modem, if you have a TWC Arris modem you can check the line levels directly by pointing your browser to http://192.168.100.1/cgi-bin/status_cgi It also might be at 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1. Even if you are not having issues, find your modem's web interface, there is lots of good info there. Also good to know what the levels are when things are working to compare to when they are not. Run Netflix tests, view http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/70136810?trkid=439131 which is a Netflix test video. Upper left tells you the speed they are sending to you at. Should ramp up to 3000 kbps @ 1280 x 720 if things are OK. Assuming you have at least 3 mb service of course. Better yet if you are in a browser press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + D to see line diag info. See chart of Nextflix speeds for US ISPs at http://ispspeedindex.netflix.com/usa Check your settings, check Netflix your account is set to stream at HD to get HD. When I checked mine I found was set for HD but to get Ultra HD or stream more than 2 shows at once I'd need to pay $4 more per month. I also found you should have 40 mb of available bandwidth to stream Ultra HD. Yikes! Try a diff device, I have the 300 mb service and I never saw 1280 x 720 in the above tests so I tried House of Cards as well. According to Netflix diag info I had 40 MB of through put but still only saw 720p. So I tried the test video via my TiVo and got the expected 5800 kbps @ 1920 x 1080. No apparent reason as to why. Sure would be nice if there was some easy to find guide or explanation why or at least what to do to get 1080p without having to experiment. On a side note if you have a Time Warner DVR and are seeing issues, the DVR has a web interface as well. Looking at http://192.168.1.202/Authorizations-Package_or_Tier for example. 192.168.1.202 is the address of mine of course. If you don't know yours get a tool like advanced-ip-scanner to locate it on your network.

For contrast here is a Facebook post of mine from August 11, 2013

So between rewiring and configing hardware this weekend I got caught up in trying to watch an episode of a SyFy show. I finally found it on Vudu. They have episodes even Amazon does not have. One catch is you pay by the show / movie. Shows in SD start at $2/episode, $3 for HD. Another is it streaming only. They also seemed to have movies before others, though they seemed a bit pricey at $3 for old stuff and $7+ for new. So I did a quick compare. For example renting at SD/720p/1080p
Terminator 3 Vudu:$2/$3/$4 , Amazon:$2/$3/$3 Netflix: unavailable.
A Good Day to Die Hard & Oblivion Vudu:$5/$6/$6 , Amazon:$5/$6/$6 Netflix: unavailable.
Europa Report Vudu:$7/$8/$9 , Amazon:$7/$8/$8 Netflix: unavailable.

The Avengers oddly is available on Netflix but can only be bought on Vudu $18/$23/$23 and Amazon $15/$20/$20 unless you are a Prime member in which case you can stream if free but only to your PC. And the Blu-ray/DVD combo (cheapest DVD version available) can be had for $22 (including shipping) on Amazon.

So it seems Amazon is currently your best bet for movies and you just have to go hunting to find shows. If the studios do streaming deals they are increasingly exclusive deals and often do not even mention they are available anywhere. CBS and "Under the Dome" seems to be the exception to this. Netflix has lost so much content that every movie I searched for to do this compare came up as unavailable. I finally went to their what is new page to find a movie they had. They do seem to still have the older shows but one has to wonder for how long. Thinking it might be better to take that Netflix money and put it towards buying shows. Seems to be where the studios are driving us anyway. Though with the prices these days that money will not go far. I remember how VHS tape used to be as high as $100 for new movies. Only rental stores bought them. Then they got the idea to sell them under $25 and they flew off the shelves and prices fell even further. Studios seemed to support streaming till it all but killed DVD rentals and now the studios seem to be trying to starve out streaming and DVD prices have been steadily rising. Funny how they never seem to learn from history.

[Update: 6/26/2017] Still seeing the trend to have own sites instead of throwing in with likes of Hulu. Though it seems like the networks are not quite as sure about it. Oddly CBS has reversed course and shot to the other end of the spectrum, keeping almost all their shows to themselves AND expecting you to pay monthly to be able watch the last 5 WITH COMMERCIALS!