Bit of advice on buffering ?

[Evans Electric]

We're enjoying the new Smart arse TV  but a slight problem has started .        Been watching  various Iplayers  but lately BBC iPlayer  has started buffering  ,   just watched a one hour episode  , no problem ,  5 secs  the next one comes up  and starts buffering & doesn't stop .    Couple of seconds of programme then buffer .  

What would it do that ?     I'm thinking the Wi-fi signal  is weak  but everything  else seems to work OK  .   Is it  a BBC  problem ?     Looking at the signal strength on my Kindle ,  2 blips out of 3 .

TV is in the lounge  while the BT Hub is upstairs in office.   

I was thinking of fitting  a socket with Wi-fi boost   , perhaps ?  

 

[Badger]

Put a cable from TV to router and see if that stops it as WiFi to the device may be dropping out momentarily 

 

[Murdoch]

^^ agree

take a look back at my comment about Devolo powerline adaptors in this thread:

 

[Geoff1946]

I connected mine by cable which seemed to improve performance. It rarely drops out now.

 

[ProDave]

Was the "good" program in SD and the one that buffers in HD?

We can only reliably stream SD programs due to our slow broadband speed.

 

[Evans Electric]

Was the "good" program in SD and the one that buffers in HD?

I'd say it was the same ,   that series about confidence tricksters  ,  can't think of the title  .   

The Missus just said she went back to it , came out of Iplayer ,  back in,  and it was OK .     Sounds like it re-boots .   

 

[Sharpend]

Sometimes you may need to change the channel on the WiFi router, to one which has less traffic on it. I was advised of this on my sky BB when we had issues, you can usually get into the router via your computer on internet. 
alternative is to reboot the router by switching it off for 30seconds. 

 

[binky]

sometimes it helps to pause a programme for 30 seconds, or a little longer, as this allows the download to catch up. Might be worth seeing if your router has  5ghz signal option. Most work at 2.4gHz which has better range, but slower speeds. 

 

[Evans Electric]

sometimes it helps to pause a programme for 30 seconds, or a little longer, as this allows the download to catch up.

I'll bear that in mind  Binky   thanks. 

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

The big problem with any buffering issues is that there are numerous possible causes..

and it can be damn near impossible to know exactly which one is causing the current problem..

Or it may be a mixture of multiple problems...

If you keep in mind what is normally happening..

i.e. TV downloads a block of data so it can start displaying the program..

While the first bit is playing it then try's to download the next block of data..

If you turned off your router part way through a program it would carry on playing until it reached the end of the current block of data..

Then it will start buffering whilst waiting for the next block of data to arrive..

OR..

If some of the signal is distorted due to weak signal or interference the receiver will request re-transmission of corrupted data and the TV will buffer while waiting the corrected data..

So...

If the signal quality from your router to your TV is reduced, or subject to interference then buffering problems can arise..

If the server where your TV program is being transmitted from has an excessive amount of traffic it will be slower at outputting the program and buffering delays can arise.

bit like waiting for a web-page to download on a slow internet connection.. or trying to log onto a high-demand website!

If some parts of the network between your router and the server where your program is coming from have a high level of traffic then data speeds can reduce..

Or if there are engineering works going on on parts of the network, delays and speeds can be affected..

Our kids bought an Amazon Fire Stick for us a few years ago..

(so they could watch better TV than the bog-standard FreeView stuff!!)

Router in the hall by the front door.. cant be more than 10m away from the TV..

But if the whole family were in with all their phones & i-pads doing wireless stuff whilst also trying to watch a program via the Fire Stick wireless connection,

Buffering could be a problem..  Basically wireless congestion at the router!

Since then I modified our set-up with an old ADSL modem set up as a wireless bridge, sitting in the cabinet below the TV..

hard-wired back to the router VIA cat5..

Wireless Bridge has separate password that only the TV uses..

So all phone I-pads etc. connect via wireless to the Virgin-Media cable router..

But the TV has its own private wireless connection which is then hard-wired back to the Virgin router..

I don't recall any buffering problems since modifying so the TV has its own dedicated wi-fi channel before going hardwired via the router to the big-wide interweb!

Guinness