Netflix streaming quality is dire..

[Shuvi McTupya]

Does anyone have any suggestions how to improve my netflix experience?

I dont have the best broadband in the world, but what I have is enough to stream 4k content flawlessly from Youtube.

So how come netflix examines my connection and decides to send me stuff in ste quality?

[DoubleSix]

Bit rate.

It’s not true 4k.

[Shuvi McTupya]

Ok, but You tube looks fantastic and netflix looks ste. it is so bad that sometimes i cant even see peoples lips moving when they talk..


And yes i do have the 'ULTRA HD' package.

[thetapeworm]

Do you have your "Data Usage" settings set to "High"?

Account > Profile > Playback Settings > Data Usage > High

I think you can set this on a per profile basis and it might default to "Auto".

[Shuvi McTupya]

I didnt even know you could adjust that, but yes it is set to high.

Thanks though

And i am using the same device to stream from both services.

[Evolved]

Wired or WiFi connection?

[Shuvi McTupya]

WI-FI

I am actually moving house in a few days and the broadband will be a lot better in the new place so i guess i will wait and see if that fixes it!

I would understand it more if Youtube also defaulted to a crap resolution, or if i couldn't do online gaming but everything works just fine apart from Netflix.

[Fas1975]

Netflix reduced streaming quality to reduce overhead on the networks as people were home during lockdown and hammering streaming services:

https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/20/netflix-reduce-stre...

this was back in March. I never saw any article to say that this was over so may still be in place?

[Shuvi McTupya]

Fas1975 said:

Netflix reduced streaming quality to reduce overhead on the networks as people were home during lockdown and hammering streaming services:

https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/20/netflix-reduce-stre...

this was back in March. I never saw any article to say that this was over so may still be in place?

Bloody hell, i am only watching on a 28" monitor, it would be totally unwatchable on a proper screen. I can't believe they have intentionally reduced it to the quality i am getting.

And I dont remember them telling me the service i am paying for (ultra HD) is not currently available..that is cheeky.

[toasty]

Netflix quality is fine here although I'm only running 1080i on an old plasma.

[thetapeworm]

toasty said:

Netflix quality is fine here although I'm only running 1080i on an old plasma.

Likewise (I mean who doesn't want to heat their house and watch TV at the same time right?) - Netflix did knock quality down a little bit it's not to the point you describe.

Oddly I had the opposite to the OP not that long ago when I was stuck on 4G Internet, Netflix was fine but YouTube struggled with anything more than 240p. Presumably it's more of a bandwidth issue that Netflix is being sensitive to rather than outright speed.

Is it always like this or just at certain (peak) times of the day?

[Shuvi McTupya]

thetapeworm said:

Is it always like this or just at certain (peak) times of the day?

Not sure, but it is just as bad now as it was last night. I just scanned through a few different shows and movies and it is the same no matter what the content is.

[Shuvi McTupya]

Ok, it is something to do with my set up that it doesn't like . On the 50" TV (1080p) downstairs it is much better and that is while i am streaming upstairs as well.

But i can download a few hundred MB's in less than a minute, and watch '4K' Youtube stuff!

I am not going to worry about it for now as i am moving.

[Lucas Ayde]

Regular HD Netflix looks fine to me ... Not quite as good as well mastered Bluray but definitely much better than DVD.

I did read that they were cutting down on bitrates 'because Coronavirus' but haven't noticed a degradation on the normal HD feed - maybe they really screwed 4k bitrates hard?

[wolfracesonic]

Shuvi McTupya said:

Ok, but You tube looks fantastic and netflix looks ste. it is so bad that sometimes i cant even see peoples lips moving when they talk..


And yes i do have the 'ULTRA HD' package.

Have you been watching a lot of ventriloquists? You’re not supposed to be able to see their lips move;)

[W201_190e]

Lucas Ayde said:

Regular HD Netflix looks fine to me ... Not quite as good as well mastered Bluray but definitely much better than DVD.

I did read that they were cutting down on bitrates 'because Coronavirus' but haven't noticed a degradation on the normal HD feed - maybe they really screwed 4k bitrates hard?

Regular Netflix has resumed now, it wasn't reduced in quality very long.

That being said I often have speeds of 600-700 Mbps, and even so Netflix will sometimes look st.

[Shuvi McTupya]

W201_190e said:

That being said I often have speeds of 600-700 Mbps, and even so Netflix will sometimes look st.

RIGHT??

So what the hell is the reason?

I bunged on netflix an hour ago and it was better, but not great.

[W201_190e]

Shuvi McTupya said:

W201_190e said:

That being said I often have speeds of 600-700 Mbps, and even so Netflix will sometimes look st.

RIGHT??

So what the hell is the reason?

I bunged on netflix an hour ago and it was better, but not great.

Been watching S2 of F1 Drive To Survive and it was fine, it was patchy last week though. I simply cannot watch it if it isn't clear, puts me right off.

[CooperS]

I always find it depends on the device your watching it on. For whatever reason my phone, Apple TV or sky doesn't have s problem put it on my 2 year oled lg then it can buffer a fair bit

[Funk]

Shuvi McTupya said:

W201_190e said:

That being said I often have speeds of 600-700 Mbps, and even so Netflix will sometimes look st.

RIGHT??

So what the hell is the reason?

I bunged on netflix an hour ago and it was better, but not great.

Netflix won't stream 4K on Chrome or Firefox browsers, they artificially cap for DRM reasons:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/barrycollins/2020/07/...

Google Chrome: Up to 720p
Firefox: Up to 720p
Opera: Up to 720p
Safari: Up to 1080p (on Macs running OS X 10.10.3 or greater)
Microsoft Edge: Up to 4K (requires HDCP 2.2-compliant connection to a 4K display, with at least Intel’s 7th-gen Core CPU, plus the latest version of Windows)
Internet Explorer: Up to 1080p

Try it in Edge and see how it looks.

Edited by Funk on Tuesday 28th July 01:23