Sony Blu-Ray Players + Netflix = Severe Stuttering?

[TheLaughingMann]

I don't know if anyone can vouch for this. But I have Verizon FiOS with a BDP-S5500 that is about 2+ months old (region-free formatted by 220-Electronics). And at times, especially if the player's left sitting on or idle after a while, it seems to encounter severe lag on Netflix. It doesn't happen with Vudu. It doesn't happen with Amazon Instant Video. It doesn't happen with regular Blu's or DVDs. It doesn't happen with reading local media on a USB drive. It gets to the point where the first notice of it happening is where subtitles/CC get delayed, then it begins stuttering. To the point that it freezes at times. In order to rectify it, I have to do a hard shutoff of the player. I've turned off Quick Start in case keeping the player cached for instant boot could be keeping data behind that's lagging the player. My internet speed is not an issue either (I do HD on Amazon and even HDX on Vudu, and everything looks great). Yet Netflix is the only app that exhibits this issue. Anyone have thoughts or fixes on it?

[Smaugone]

Have the same problem, are your solutions working?

[alatheous]

I have had problems with this unit using Vudu. I have not been impressed with this unit. I cannot commit on the Netflix issues since I do not use the unit for anything but blu-ray playback now. I have six different Sony models at my house, and this unit has been the least dependable of all of my units. My other Sony players stream Vudu and Netflix fine. I have not found any solutions that work for the 5500. My solution was to buy a Roku 3 and Apple TV 4 to take care of my streaming needs on my main home setup.

[Smaugone]

Vudu is trouble free for me, and the Netflix problem is only once in a while.

[TheLaughingMann]

Originally Posted by Smaugone

Have the same problem, are your solutions working?

Nope. But I did find something that may be part of the cause:

I tried this on Netflix during the day, and usually, I can marathon a whole season without issue. Then I start doing other stuff like going to other shows, adding them or doing stuff...and I realize that the moment I jump onto a show or movie, they start queueing it up in the background.

This is a feature I dislike in Netflix. Cause the moment you go into a page for a movie or a show, after a couple of seconds, no matter what you do, it starts trying to play it.

Half of my time when it freezes up, I leave Quick Start off and have to do a power down, let it right itself with a reboot and off, and then turn it back on.

And the problem is more apparent when late at night. I did some digging, and I found out that Verizon is throttling Netflix sometimes, according to articles in 2014. Comcast stepped up and fixed it, but Verizon doesn't seem to have officially acknowledged they fixed it on their end.

Originally Posted by alatheous

I have had problems with this unit using Vudu. I have not been impressed with this unit. I cannot commit on the Netflix issues since I do not use the unit for anything but blu-ray playback now. I have six different Sony models at my house, and this unit has been the least dependable of all of my units. My other Sony players stream Vudu and Netflix fine. I have not found any solutions that work for the 5500. My solution was to buy a Roku 3 and Apple TV 4 to take care of my streaming needs on my main home setup.

I've used Amazon Instant Video and Vudu and Youtube on this, with Blu-Ray playback. Blu-Ray playback is good. Amazon is good (it starts out fuzzy but the quality improves as the video file downloads, buffers, and sharpens the video). Vudu hasn't given me any problems except for the glitch someone detailed earlier in another thread. That problem was any video file that exceeds an hour and a half of time can disconnect you and you have to back in and play the video from where it paused. I think it's likely an activity sensor.

But Netflix has been the one offender for stability. And I think it's more network traffic than the player...but the player itself's not without concern.

Originally Posted by Smaugone

Vudu is trouble free for me, and the Netflix problem is only once in a while.

Netflix's the only one that gave me problems. From what I see, sometimes if I do too much in the app at once, or I try to jump to another show to watch it, it can cause a data interrupt and cause the video to get real stuttery to the point of freezing the whole player.

I had thought the S5500 would have been a faster, more stable player...but without others to test Netflix on (both the players at home are S5500s), it just tells me that if it gets too late at night and I try to fire up Netflix, can expect it to just have problems.

Update: Looks like there's a series of 2016 articles now where Netflix admits they've been throttling video speeds on AT&T and Verizon for the past 5 years. They did it more for their mobile subscribers and their limited data plans, though...so I can't verify if they are doing it just for Netflix apps on phones or for Netflix period.

[SixSpeedSamurai]

I have a 6500 and a 3500 with no issues. I don't use the 6500 for streaming, but my kids use the heck out of the 3500 for Netflux and Hulu Plus. No issues.

[TheLaughingMann]

Here's something I also observed...the problem severely persists at night. I'm EST, so it tends to kick in around 11PM to 12AM local time. There's a big reduction in the chances of it happening during the day and early evening. I'm also on Verizon FiOS, too. Looks like the web is saying that Verizon has some undeclared reason why their net slows down at night. Peak hours? Unlikely. This happened about every night as I can tell. It happens occasionally during the day and evening, but a lot more frequently at night. Amazon and Vudu seem to suffer less instances of it...but HDX on Vudu can also slow down or stall...

So that does seem to be a likely cause. I think after all this testing, it's just Verizon being Verizon.

[SixSpeedSamurai]

I would also try hardsetting your DNS in your router to googles or OpenDNS and see if it's any better. I have Charter and I use google for DNS, way better.

[TheLaughingMann]

Originally Posted by SixSpeedSamurai

I would also try hardsetting your DNS in your router to googles or OpenDNS and see if it's any better. I have Charter and I use google for DNS, way better.

Tried that. Doesn't seem to be any different. DNS does definitely help in most cases, but I think either Netflix or Verizon's being partial with the late night traffic.

i have the same problem....what to do?

[ccs27buzz92]

For those streaming Netflix on Sony Blurays, try pressing options button while Netflix is streaming...even if it has stalled. On mine there was a submenu for noise settings which was set to "2". Settings range from "off" to "3". I tried several settings and found that turning this off bumped my bandwidth from 1 mbps to 17 mbps!

[Red's got the Blu's]

I recently bought a Region free 5500 and found it totally unable to stream Netflix, honestly even navigating the menu on Netflix was difficult. No problem streaming from any other providers. I returned it and ordered another one figuring I just got a glitchy unit. The second unit I received was a 6500 even though I ordered the 5500 again. I've only had it a few days but so far everything seems to be working perfectly with it.

[Apostate]

It's most likely Sony network capacity issue. I bet you if you try Netflix via Roku or Amazon Fire, you wouldn't have any issues.

[Apostate]

Originally Posted by TheLaughingMann

...but I think either Netflix or Verizon's being partial with the late night traffic.

There is more than Netflix and Verizon involved. You are overlooking Sony's role in the interconnected networks (or internet).

I am grossly simplifying but when you try to view Netflix via Sony player, your request goes to your local ISP (e.g. Verizon) which will send it to Sony "server" which in turn will send to Netflix. If any of the bandwidth of any of the connections between these servers are insufficient, you'll experience issues.

Let's say Sony didn't purchase enough capacity in your area, then you'll have issues. Even if Sony did purchase enough capacity but dedicates most of the bandwidth to gaming and not enough for online streaming like Netflix, you'll have issues.

Or you may simply just have a lemon.

[Red's got the Blu's]

Originally Posted by Apostate

There is more than Netflix and Verizon involved. You are overlooking Sony's role in the interconnected networks (or internet).

I am grossly simplifying but when you try to view Netflix via Sony player, your request goes to your local ISP (e.g. Verizon) which will send it to Sony "server" which in turn will send to Netflix. If any of the bandwidth of any of the connections between these servers are insufficient, you'll experience issues.

Let's say Sony didn't purchase enough capacity in your area, then you'll have issues. Even if Sony did purchase enough capacity but dedicates most of the bandwidth to gaming and not enough for online streaming like Netflix, you'll have issues.

Or you may simply just have a lemon.

I'd have to say lemon as I have used my PS3 without any issues for years.

Also while my initial testing of my new 6500 had no issues since then I have had the same issues. For now I'm just using the PS3 when I want to stream I'll probably just buy a cheap roku stick for my streaming use, I bought the 5500 to have a region free 3D player as long as it does that I can use other devices for Netflix.

[Apostate]

Sony knows where and what devices the request is coming from. Since you have had problems with both 6500 and 5500 players and not PS3, it sounds like Sony devoted most of the bandwidth in your area to gaming systems and not enough bandwidth to its blu ray players. Probability of you getting two different individual units of different models that are lemons is pretty remote. I have 6500, 580, and 570 players and have had no issues with any of them regarding streaming Netflix. But then again, I'm in the East Coast.