Hopper/Netflix suggestions, bugs, etc

[Hall]

The Hopper and the TV are 12" apart. The Roku is upstairs in our bedroom, so it is much, much further away. Our router is in the basement making the Roku two floors away.

 

[ChetK]

It is simple. Go to the daily schedule and unskip the timer that says skipped due to PTAT.

When I go to the Daily Schedule, my new timer doesn't even show up. And, yes, I do have "Show All" and "Show Skipped" selected on the Daily Schedule screen.

 

[VegasVoomer]

Does anyone see the spinning circle with a % counter ? It's almost like an indicator that it's buffering but it will frequently just get hung up (25% seems to be a common point for me). I am hard-pressed to say that I have ever seen a buffering problem with my TV's Netflix app or the Netflix app on my Roku.

I get that % counter each time I start to watch a program. It goes to 100% after about 10 seconds and the program starts. That's seems normal to me. I've never had it hang up before 100%.

 

[Tony S]

The Hopper and the TV are 12" apart. The Roku is upstairs in our bedroom, so it is much, much further away. Our router is in the basement making the Roku two floors away.

Signal strength may not be your problem, but I would not rule it out based solely on what you wrote. I know it doesn't seem logical, but I have found that sometimes only moving the receiving device a few inches in the right direction will improve the signal a lot.

 

[king3pj]

Signal strength may not be your problem, but I would not rule it out based solely on what you wrote. I know it doesn't seem logical, but I have found that sometimes only moving the receiving device a few inches in the right direction will improve the signal a lot.

Not only that but some devices just pick up a WiFi signal better than others.

At my family's lake cabin we don't have internet but one of the few people who live in the neighborhood full time gave us their WiFi password. My Toshiba laptop and my sister's MacBook are both able to hold a steady connection just about anywhere in the cabin. My brother in law's HP laptop and all of our iPhones and iPads don't even list this same WiFi network as an option to try to connect to. These will connect outside on the porch but as soon as you go inside the signal always drops. The neighbor's router and all of these devices have wireless N radios. Some devices just do a better job with a weak WiFi signal than others.

That being said, I agree that it might not be a signal problem. Netflix on the Hopper is brand new while Roku has been doing it for years. I'm sure there are a few things that still need to be ironed out.

 

[Hall]

I get that % counter each time I start to watch a program. It goes to 100% after about 10 seconds and the program starts. That's seems normal to me. I've never had it hang up before 100%.

I'm not even considering that counter at start-up - I'd consider it "normal". I'm referring to it popping up at random times, in the middle of shows, etc. In fact, sometimes it gets stuck and I have to cancel/back to the menus and effectively restart/resume.

 

[lazydogmot]

The percent counter only lasts a couple of seconds (5 tops) at the beginning of a program on both of our HWS. Also, we have never seen it in the middle of a program (never has stopped to buffer). Just curious, what is your internet speed?

 

[Hall]

Just curious, what is your internet speed?

We pay for 15Mb/s from Time Warner. I can confirm that with torrents, for example, I have maintained 12Mb/s downloads pretty routinely, so I'm confident it is not the issue. As I mentioned previously, with my smart TV's Netflix app or the Netflix app on the Roku, I do not have buffering issues. All of those devices are using WiFi.

 

[dke]

Does anyone see the spinning circle with a % counter ? It's almost like an indicator that it's buffering but it will frequently just get hung up (25% seems to be a common point for me). I am hard-pressed to say that I have ever seen a buffering problem with my TV's Netflix app or the Netflix app on my Roku.

Yes I get that pretty much every time I watch something on Netflix on the hopper. I've pretty much stopped trying to use the app. I just use my roku which rarely has streaming problems. I have 50mbps down & 6mbps up and the hopper is connected wired. If you look at the network details in the app it's generally the Netflix app loses connection not the hopper.

Dan

 

[Hall]

If you're seeing it on a wired connection with internet service that fast, sure sounds like the app needs fine-tuning for that part.

 

[lazydogmot]

We have 50 MB down and a wireless connection to one HWS and only wait a couple seconds for programs to start.

 

[fishman316]

24 mb down with wired connection to one hopper. Works fine on both hoppers. We have watched all 23 episodes of hemlock grove with no issues at all. Knock on wood

 

[JM42]

Same here. Streams start faster on my Hopper and handle "trick play" better than any other Netflix client I have, although admittedly the others are a generation or so behind.

 

[Hall]

I've no issues about the time it takes to *start*. Any slowness there - can't say there is any either - I consider normal.