Frequent quality drops / video pauses recently?

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Naithin

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#196256 24-May-2016 20:05

Hi guys,

Just wondering if anyone having any issues with LB video pausing and dropping in quality pretty frequently?

For context, this is on a Fibre 100/20 connection running from a Win PC directly connected by Ethernet. Speedtest shows 103mbit/s down / 19.8mbps up when I'm trying to watch.

It seems the main issue is an aggressive desire not to buffer more than a few seconds for some reason. Even if I pause it for a while just won't load ahead far at all.

Some good shows turning up recently, but experience like this is rendering it incredibly frustrating to try use.

Take care,

-Naithin,.

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#1558930 24-May-2016 20:28

what shows are you having issues on

Naithin

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#1558955 24-May-2016 21:02

Preacher last night, playing catch up on S2 Better Call Saul tonight.

Take care,

-Naithin,.

Jase2985

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#1558960 24-May-2016 21:16

just watched 10 mins of EP2 S02 better call saul and had no issues

Spark VDSL 70/30

myfullflavour

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#1558968 24-May-2016 21:35

My wife has been experiencing this recently on the iPad app.

Worth noting both Lightbox & Neon load from Akamai, yet we're not experiencing any problems with Neon.

Naithin

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#1559061 25-May-2016 04:11

Interesting. While Netflix has its own caches, it's worth noting I can stream solid HD from there. Likewise with other streaming sources, e.g., Crunchyroll (Anime service) - just checked and this service does use Akamai caches.

Take care,

-Naithin,.

Fred99

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#1559793 26-May-2016 08:45

Same issue here with Lightbox on Tuesday night, after 8pm.

It seemed okay last night - but not perfect, occasional very brief freezing.

Presumably not:

a browser issue - was the same on Chrome or IE11
a bandwidth issue at my end, steady VDSL @ 45/9 reported by ookla, HD streaming from Netflix no problem at all.

We most certainly did experience problems with Neon on Monday night - trying to stream GoT. Couldn't get it to load at all, so gave up trying to get what I'd paid for legally, and torrented the episode.

Haven't had an issue with streaming from Neon, Lightbox, or Netflix for a long time - until the past few days.

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Naithin

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#1560319 26-May-2016 22:16

Issue seems more intermittent for me tonight - Craig from LB has been helpin me out via PM (A+ service) - was testing for him again in Chrome and was just as problematic as ever.

Went out to test on Samsung SmartTV where it was entirely fine - came back to PC again... now also working OK.

Still only maintaining a 5-7 sec buffer, but it is maintaining it at least.

I'll take it if it keeps up tho!

Take care,

-Naithin,.

Fred99

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#1560431 27-May-2016 08:31

It was working ok for us last night. Very occasionally it'd freeze for a fraction of a second. When it does that, there's no other sign of bandwidth issues, blocky artifacts, loss of definition etc.

aschteev

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#1561427 28-May-2016 21:27

I came on here to see if anyone else was having issues, and it looks like I'm not the only one having issues.

Watching Suits season 5 and experiencing intermittent buffering for a few seconds at a time, lasting for a few minutes.

We have no issues with streaming Netflix.

Case: OverclockersNZ Cobra Blue ATX CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 2.40Ghz Motherboard: ASUS StrikerExtreme RAM: 2x 2x1GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 (4GB total) Video: Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH Hard Drives: 4x Seagate 320GB SATAII

Naithin

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#1561469 29-May-2016 01:03

For me, it's beginning to seem time of day related. Peak-ish hours pretty poor experience, come 10pm or later then runs smoothly.

However, it doesn't appear to be related to a general bandwidth issue at peak, as can still stream HD Netflix and obtain full rate speedtests etc.

Still working through providing what details I can with LB support, so will see what comes of it. :)

Fred: Your one sounds more like it could a glitch out on the PC or browser side, CPU utilisation high whilst watching?

Take care,

-Naithin,.

jbm

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#1600614 29-Jul-2016 10:45

Are users still having this issue with Lightbox stuttering? I certainly am, on a Spark 100/20 fibre plan, wired Ethernet to PC, using either IE or Chrome. Video (over last few days it's been Seinfeld, prior to that Vikings) pauses frequently, sometimes for only a second or so, but mostly for several seconds. As with other users my other streaming services aren't affected, either on that PC or on our Roku. I don't think it's the PC hardware (i5 4700K, GTX970) but it could be some settings somewhere.

Is Spark throttling the stream somehow? That would seem surprising given it's their service (isn't it?). I can't really compare our primetime viewing experience to other times, as we're not usually watching at other times, but ?

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Junta

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#1602043 1-Aug-2016 09:02

Hi @jbm

Spark don't shape or throttle, I don't think (Spark post here: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=39&topicid=171109)

In terms of your stuttering/buffering issues, that sounds strange given your setup!

If you want to PM me the email address you use to login to Lightbox, we can do a bit of digging to see if there are any patterns/things to note?

jbm

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#1609827 10-Aug-2016 20:26

I am still seeing pausing with Chrome, and now Firefox (which was a solution) and IE hang on the "Loading video" screen after selecting the video. Both other browsers have been re-installed.

Is anyone else having continued issues?

illicit

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#1609918 11-Aug-2016 08:36

Yes, issues here also.

Runs fine on my phone, once playing to google cast though = frequent pausing and quality drops

Fibre 100/30 with Ubiquity UniFi WiFi APs

Junta

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#1610155 11-Aug-2016 15:06

Hi all,

We recently identified a network issue which may have caused the recent buffering issues you have been experiencing. This issue was resolved as of 6pm on Tuesday 9 August 2016.

If you continue to experience significant buffering delays after this time, then please let us know so we can investigate further: drop me a PM with your details (Lightbox login, date/time you were watching, what you were watching).

Note: peak time Internet traffic can also cause this, so worth bearing in mind.

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