Amazon Prime Video Performance Poor

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SiliconAudio

97 posts

Master Geek

#235922 9-May-2018 18:47

Hey folks,

First let me say that I don't know if this is 2degrees specific, but I have googled and can find nothing, so came here to ask.

I have 2degrees fibre with speed-boost and am generally very happy with its performance. I have great results with Netflix, Google, Fanpass, etc. But I get either buffering or drop down to low resolution with Prime video most times I try to watch Prime video. Is this something in the way Amazon routes its traffic into NZ, or is there something specific that makes this worse on 2degrees?

Anyone have any experience of this problem?

Cheers,
Bill.

freitasm

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Geekzone

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#2012959 9-May-2018 20:56

Did this start recently? I use Amazon Prime and haven't seen any problem...

Talkiet

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#2012982 9-May-2018 21:44

Yes I've seen this before - when I saw it and troubleshot it with the Amazon Cloudfront engineers there was a crazy upstream issue that was serving us out of (somewhere in the middle of Europe). This, combined with the sydney node not expecting this, and not being configured to deal with it, meant any cache miss was excruciatingly slow. At some point it randomly fixed itself for us, but I never got an authoritative answer on whether they made a deliberate fix.

TL;DR - unlikely to be your ISP IMO

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

SiliconAudio

97 posts

Master Geek

#2013012 9-May-2018 22:56

freitasm:

Did this start recently? I use Amazon Prime and haven't seen any problem...

Well, compared to other streaming sites, it's never been great for me (often drops down to low res), but yes, this evening was much worse than usual with a lot of buffering.

EDIT: By the way, who is your ISP?

SiliconAudio

97 posts

Master Geek

#2013014 9-May-2018 23:01

Talkiet:

TL;DR - unlikely to be your ISP IMO

Cheers - N

I was wondering if maybe some ISPs serve locally cached content and some don't, or if it has something to do with their back-haul?

freitasm

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#2013016 9-May-2018 23:05

I am with 2degrees and don't have this problem.

elpenguino

3421 posts

Uber Geek

#2013017 9-May-2018 23:11

I'm with orcon and find that amazon video is less reliable and smooth compared to netflix and YT.

Putting the volume up and down will make the sound stutter for a few seconds.

It does generally come right and is watchable though.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

SiliconAudio

97 posts

Master Geek

#2013020 9-May-2018 23:17

freitasm: I am with 2degrees and don't have this problem.

Do you watch anything in 4K at all? I find that almost impossible with Prime, but have no problems with any other 4K streams, such as Netflix.

But thanks for the info, at least I know it's unlikely to be the ISP.

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freitasm

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#2013021 9-May-2018 23:19

No but that's because I am using the Fire TV 1st generation. No problem with 1080p though.

hio77

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#2013023 9-May-2018 23:24

SiliconAudio:

freitasm: I am with 2degrees and don't have this problem.

Do you watch anything in 4K at all? I find that almost impossible with Prime, but have no problems with any other 4K streams, such as Netflix.

But thanks for the info, at least I know it's unlikely to be the ISP.

If it's as N describes above, and your also getting content served from europe. it will certainly be difficult to substain a 4K stream.

I'm unaware of amazon having their own cache appliances unlike google, netflix etc.

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Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

SiliconAudio

97 posts

Master Geek

#2013027 9-May-2018 23:35

hio77:

I'm unaware of amazon having their own cache appliances unlike google, netflix etc.

Right, that was my suspicion.