Hi guys having a new Panasonic TV (32" 3D/HD 'Smart TV') I signed up to Netflix. My connection speed is 3MB/s. I was able to play all Netflix films without issue - I also have no issues watching iPlayer and YouTube - though since the YT Viera software update, I can't watch HD videos on YT any more - whether that's down to buffering or not, I don't know, as I don't know how much of a cache the TV has. HD vids play just fine on my PCs and Netbooks, so I'm guessing it's the TV's cache that is the limiting factor. We ran out of decent films to watch on Netflix (and it started playing up in Viera) so we switched to Lovefilm Instant (as there is nowt else on Viera film-wise - be warned! they don't use Lovefilm and so far don't intend to) - the idea being to receive the films through the PC, and plug the pooter into the TV via the VGA cable. However, since Lovefilm has changed to Silverlight as their streaming platform, basically, it sux. Regardless of settings in Silverlight, all the films stutter like mad, regardless of whether they are HD or not. So we had to ditch Lovefilm and now it's back to our "watched them a million times" DVD collection. The point of this overlong (sorry) post is that I have just found out we are getting FTTC by the end of the year (YAAAAAYYYY!!!!), although knowing BT it probably will be next year - and I'm wondering if this will make a difference to our Lovefilm/Silverlight reception, or if the stuttering frames are entirely down to the fact that Silverlight, which I have never liked, is just rubbish? Chars
Should make a big difference 3mb/s is quite low and that probably varies peak time, etc. Sky are doing quite a good fibre 'unlimited' deal round here, £10 p/m for 6 months and then £20 p/m for 12 month contract. This area went fttc only recently.
Having used both LoveFilm and Netflix I have to say that Netflix has the better streaming system. On my Wii Lovefilm looks terrible (but the kids don't seem to mind) HOWEVER Netflix looks almost HD in it's quality (even though I know it's not possible). The difference between them is night and day. Also Lovefilm buffers CONSTANTLY. Thats with a solid 23meg connection too.
+1 with a 50 Mbps fibre connection. well 70 Mbps fibre limited by Powerline adaptors. But then, I can stream Blueray quality high bitrate video from my NAS, so it can't be due to my network configuration.
its not the connection its silverlight. Ive got this issue as well. It drops frames making it appear jerky. this ONLY occurs on the PC using silverlight. I have to use my PS3 for lovefilm which is perfect. PC same film jerks constantly. Ive tried to alter the silverlight settings but the sad fact is its a known issue that has been around a long time and doesnt seem like its getting fixed since silverlight isnt really updated anymore.
Microsoft are quietly dropping Silverlight aren't they? If I were LoveFilm I'd start looking at decoupling from that technology asap EDIT: after a little bit of research, it seems Silverlight will be around for a while yet. Even so, with the new video features in HTML5, all the online streaming companies should be looking at moving away from proprietary technology, as indeed Netflix are: http://techblog.netflix.com/2013/04/html5-video-at-netflix.html
Thanks for the comments and opinions, guys - at least I know not to bother with them when we get FTTC. When you cancel your sub you get the opportunity to make any remarks on the service - I said that as long as they were using Silverlight, I wouldn't be back. I mentioned the fact that YT and Netflix run flawlessly on my TV. I also told them that they should get on to Panasonic's Viera system - that would bring them hundreds, if not thousands more subscribers. Makes you wonder if they ever bother checking the general internet to see what people want (like using Google to find what people are saying).
