Most definitely. I use the headphone jack every day for the work I do. :) Thanks though.DGK
OK, so when you've connected your laptop to your TV using the HDMI cable and have the Netflix movie streaming, have you confirmed that the movie's audio can be heard using the laptop's headphone jack? If yes it works, then the solution to your problem is most likely that the TV's audio input port that you're using has not been mapped to the TV's HDMI port that you're using for this purpose...via the TV's set up menu.

Can't get Netflix up on my Tivo. Just started to not work tonight. Internet is up and the Tivo connects to Tivo server. Systemwide? or my problem?

Can't get Netflix up on my Tivo. Just started to not work tonight. Internet is up and the Tivo connects to Tivo server. Systemwide? or my problem?

Working fine on my home connection playing on my laptop.

been using the roku a little while now. Notice that HD stream is nearly impossible to get even though I have a 20mb connection. Seems like the weak point is the netflix server itself. they just don't have the bandwidth to provide constant 3mb. I forced the roku to for the hd bandwidth but would buffer.

Its your ISP.... netflix almost always gives me hd feeds and I have 8mbit. Its far more likely your isp has a horrible connection to san jose. Run a speedtest to san jose and see what your speed in there.

been using the roku a little while now. Notice that HD stream is nearly impossible to get even though I have a 20mb connection. Seems like the weak point is the netflix server itself. they just don't have the bandwidth to provide constant 3mb. I forced the roku to for the hd bandwidth but would buffer.
Sounds like your Roku is using a wireless network connection, right? How are you determining that your Roku is getting a 20mbps connection?

Try rebooting your modem. I had this problem a few days ago, all other computers in the home worked, but my Samsung BD-P1600 could not connect to NetFlix. A reboot resolved it.

Sounds like your Roku is using a wireless network connection, right? How are you determining that your Roku is getting a 20mbps connection?


its wired. I can get HD streams in the morning and late at night but can only get 2 balls during evenings.

its wired. I can get HD streams in the morning and late at night but can only get 2 balls during evenings.

Since the latest firmware release (2.3) that included MLB TV, I have also been unable to get HD quality streams from Netflix on my Roku. I have a 10 mbps Internet service, using a wired connection, and I have no difficulty getting Amazon VOD streams in HD. When I run speed checks on my wireless laptop (both on Netflix speedcheck and Speedtest.com to San Jose) I get results in the 7-10 mbps range. Something definitely seems amiss with the latest firmware for some users, which I'm trying to bring to Roku's attention via their forums.

I'm using 10mbps and always have 4 balls. I wonder if it has anything to do with location.

I'm using 10mbps and always have 4 balls. I wonder if it has anything to do with location.
I always get 4 balls and I have a 3mbps connection. What's the maximum number of balls that one can get?
Why has no one posted to this thread for such a long time?

I always get 4 balls and I have a 3mbps connection. What's the maximum number of balls that one can get?
Why has no one posted to this thread for such a long time?
4 is it! I get them pretty much all the time, too, since I went with a wired connection (supposedly 6MB DSL).

I don't know about the balls, but on the 360, there are 4 "bars" and "HD" (so technically, 5 levels of quality)

I have FIOS 20/20 and just ran 19.5MB speed test to San Jose with 83ms ping.

Everything looks like crap at 1920x1080 on my HTPC.

Luckily I'm just using a trial.

1920x1080 on your HTPC is going to be upconvert SD--PC users don't get access to the HD streams. You have to have one of the embedded players: Roku, Xbox 360, TiVo and soon PS3. There are also a list of Blu-ray players that will play it as well as some new models HDTVs. You can see the full list of devices on TiVo's site, here (http://www.netflix.com/NetflixReadyDevicesList?lnkce=nrd-l&trkid=425738&lnkctr=nrd-l-m).

I wonder how many people attempt to watch NetFlix HD streams on their PCs at full stream and just assume that it NetFlix streaming HD is just a gimmick? And it it looks ugly on a PC -- why would somebody go out an buy a specialized device to get the same thing to their TVs. I guess that explains why half of the people on these threads -- including myslef -- seem to be very impressed with NetFlix HD streaming -- and the other half thing we are crazy.

I wonder how many people attempt to watch NetFlix HD streams on their PCs at full stream and just assume that it NetFlix streaming HD is just a gimmick? And it it looks ugly on a PC -- why would somebody go out an buy a specialized device to get the same thing to their TVs. I guess that explains why half of the people on these threads -- including myslef -- seem to be very impressed with NetFlix HD streaming -- and the other half thing we are crazy.

Well, if you don't have a HD device registered, you can't stream HD anyways (or "attempt to watch Netflix HD streams") to the PC, nor even see that it's an option. Plus, I believe the PC gets the crappiest streams (even the SD titles look much worse on my 19" laptop screen than they do on my 50" Plasma using the 360).

I can see where there is confusion (especially to PC viewers), since Netflix does not make this very clear on their site, yet we are all talking about HD streams on such "lowly" devices compared to a PC that they probably think "If a $99 Roku box and a lowly videogame console are streaming HD, then surely my PC is as well"

Well, if you don't have a HD device registered, you can't stream HD anyways (or "attempt to watch Netflix HD streams") to the PC, nor even see that it's an option. Plus, I believe the PC gets the crappiest streams (even the SD titles look much worse on my 19" laptop screen than they do on my 50" Plasma using the 360).

I can see where there is confusion (especially to PC viewers), since Netflix does not make this very clear on their site, yet we are all talking about HD streams on such "lowly" devices compared to a PC that they probably think "If a $99 Roku box and a lowly videogame console are streaming HD, then surely my PC is as well"
Agree. You will only know that everything looks like crap on a PC.

I don't know about the balls, but on the 360, there are 4 "bars" and "HD" (so technically, 5 levels of quality)
I got my 4 balls on a Roku box. Do I understand it correctly that 4 balls is the maximum number of balls that a person can get on a Roku box? I have only a 3mbps nominal (2.5mbps actual) DSL service. I would be surprised to learn that more balls could not be acquired with faster download speeds.

nope. 4 balls is as many balls as you can get.

nope. 4 balls is as many balls as you can get.

guys! I am confused:confused:are we talking abt Bars? or there is some thing called balls that I am not familiar with.:)

lol... "balls" are what you get with a roku box... i'm not sure what you might get with another device...

Does anyone know the actual Bytes Per Second required to stream this sort of content? Or, I should ask, has anyone actually tested to see what bandwidth is actually being used?

Does anyone know the actual Bytes Per Second required to stream this sort of content? Or, I should ask, has anyone actually tested to see what bandwidth is actually being used?The answer to that question is not simple; you can find it in the third paragraph of this (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=17450820#post17450820) post.

Somebody really ought to develop a Netflix Streaming FAQ (he said, too lazy to do it himself :D).

If I get one of these devices I'll have to set up my system here and track the actual data throughput. Of course, it probably uses everything you've got for a while till it buffers, so arriving at a number will probably be hit or miss.

And thanks for the link. It looks like my service will be near the lower limit for the upper tier service.

Best you can do on the PC is 1500kbit/s. I had to force that for mine, kept defaulting to 500kbit. I just got 32Mbit 86ms to CA so its not a speed issue.

I'm new to this Netflix thing and trying to understand how this work. If I sign up for 1 DVD out at a time, can I still stream to Xbox and receive a DVD disc in the mail?

yes. that is the subscription I have.

Thank ccotenj, so meaning while a DVD disc is coming in the mail, I can still stream and watch on the Xbox?
And how do I go about to order a DVD disc?

yes.

see the netflix site for instructions. it is VERY simple. add movie to queue, movie comes in mail. :)

I just signed up for the free trial, picked a couple of dvd movies. Went to "your queue" to see the selection I made. But I don't see any button to select the movie I want mail to me or a sent button.

I just signed up for the free trial, picked a couple of dvd movies. Went to "your queue" to see the selection I made. But I don't see any button to select the movie I want mail to me or a sent button.

The first one in your queue gets sent. If that's not available, then the second movie gets sent. If that's not available, then the third movie gets sent. And so on.

So if you want a specific one, just bump it to the top of your queue.

Once one ships (Tomorrow/Monday, because they don't ship on Sundays because there is no mail service), it will show up as "shipped" or "shipping today" or something like that and you will get an email.

Thanks mproper, so there is no sent button? Just select a DVD and thats it?

I'm new to this Netflix thing and trying to understand how this work. If I sign up for 1 DVD out at a time, can I still stream to Xbox and receive a DVD disc in the mail?

yes. that is the subscription I have.

There are TWO one-at-a-time plans. The $4.99 plan only comes with 2 DVD rentals each month, and only 2 hours of streaming (and only on a PC). The $8.99 plan is also 1-at-a-time, but you can get as many DVDs as you can watch and return, and you get unlimited streaming.

To make matters more confusing, if you add Blu-Ray, then the plans above are $5.99 and $10.99, respectively.

In short, be sure to sign up for the $8.99 (or $10.99 with Blu-Ray) plan that has unlimited streaming and DVD rentals.

mproper
In short, be sure to sign up for the $8.99 plan.

Yes, thats what I selected on the two week free trial.

Thanks mproper, so there is no sent button? Just select a DVD and thats it?

Pretty much. Add DVDs to your queue, and they get sent in the order they are in your queue.

Sometimes you'll see a movie in a "Wait" status (either Very Long Wait, Long Wait, or Short Wait), and more often than not, that means it won't get sent, so the next one in your queue will instead. Basically the first movie in your queue that is available to be sent will be the one mailed.

You can rearrange your queue in any way you want. You can bump a movie to the top of the queue (using the little arrow), you can manually assign a queue position, or you can just drag and drop them to rearrange them.

It's pretty simple.

The only thing I would point out is because of the "wait" statuses, sometimes it's wise to separate movies in a series. For instance, if you want to watch Terminator 1, 2, and 3, you might not want them at postions 1, 2, and 3. Because if Terminator 1 is not available, you will receive Terminator 2 instead, thus you would receive them out of order. It's better to do something like this in your queue:


Terminator 1
another movie
another movie
Terminator 2
another movie
another movie
Terminator 3


Then once Terminator 1 ships, it's safe to bump Terminator 2 to the top of the queue. If Terminator 1 is NOT available, then you'll just get either position #2 or #3 (assuming one of them is available).

The above is more useful for television series than movies (where episodes are spread across multiple discs), but it's an example. Like you wouldn't want to watch Season 1 of Lost Disc 2 before disc 1.

Hope that makes sense. It's not exactly rocket science, but there are some tricks here and there to making it work for you.

Thanks mproper, that clears up alot of my questions and thank you for the tip.

It should be noted that if you push lots of discs through their system (let's say that you had a 3-out-at-a-time plan and you returned one disc every day, they'll start throttling your access to the latest and greatest stuff. They got sued over this once (see this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix#.22Throttling.22)), but they settled it pretty cheaply and thereafter clearly stated their policy in their terms of use (see "Allocation, Delivery and Return of Rented DVDs" on this (http://www.netflix.com/TermsOfUse#how) page).

It should be noted that if you push lots of discs through their system (let's say that you had a 3-out-at-a-time plan and you returned one disc every day, they'll start throttling your access to the latest and greatest stuff. They got sued over this once (see this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix#.22Throttling.22)), but they settled it pretty cheaply and thereafter clearly stated their policy in their terms of use (see "Allocation, Delivery and Return of Rented DVDs" on this (http://www.netflix.com/TermsOfUse#how) page).

I would also point out that streaming is not impacted at all by throttling. I watch a crapload of content via streaming, and maybe send a disc back once every two weeks.

I'll also note that I am a on the 3-at-a-time and nearly always watch the discs the day I get them and return them the next.

Throttling involves a lot more than your disc throughput. I think it has more to do if you are always getting new releases and returning them immediately. I do a mix of new releases and catalog and it's never been a problem.

I'll also note that I am a on the 3-at-a-time and nearly always watch the discs the day I get them and return them the next.

Throttling involves a lot more than your disc throughput. I think it has more to do if you are always getting new releases and returning them immediately. I do a mix of new releases and catalog and it's never been a problem.

I think so too, I send at least one back every day but I don't usually order new releases. They don't care how many older movies you get. I think I read somewhere that they pay the Postal Service a percentage of their gross in a lump sum every month. That way they don't pay for each delivery like they used too.

I would also point out that streaming is not impacted at all by throttling. I watch a crapload of content via streaming, and maybe send a disc back once every two weeks.It has nothing to do with streaming, but they were talking about disc rental.
Throttling involves a lot more than your disc throughput. I think it has more to do if you are always getting new releases and returning them immediately. I do a mix of new releases and catalog and it's never been a problem.What they throttle is not your access to discs, period, but your access to popular new releases (new releases for which there's low or no demand don't count). You'd have to have a queue filled with only the latest and most popular discs for them to actually slow down your receipt of all films. If you go through discs quickly and keep a bunch of new releases at the top of your queue they'll start sending you those new releases slowly, but will still send you the less popular and older stuff beneath the new releases.

If you mix the new and popular evenly with the less popular and older it seems reasonable that they wouldn't throttle at all.

I've recently started streaming Netflix films through my Sony XBR with the Bravia Internet Video Link. It's nice cause it streams in HD, it didn't on the PC. How can you tell which titles are available for streaming in HD?

I've recently started streaming Netflix films through my Sony XBR with the Bravia Internet Video Link. It's nice cause it streams in HD, it didn't on the PC. How can you tell which titles are available for streaming in HD?

When you click on "Watch Instantly" there is a pull down menu for "Genre". One of the choices is HD.

When you click on "Watch Instantly" there is a pull down menu for "Genre". One of the choices is HD.
One thing that is a little irritating about NetFlix is that there is no way to tell if a movie is HD except when going through the HD section which is not incredibly organized.

You can't tell from our web queue or from recommendations whether the titles are HD or SD.

The thing is that they aren't "HD", they're just "possibly HD". If they marked them as streaming in HD, some people would see it as a guarantee that they'd get an HD stream, which Netflix can't give them, no matter how high the speed of their Internet service is rated to be.

The thing is that they aren't "HD", they're just "possibly HD". If they marked them as streaming in HD, some people would see it as a guarantee that they'd get an HD stream, which Netflix can't give them, no matter how high the speed of their Internet service is rated to be.
I'm not sure what you mean. When I access an HD title from my Roku box I always get HD with my 6 mbps U-verse VDSL service.

When do you not get HD?

I'm not sure what you mean. When I access an HD title from my Roku box I always get HD with my 6 mbps U-verse VDSL service.

When do you not get HD?I have 15 Mbps service from my cable provider and I pretty much always get the HD encoding if there is one. But the Internet can be a bit of a crap shoot. The connection between you and any particularly point will travel a path through several switching points, and the speed of that connection cannot be higher than that of the slowest segment of the path.

You may be lucky enough to always get a connection fast enough for them to send an HD stream through, but Netflix can't guarantee that everyone will or how often anyone will. They can't guarantee that the connection speed might not falter, and most of their streaming clients will drop to a lower bit rate stream but can't go back up when conditions improve. If they label a title "HD Stream", people will expect that when they play that stream it will be HD.

I'm not 100% sure but I suspect that they are throttling my BD new releases in the queue as a result of using the PS3 streaming. I'm on the 2 at a time plan and have only requested 6 titles last month and another 5 so far in December. In the past two months, new releases were short wait or "now". All of a sudden, we get the streaming disc and enjoy some titles and now all the new releases are very long wait. Wouldn't that be a b%tch...

I have not had that problem and have been enjoying watching instantly since day 1 on the PC and Day 1 on the 360.

It could be it's Christmas and everyone is home on vacation and have Blu-Ray players under the tree.

I have not had that problem and have been enjoying watching instantly since day 1 on the PC and Day 1 on the 360.

It could be it's Christmas and everyone is home on vacation and have Blu-Ray players under the tree.

That seems more likely. Ultimately Netflix wants to encourage more streaming use. It gets them out of the business of dumping 1/3 of their revenue to the USPS.

I'm not sure if the problem is Netflix or the Samsung 1600.
I can get on the Netflix menu, scroll through my movies, but when I pick one sometimes the screen goes blank but I can still hear the audio.

Anyone else having this problem?

I'll also post this on the 1600 thread.

Netflix says that you need typically 5mbs internet service to get HD quality streams with HD content. My Roku box ordinarily shows 4 balls quality while doing the initial buffering prior to streaming a movie whether the movie is SD or HD, even though I have only 3mbs internet service.
So, is it possible that I am watching the HD movie in SD quality even though the Roku box showed 4 balls quality, or is HD streaming quality assured by the 4 balls quality indication regardless of the capability of one's internet download speed?
I do not notice any downgrading of the quality during playback of the movie. (Quality is consistent throughout playback of the movie.)

I have a Roku and can get 4 balls and SD. Seems to me that HD is more like 5 balls.

I have a Roku and can get 4 balls and SD. Seems to me that HD is more like 5 balls.
Whenever I get 3 balls, the fourth ball is hollow (a circle, not a filled-in disc). Does anyone ever get more than 4 balls on the Roku?

Whenever I get 3 balls, the fourth ball is hollow (a circle, not a filled-in disc). Does anyone ever get more than 4 balls on the Roku?

When I get one, two, or three balls, all four are there, but the ones I'm getting are solid and the balance are hollow. There are not more than 4 balls possible, but you can get four solid balls and not get HD on a stream that's available in HD.

I called HD kind of like the 5th ball because it's a step beyond just getting four solid balls.

Does the Roku change the resolution of your television depending upon whether you're watching SD or HD? On at least some devices, it sends 480p formatted video for SD material and 720p for HD stuff. It does this on TiVo (if the Video Output Format setting is "Native", which I usually don't use) and in the PS3 player. Unlike TiVo, I can't get the PS3 to internally upconvert everything. It insists on sending 480p when it gets it. (The Xbox has no setting in which it won't upconvert what it's sending to a fixed resolution).

In any case, if the Roku changes your television's resolution, you can tell that you're getting HD by asking your television what the current video format is.

In any case, if the Roku changes your television's resolution, you can tell that you're getting HD by asking your television what the current video format is.

My TV (Samsung 50") displays all output from the Roku as 1280 x 720 regardless of whether the source is SD or HD even if the aspect ratio is 4:3. This is when I am getting 4 balls.

Have there been any improvements in the service's bitrate for HD over the last few months?

Have there been any improvements in the service's bitrate for HD over the last few months?

The bitrate hasn't changed but my Roku seems to play HD content without buffering, Roku added a couple of software updates recently that seem to have fixed playback issues. Netflix has also added a bunch of HD content this year, almost all current TV shows are in HD.

As always you will get less buffering by using a wired ethernet connection.

I was actually wondering if the (HD) bitrate had been increased, not throughput. If bitrate had been increased, that would actually tend to exacerbate buffering, not relieve it (but should improve PQ).

The bitrate hasn't changed but my Roku seems to play HD content without buffering, Roku added a couple of software updates recently that seem to have fixed playback issues. Netflix has also added a bunch of HD content this year, almost all current TV shows are in HD.

As always you will get less buffering by using a wired ethernet connection.

Whether I use wireless or wired there is no difference in my setups, at least with 100mbs devices. I use the Dlink DAP1522 wireless Bridges/APs. I run them at 5Ghz N. Using the wired bridges I get Identical performance as using a wired connection on my gigabit network. They have no problem getting the max speed from a 100mbs link.
They work so well I will be removing many devices from my wired network and strictly connecting them to the wireless bridges. Since performace is the same I might as well have less wires.

For instance using the wireless bridges I have no problem getting 90mbs transfer rates between my TiVo Premieres. Which is the same transfer rate I get when they are connected directly to my gigabit network.

Using my VUDU boxes through the wireless bridges are also identical to a wired connection, but the HDX titles are using very little bandwidth when compared to the transfer rates between then TiVo Premiere boxes. Of course Netflix uses even less bandwidth than VUDU. I would have no issue using even wireless G with the Netflix streaming in my setup

I can't imagine a wired connection would do Roku/Netflix any faster than my home wireless setup. Using the wireless I always get 6.5mps or better throughput and Netflix doesn't even need that much.

Probably helped by the fact that the straight-line distance from router to Roku is 28 feet with just two sheetrock walls (both with open doorways in them) in between. And nothing on the wireless network except Roku and two laptops, neither of which is in use when we're watching TV.

Yes if wireless is setup properly, the experience will be identical to a wired connection.

I use three Access points in my condo to give me proper coverage so I can get fast connections anywhere in the condo.

Most wireless routers share bandwidth with other devices so if you are on your laptop it will effect throughput(not bitrate), wired ethernet doesn't share bandwidth so you will always get better service(less buffering). Now if you have a low ISP speed it will lower the "dots" and you will get a lower bitrate stream, if wireless works great for you then more power to you.

Yes, this is an important point. Not only is the bandwidth shared with other devices on your wireless network, but your performance stands to suffer from network collisions associated with neighbors using the same wireless channel, or up to two neighboring channels in each direction.

Has Netflix detailed or added any extra stuff since signing the various 28 day agreements? Did we end up losing out?

Has Netflix detailed or added any extra stuff since signing the various 28 day agreements? Did we end up losing out?

New stuff is constantly coming out.

Some 1490 streaming titles were added the past week (per Feedflicks).

Yes, this is an important point. Not only is the bandwidth shared with other devices on your wireless network, but your performance stands to suffer from network collisions associated with neighbors using the same wireless channel, or up to two neighboring channels in each direction.
Which is another reason why a properly setup wireless Network has multiple access points. I'll probably add a fourth one as I add more devices to the wireless Bridges. (Using a laptop I can go between the APs and it wil automatically connect with the strongest signal). But I use 5GHz N for most things and then I set my router for 2.4GHz N, so if something happens to any of the Access points or there is a very long power outage, the wireless bridges will automatically connect to the router with 2.4Ghz N since I have that and my FiOS ONT on a UPS that will give me 15 to 20 hours of use during a power outage.
I especially need that for my alarm system sicne it connects over the internet. So that wireless bridge my alarm system is on is also connected to a UPS that will give me 15 to 20 hours of runtime during a power outage.