# Netflix streaming - PC vs. TV **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 24, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008 "2012-12-24T14:09:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/21 "2012-12-26T01:31:30Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > I have never had an acceptable experience watching streaming video over WiFi - there are just too many additional things in the way compared to a wired network connection. (Understand that our house has three high-power Unifi pucks, one of them ten feet from the video stack, and I still see enough problems that I will drag a wire up from the basement router rather than try and rely on wiffy getting us through a movie.) > > Go wired, even if it’s a bit of a hassle. It makes net-based entertainment SO much less aggravating. There’s nothing worse than curling up for a quiet evening with something from Netflix or Vudu and having to fuck with network hardware for a half hour. Granted, I use my computers or the Apple TV connected to the flatscreen, but I haven’t had any issues with wireless streaming, and I get the HD stream, so far as I can tell. It sounds to me like **friedo** is right about the TVs just having crappy Wifi interfaces. Or you just have a bad connection or lot of interference in the house. ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/22 "2012-12-26T01:47:05Z")
It’s not your fault, because most TVs are “Smart.” I think that it is always best to get a Roku box, Apple TV or some other streaming device. They are made to stream, and are updated regularly. My old TV had a Netflix app that always had trouble. I got an Apple TV and it works perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/23 "2012-12-26T01:52:07Z")
I just hard-connect a TV as a PC monitor. Couldn’t be better. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/24 "2012-12-26T02:41:47Z")
> [@al27052](#): > > I used to install and repair Uverse, so I’m speaking from experience here. > > Run a direct ethernet cable from the ethernet port on the back of your Uverse set-top box to the ethernet port on the TV. The set-top box is designed to act as a passthrough for ethernet. We were told in training not to do this, because, if the set-top box fails, then every device it’s giving internet to will lose its connection. However, the failure rate among non-DVR boxes is very, very low. > > If hard-wiring this way doesn’t solve the problem, let me know. I’ve been wondering why cable companies are taking so long to include a modem in their TV set-top boxes. Smart TVs reached critical mass a while ago, and the coax that goes to the cable box is the exact same one that goes to your cable modem. ---
**Author:** ![al27052](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/25 "2012-12-26T05:04:36Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > I’ve been wondering why cable companies are taking so long to include a modem in their TV set-top boxes. Smart TVs reached critical mass a while ago, and the coax that goes to the cable box is the exact same one that goes to your cable modem. 3 reasons 1. It would require a team of people to design/engineer/program the new box, which is always fairly expensive. Also, the companies that they use for their modems and set-top boxes are usually separate from each other. Even if it’s the same company, there are different internal departments for each product group. 2. It would be more complicated than either device by themselves, so more things can go wrong with it, and it would be more complicated to fix. 3. a lot of customers are ‘cutting the cord’ anyway. As time passes, the set-top box is going to become a thing of the past. People won’t pay for TV service, they’ll just use Apple TV, Netflix, etc.. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/26 "2012-12-26T09:05:09Z")
I think netflix just works differently on different devices. I’ve tried in on a TV, bluray player, Xbox 360, Wii and PC, and it just always seems to work best on a PC no matter how the others are connected (wireless or not). I think wireless has something to do with your problems but don’t be too upset if after drilling through your walls/floor and running a 100 foot cable from one end of your house to the other it doesn’t fix the problem. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/27 "2012-12-26T15:27:19Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > I think netflix just works differently on different devices. I’ve tried in on a TV, bluray player, Xbox 360, Wii and PC, and it just always seems to work best on a PC no matter how the others are connected (wireless or not). I think wireless has something to do with your problems but don’t be too upset if after drilling through your walls/floor and running a 100 foot cable from one end of your house to the other it doesn’t fix the problem. Ah, I forgot about that. We used to run Netflix through the Wii, and that did give us a flaky connection about a quarter of the time we used it. Playing with the wireless channel settings and broadcast bands helped. But I also had issues with the Wii just taking forever to find a connection on its own (when not used by Netflix.) Our wireless router is in the basement, and our TV is on the first floor above it. I have not had that issue with the streaming box (Apple TV in my case, located on top of the Wii) or wireless computers or the iPhone anywhere in the house (even on the second floor, which is where I usually stream Netflix if I’m using the computer.) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/28 "2012-12-26T15:42:29Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > I think netflix just works differently on different devices. I’ve tried in on a TV, bluray player, Xbox 360, Wii and PC, and it just always seems to work best on a PC no matter how the others are connected (wireless or not). I think wireless has something to do with your problems but don’t be too upset if after drilling through your walls/floor and running a 100 foot cable from one end of your house to the other it doesn’t fix the problem. There’s a certain amount of that - many times NF will be putzing via the BR player but I can pull it up on my phone (from the same house connectivity). Unless your house, tech or other situation absolutely prevents it, I really recommend going wired for your video/entertainment stack. It will improve the experience for most users, except the SOTA-tech crowd who like screwing around with their settings a lot. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/29 "2012-12-26T15:56:58Z")
Apropos of this discussion, I don’t understand this: when I try to access Pandora via my blue-ray player, I get a message - “You do not have enough memory to download this application.” But “not enough memory”? Where? And why would this be happening now? It’s a wireless connection, too, but it used to work just fine. We stopped doing Netflix streaming and I don’t want to sign up again for it if there’s an issue in the system someplace. Any ideas here, Dopers? ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/30 "2012-12-26T16:46:13Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > I think netflix just works differently on different devices. I’ve tried in on a TV, bluray player, Xbox 360, Wii and PC, and it just always seems to work best on a PC no matter how the others are connected (wireless or not). I think wireless has something to do with your problems but don’t be too upset if after drilling through your walls/floor and running a 100 foot cable from one end of your house to the other it doesn’t fix the problem. This raises a good point. It would behoove the OP to try moving the TV near the router and testing the hard wired connection before drilling any holes. ---
**Author:** ![al27052](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/31 "2012-12-26T17:13:28Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > I think netflix just works differently on different devices. I’ve tried in on a TV, bluray player, Xbox 360, Wii and PC, and it just always seems to work best on a PC no matter how the others are connected (wireless or not). I think wireless has something to do with your problems but don’t be too upset if after drilling through your walls/floor and running a 100 foot cable from one end of your house to the other it doesn’t fix the problem. He doesn’t need to run cable to hardwire it. Uverse set-top boxes have an ethernet port on the back. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/32 "2012-12-26T17:49:46Z")
> [@al27052](#): > > 3 reasons > > 1. It would require a team of people to design/engineer/program the new box, which is always fairly expensive. Also, the companies that they use for their modems and set-top boxes are usually separate from each other. Even if it’s the same company, there are different internal departments for each product group. If Time Warner or Comcast tells Western Digital “we want a cable box with a modem installed and we want it next week”, they’ll get it. Samsung or other cable box manufacturers, maybe not, but when 90% of your sales of a product are to one or two customers you jump when they say jump. ETA: is there a shittier category of consumer electronics than digital cable boxes, incidentally? ---
**Author:** ![al27052](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/33 "2012-12-27T03:37:23Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > If Time Warner or Comcast tells Western Digital “we want a cable box with a modem installed and we want it next week”, they’ll get it. Samsung or other cable box manufacturers, maybe not, but when 90% of your sales of a product are to one or two customers you jump when they say jump. > > ETA: is there a shittier category of consumer electronics than digital cable boxes, incidentally? I think another reason they don’t do combo boxes is because sometimes people want to cancel internet or cable, but not both. As far as reliability of cable boxes, yeah, they suck ass. DVRs are much worse than regular STBs, in my experience. That’s understandable, given the fact the the hard drive in a DVR gets worked like a rented mule. However, the buggy-as-heck software for most cable boxes is just lame. The problem is that nobody wants to spend the money and time to write really bug-free software for these things. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Dord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@The\_Dord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Dord)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/34 "2012-12-27T04:10:35Z")
> [@al27052](#): > > I think another reason they don’t do combo boxes is because sometimes people want to cancel internet or cable, but not both. > > As far as reliability of cable boxes, yeah, they suck ass. DVRs are much worse than regular STBs, in my experience. That’s understandable, given the fact the the hard drive in a DVR gets worked like a rented mule. > > However, the buggy-as-heck software for most cable boxes is just lame. The problem is that nobody wants to spend the money and time to write really bug-free software for these things. You can say the same thing for DirecTV HD-DVR boxes. Amen 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/35 "2012-12-27T05:21:55Z")
> [@al27052](#): > > However, the buggy-as-heck software for most cable boxes is just lame. The problem is that nobody wants to spend the money and time to write really bug-free software for these things. One word: **TiVo**. Their software isn’t quite perfect, but it is by far better than any other DVR ever made so far (and to think DirecTV dumped the TiVo software for their piece of shit home-grown OS…) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/36 "2012-12-27T13:59:18Z")
Yeah, but that means adding another box to the already cluttered under-TV area. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/37 "2012-12-27T16:34:51Z")
No one has mentioned that cable boxes draw huge amounts of power and can’t be shut off. I’ve tried unplugging ours, but it can take an hour to fully reload schedules and such so that’s only barely practical…and wouldn’t be in a house where cable is watched every day. DVR units have to be on 24/7 anyway… at a continuous 40-80 watts. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/38 "2012-12-27T16:48:38Z")
[They’re working on it.](http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/490731-CEA_NCTA_Agree_on_Set_Top_Energy_Efficiency.php) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/39 "2012-12-27T17:33:55Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > [They’re working on it.](http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/490731-CEA_NCTA_Agree_on_Set_Top_Energy_Efficiency.php) Yeah, but they’ve resisted for years because it would cut into their profits and there’s been little awareness of how much each household is paying to keep that little box toasty warm all year round. The steps outlined are pathetic as well - they could cut the power to less than 10 operational watts, \<1 standby watt with current technology. But we’re supposed to be thrilled at a 40% reduction in the next few years, followed by realistic power consumption in 5 years or so. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008/40 "2012-12-27T17:42:44Z")
Well, those are “just enough to avoid legislation” standards. It’s what trade groups _do_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-streaming-pc-vs-tv/645008.md?page=3)