We’ve been watching movies on Netflix on our tv through our blueray DVD player, for several years. Recently, we started using Amazon Prime, too. But after we watch for a while, particularly if we are using subtitles, after a while it seems to be buffering, then stopping and eventually we get a message to the effect: “Your device does not have sufficient bandwidth. Do you want to continue watching?” We usually just stop because if we continue, the problem gets worse and everything stops. My questions are: 1) Why would this happen with Amazon and not Netflix? and 2) is the device in question the blueray player? It’s a few years old, do new ones permit more bandwidth or more data to come through? Or is it the tv, itself? It’s supposed to be a smart tv, but it’s old and it might be developmentally disabled. Incidentally, the problem is worse when we use subtitles. Is that because they’re streaming more data? Any education you can provide would be appreciated. xo,
C.
First, it’s definitely not your TV. It could be the DVD player, but if by “a few years old” you mean 5 or less, it’s most likely not the DVD player’s fault. Most likely is it’s a network bandwidth problem. What kind of internet service do you have and how fast is it supposed to be? Can you run a speed test from a computer on your network to confirm the speed? And is the DVD player connected to your router via wifi or a cable? If it’s wifi, radio interference becomes a possibility. If possible, try connecting your DVD player via Ethernet and see if it makes a difference.
I haven’t had much success using my blue ray player for streaming either. The older ones especially were not made to be forward compatible and software updates were rare or not available. Maybe you need a software update, but I’m guessing it just doesn’t have enough memory to keep up with extra capacity needed to run subtitles. You say you have a smart TV, why are you not using that to stream?
I watch Netflix through a BlueRay player, which has an app for it. Does yours? Does it have an app for Amazon, or does it use its browser?
I’m thinking that perhaps the Netflix app is smarter about buffering.
We had an issue before we upgraded our internet, now none. The browser that comes on the player sucks, and I wouldn’t be surprised if causes problems.
I can’t imagine that subtitles add a lot to the bandwidth. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are there all the time and just get toggled on and off.
Netflix and Amazon use different players (different applications in your Blu-Ray player), which may have different degrees of flexibility to adapt to reduced bandwidth.
The problem could be inside your house (player, application, Wi-Fi router, interference), but it could also be at your ISP. Your ISP knows what you’re accessing, and has the ability (technical and, now, legal) to slow down your access to some services or to slow down everything when you’re accessing certain services.
I just went through a 2-week period of buffering/wi-fi connectivity problems using a Roku device hooked up my TV. Playback would stutter or stop, image would pixelate, I’d get the “not connected to wi-fi” error while watching Amazon, Netflix and HBO Now. I went through all the troubleshooting steps and couldn’t find anything wrong. The only thing left to be suspect of was the Roku device itself.
So I went ahead and ordered a new Roku Express, and lo and behold, the trouble went away…the day before it was delivered. Go figure.
If you stream Amazon the Fire Stick works great. You can talk to Alexa on the remote.
Ok, so one thing I have figured out (thank you Si Amigo), I actually don’t have a smart tv. Duh! We simply stream through the BluRay. So unless I get a new BluRay player, is there a way to keep this buffering from happening, or are we just stuck with an ancient (!) technology that can’t keep up with the modern youngun’s?
Some subtitle types, PGS and VOBSUB in particular, can be a problem for a LOT of streaming devices. These two subtitle types are the ones most common on a DVD or Blu-Ray disc, and also (probably) streaming direct from Amazon or Netflix. The PGS and VOBSUB subtitles are actually video pictures that are superimposed on the main movie/TV image. They are NOT simple text.
If these types of subtitles are not "burned in " to the content before playback, the streaming device must “Transcode” and perform the combination of the subtitles to the content “on the fly.” That takes a LOT of processor power, and even some Network Attached Storage devices can have a problem with it.
I can certainly imagine that a disc player wouldn’t have the processing juice to deal with that.
If you do rip discs to local storage such as a computer or NAS, you can download a different subtitle type (SRT) that IS mostly pure text and easy to combine with the main content.
It’s a lot more complicated than what I’ve described, but this will give you an idea of what this is about.
Experts, please correct me if I’m wrong.
If you are having problems with playback WITHOUT subtitles. there’s a data bottleneck somewhere.
Somebody already asked you how the BluRay is connected to your internet and you haven’t answered. Wifi? Ethernet cable? It can be other things, but that’s the most likely target for improvement. Tell us about it and we can give you some suggestions.
I have a four year old player which is a cheap piece of crap, and have no problem with Netflix, even with captions turned on.
One thing - where is it in relation to your wifi router? What kind of signal do you get on your phone there?
If you are in a tiny apartment this won’t be a problem, but if you are in a reasonably sized house it might be.
I get the same message with Amazon on my Sony BDP-3700 player. Never on Netflix. I think it’s an Amazon App glitch on that player.
That player is so slow for apps that I’m probably buying a Roku for streaming soon.
Thanks - it’s connected to the internet via ethernet cable and the BluRay itself is 2 inches from the router.
I have an older Sony bluray player myself and was definitely my bottleneck. I have since gotten a ROKU box for streaming and that solved the problem right out of the box. I think Bulray players didn’t do a good job of integrating in the streaming process at first and quickly got bypassed by streaming boxes and smart tv’s. Since you are not having WiFi issues I’d recommend getting a Amazon Firestick, ROKU box or a SmartTV to solve your issue. The first two are fairly cheap but require either an Amazon Prime membership or a monthly fee.
Same here. Most Blu Ray players utilize a stripped down Linux and as cheap a CPU as they can get away with. On top of that, my Sony player runs the Opera browser and Java. Streaming is done via Java apps in the browser.
Woefully slow compared to my Apple TV and Roku boxes - which are designed for streaming, unlike the Blu Ray player. I have noticed similar drawbacks with Smart TVs.
I’m not saying it’s not true, but there’s absolutely no reason whatsoever that subtitles should require any measurable amount of processor power.
Yeah, this was going to be my contribution as well. Subtitles are an absolutely trivial amount of both bandwidth and processing compared to the video stream. Microscopic, really.
My premise is that the early blu–ray players just suck and got bypassed by streaming boxes.