The Nintendo 3DS streams Netflix before the EVO...how disappointing.

[lordofthereef]

Most others meaning who exactly?

Just searching the net, I find few people complaining about the problem. To be quite frank, I haven't found anything dated this year. Most of it was 2009 or later. The rest, early-mid 2010. Most all of this was issues with the disc that was used prior to there being a dedicated application. Generally, you come across more complaints than praise regarding everything on the net. If there are people en-mass having streaming issues like yours, they sure aren't talking about it. I base my statements purely on that. In any case, you have stated you are certain it's a Netflix issue. In that case, I hope they fix it for you, and in my own greedy ways, hope I don't start experiencing the problem myself. {insert evil laugh here}

 

[Internetpilot]

Just searching the net, I find few people complaining about the problem. To be quite frank, I haven't found anything dated this year. Most of it was 2009 or later. The rest, early-mid 2010. Most all of this was issues with the disc that was used prior to there being a dedicated application. Generally, you come across more complaints than praise regarding everything on the net. If there are people en-mass having streaming issues like yours, they sure aren't talking about it.

Why would people complain about a proprietary streaming service anywhere other than the tech support for this particular service? There's really not much point in that, and most people who are using Netflix are more techie than the person driving to their local BlockBuster or Redbox machine. It's not like there's a variety of streaming services to choose from. You either tolerate what you get from Netflix or...you simply don't stream movies. I mean, it's like publicly complaining that you don't like our the sun in our solar system. You can complain about that, but really, what's the point? If you want daylight and live on Earth, the sun is pretty much it.

Not everyone would necessarily recognize what I'm encountering as a "problem". How many times do people go out on the internet to check the email or go on Facebook and encounter network issues? Quite a bit actually -- I was in the business. Trust me, I use to hear about it every time when the internet was "new". Now that most people realize that the internet is not completely reliable, if 20% of their Netflix movies stopped in the middle and went back to the beginning, would they think anything of it? Or would they just start the movie again and fast-forward to where they were?

I'm more of a whiner because I know better from a career in the industry. I know by looking at my router logs where the problem was at that exact time, and understand the technology enough to know whether it was my equipment's fault, my ISP's fault, or Netflix's fault, and because of that I do tend to report such things to the service provider, which in this case is Netflix. Again, Netflix acknowledges the problem is theirs, they are aware of it (so apparently it happens frequently enough), and they assure me that they're working on the reliability of their streams. If you've ever received one of their email polls after watching a streamed movie, you might have noticed that the choices they typically list with the poll includes something about "stuttering playback", "long buffering times", and "stream halts". There's a reason for those choices in the poll -- because they happen enough that they have to be included as a poll answer.

I'm glad it's working flawlessly for you. But it's not for me, and judging by my interactions with Netflix, reading the logs of my own professional grade equipment, and common sense experience from a network engineering career, it's not working flawlessly for quite a few more people than just me.

Edit: Another thing that I've been forgetting to state in this thread is that Netflix streaming problems can be and usually are regional issues. Netflix is not as multi-sourced (even now) as they would like to be, and they are constantly using customer feedback to determine where to improve/increase their multi-sourcing efforts as more and more people are recognizing that Netflix is the only streaming game in town. So the fact that you don't have problems but I do can easily be explained as a regional issue.

 

[falconey]

I can't understand why a network engineer wouldn't try to recreate a network issue on another device. You didn't build the ps3 and I'm sure the netflix techs know just enough to answer simple questions and probably have a script for what to say when customers call about issues. If they say the same thing every time you call without a resolution then it has to be a script. Just my .02, but I'm sure you are right about the problem being netflix. Of course your only proof of this is your extensive experience and hhow your network performed for the last half decade.

 

[lordofthereef]

There are netflix forums and there are ps3 forums, so why WOULDN'T people complain publicly? They complain publicly about everything else whether it's fixable or not, I don't see Netflix being the acception to the rule. Trust me, people on playstation network bitch and moan about everything, if they kept getting streaming and buffering popups, they would view this as an error, or, at the very least, something else to bitch and moan about.

To correct you (slightly), there is blockbuster streaming, there has been on demand for a while (where people should know what to expect from on demand content), and there is also Hulu, of course. I don't think this service is so unique and revolutionary that people having issues with it wouldn't speak up. Interestingly, there is plenty of current negative feedback online reguarding hulu plus, which is a similar, if not identical service, reguarding skipping and stuttering of feeds.

According to you, you are having issues, many others are having issues, but they are mostly all quiet about it on forums because they have no reason to speak up online (aside from yourself). This doesn't add up to me, but again, if you say so...

In any case, I digress. As I said before, I am happy I don't have these problems and hope your regional issues are eventually taken care of.

 

[lordofthereef]

By the way, here is the poll that I got just earlier today. I don't see anything about stuttering, skipping, etc. (nor have I ever to be honest) in the description. I have copied an pasted it directly. The only thing I altered was my name and email. It would't surprise me if only the people that have called to complain about stuttering get that specific question asked in their survey though.

Survey: How was the Picture and Audio Quality?
Dear XXXX,
You recently watched Top Gear: Series 3: "Episode 7". To help us ensure a great experience for all members, would you take a moment to tell us about the picture and audio quality?
The quality was very good
The quality was acceptable
The quality was unacceptable
Thanks for your help!
–Your friends at Netflix

This informational email has been sent to you as part of your Netflix membership. If you would like to stop receiving these emails, please click here to unsubscribe, or visit our Email Subscriptions page, uncheck the Netflix Surveys box and click "Update Subscriptions". Please do not reply to this email, as we are unable to respond from this address. If you need help or would like to contact us, please visit our Help Center.
SRC: US_WIS
This message was mailed to [XXXX]
Use of the Netflix service and website constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

 

[Internetpilot]

I can't understand why a network engineer wouldn't try to recreate a network issue on another device. You didn't build the ps3 and I'm sure the netflix techs know just enough to answer simple questions and probably have a script for what to say when customers call about issues. If they say the same thing every time you call without a resolution then it has to be a script. Just my .02, but I'm sure you are right about the problem being netflix. Of course your only proof of this is your extensive experience and hhow your network performed for the last half decade.

Why wouldn't a network engineer try to recreate a network issue on another device? Because I can just look in my router logs to see exactly where and when the problem occurred. Again, at a mere glance my router logs clearly show that the problem lies with the Netflix stream or my internet service provider. Since I can also view other traffic coming in to my router at the same time as the stream, it is easy to see that the Netflix stream was the ONLY thing affected, and therefore it's safe to say that the problem resides with the transmission of the Netflix stream. No need to further test the PS3, the TV, the cables between, break out a network sniffer, or attempt to recreate the issue on a completely different device and/or network.

Frankly, trying to recreate the issue on different equipment really doesn't serve much of a troubleshooting purpose. If you encounter the same issue or not on a PC and a PS3, what does that mean or not mean? It definitely is or is not a Netflix or PS3 problem? It could be neither, because it could just as easily be wiring, router, hub, ISP, etc. related. It could also be both or all of the above that is the problem. Sorry, folks, but it's just a bad/worthless troubleshooting exercise, and the reason why I cited my career resume. I was kinda sorta assuming (hoping) that you guys would stop making these types of troubleshooting suggestions if I told you what I did for a living. I guess I should've lied and said I worked for Netflix so this thread would be on the 5th or 6th page of the forum by now.

According to you, you are having issues, many others are having issues, but they are mostly all quiet about it on forums because they have no reason to speak up online (aside from yourself). This doesn't add up to me, but again, if you say so...

First of all, to the best of my knowledge, there are not official Netflix forums. Personally, I would not go to a 3rd-party forum site to troubleshoot such a proprietary service as Netflix streaming, but people have to use what's available to them. I don't typically need forum help in troubleshooting network problems, so I have to admit that I would not know what's going on (or not) in 3rd-party Netflix forums.

I also think you are overestimating the number of PS3 owners who watch Netflix on their PS3. At my house, I have to wrestle control of the PS3 from 3 boys who want to do something crazy on the PS3....y'know...play games. It doesn't really surprise me that the 16-year-olds who frequent the Playstation community forums don't talk about successes or failures in watching 1980's Netflix movies on their PS3.

Perhaps the reason why more people aren't complaining about Netflix streaming problems is because they're getting their Netflix and network troubleshooting advice from mobile phone forums? For future reference, even the cheapest of home routers have the ability to enable primitive/simple logging. Some of the home routers offer rather advanced logging. For network troubleshooting issues you should start there, or else you're just chasing the wind and, frankly, wasting your time. This goes for Netflix streams, streaming music/video to your phone over WiFi, etc. It's all there in the router logs.

In any case, I digress. As I said before, I am happy I don't have these problems and hope your regional issues are eventually taken care of.

I'm sure they will be. Netflix is rapidly on its way to becoming the streaming monopoly, so I'm sure as they continue to get more customers they will have to fix their regional problems as the priority for those regions becomes more weighted with additional customers. Here's just hoping these customers don't believe mobile phone forums that their problem is their PS3 or XBox or Roku or AppleTV instead of Netflix itself.

 

[Internetpilot]

By the way, here is the poll that I got just earlier today. I don't see anything about stuttering, skipping, etc. (nor have I ever to be honest) in the description. I have copied an pasted it directly. The only thing I altered was my name and email. It would't surprise me if only the people that have called to complain about stuttering get that specific question asked in their survey though.

Survey: How was the Picture and Audio Quality?
Dear XXXX,
You recently watched Top Gear: Series 3: "Episode 7". To help us ensure a great experience for all members, would you take a moment to tell us about the picture and audio quality?
The quality was very good
The quality was acceptable
The quality was unacceptable
Thanks for your help!

 

[lordofthereef]

First it is that people wouldn't complain on a forum when they can complain over the phone, directly to tech support. I give an example of people using a forum to complain about tech related issues (interestingly, the forum we are in NOW is an unofficial forum where people come to complain about tech related issues) and now it is because Netflix doesn't have an official forum, which is why the droves of people having issues are publicly silent; apparently they are waiting for the official forum to sprout up before they make their voices heard. Then, people are not techie enough to notice the issues, or they simply don't care enough to mention them. I will remember that when I have trouble with a product and I can't seem to find evidence of others having the same issues. I will just chalk it up to everyone else who owns the product being too unintelligent or too apathetic to speak up. I give up bud. Believe what you want to believe.

 

[Internetpilot]

Thank God, and I hope you truly are giving up. Your continued insistence that the problem is me or my equipment is to the point of ridiculous. I think I have proven by now that I have expertise well beyond yours to troubleshoot my own problem, which is something I never asked you to do in the first place. You are the one who seems to think technical troubleshooting begins and ends in a 3rd-party public forum. I really don't know or care why people aren't complaining about Netflix on 3rd-party public forums. My attempt at an explanation was a polite way of stating that most people do not have anywhere near my level of network knowledge in this matter, which easily explains why no one is talking about this in fluffy, low tech 3rd-party forums, which typically talk about mostly off-topic nonsense....like what this thread has become.