Throttling on Internet

[navigates]

Hi all. I wanted to share some of my experience when viewing sling on my nvidia and firetv. On both devices I get great speed like about 3.7 mbps constant and in about an hour the speed suddenly drops to 0.3 mbps. Does anyone know what might be causing this? Is it the ISP that is throttling. Its getting very confusing.

 

[TheKrell]

What is "on my nvidia"? Your PC? Here's one possible test to see if your ISP is throttling you after so many bytes are consumed. Run both FireTV and your PC at once. If both get throttled after 1/2 hr, then I'd say it's your ISP.

 

[Ronnie-]

What is "on my nvidia"?

Android TV box I would think.

 

[harshness]

What is "on my nvidia"?

My money is on the Nvidia Shield.

 

[TheKrell]

My money is on the Nvidia Shield.

Aha. I didn't know about that product; I'll bet you're right. If the Shield is an Android box, then both of you could be right.

 

[Ronnie-]

Aha. I didn't know about that product; I'll bet you're right. If the Shield is an Android box, then both of you could be right.

https://shield.nvidia.com/android-tv

Yep

 

[navigates]

Yes its the nvidia shield. The firetv is very slow when compared to the shield.
When I watch an mkv stream, it plays just fine. If I quit the sling app and restart it, I regain the full speed. I suspect it has something to do with the service.
confused.

 

[jegrant]

I would be curious if this also occurs when you use a computer or iPad?

 

[Soccernut]

I sometimes have the problem with speed drop with FireTV and Roku3 mostly on HD. For anyone using FireTV, do you have problems with the zoom feature on SlingTV? When I set it to zoom on SD channels it zooms out on HD channels as well cutting the picture, don't have that problem with the Roku3.

 

[navigates]

yes with firetv, i do have the zoom cut out. I can check on nvidia shield. So here are my test observations.

1. NVidia Shield breaks down after about an hour to even 0.3 mbps if constantly streaming.
2. Same occurrence with Firetv
3. Added VPN on ddwrt and that too after an hour or so intermittently drops down. So its not region specific.

Note: When the speed drops and I switch channels and switch back the speed bumps back up to 3.7 mbps. I would be happy if there is a refresh button to re-establish the connection with dish. If watching a show on dvr its hard stop the app, research and then replay. Is there a keyboard debug shortcut?

 

[jegrant]

I sometimes have the problem with speed drop with FireTV and Roku3 mostly on HD. For anyone using FireTV, do you have problems with the zoom feature on SlingTV? When I set it to zoom on SD channels it zooms out on HD channels as well cutting the picture, don't have that problem with the Roku3.

In general, I don't understand why Sling transmits any channels with black bars included in the signal, but they do, and while the support department is aware of it, they claim that some channels are only carried in SD and that is all they offer. I think Sling should only transmit active video screen area, which is usually 16:9, and if black bars are needed, that type of zooming in/out should be handled by software on the client side.

 

[navigates]

In general, I don't understand why Sling transmits any channels with black bars included in the signal, but they do, and while the support department is aware of it, they claim that some channels are only carried in SD and that is all they offer. I think Sling should only transmit active video screen area, which is usually 16:9, and if black bars are needed, that type of zooming in/out should be handled by software on the client side.

Another find. By using Sling International for International channels keeps the speed consistent. The fact that nvidia has two apps for sling is a bonus in my opinion. the bbc app works well too.

 

[navigates]

Is there a debug menu or a button combination on the keyboard or the remote that can re-establish the connection back with sling. For example if I'm watching a content and the speed drops and I change the channel, the speed bounces back up. The problem is that I have to search for the content and resume to fix the issue.

 

[jegrant]

Another find. By using Sling International for International channels keeps the speed consistent. The fact that nvidia has two apps for sling is a bonus in my opinion. the bbc app works well too.

Which BBC app are you referring to? For what device?

 

[navigates]

Which BBC app are you referring to? For what device?

The BBC NVidia Application. I downloaded it and got it loaded through usb. I have the locator service and that makes the region preferences work.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Sounds like sling is doing the throttling so you don't leave the channel streaming all day long

 

[navigates]

Sounds like sling is doing the throttling so you don't leave the channel streaming all day long

Thats right. I'm positive it has something to do with Sling. I have tried iptv subscriptions and they are stable. Never drop in quality. However when I start sling, it works well but after a few hours, the quality deteriorates.