# HD netflix not working. 25 Mbps too slow?



## leiff (Aug 24, 2005)

I did a speed test and my Comcast speed is 30 Mbps. I can use YouTube 1080 P easy, but my Netflix won't go past 480. Will it help to get comcasts blast 25-50 Mbps? I know my modem capability (doxic 2) caps out before 50 Mbps. I had blast speed before but I downgraded because I didn't think it was necessary for the highest quality Netflix. When I had blast before I noticed Netflix HD was working. if 25 Mbps is sufficient for the highest Netflix quality then what could the problem be?


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## AdamNJ (Aug 22, 2013)

are you possibly watching an older movie that isn't available in HD?


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## leiff (Aug 24, 2005)

I just tried netflix on my smart tv and its still stuck on SD. is Netflix service to blame or what?


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## leiff (Aug 24, 2005)

No i tried a bunch of new stuff.should I call Comcast to upgrade back to blast speed and then quickly check Netflix to see if that then enables HD?


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

There must be some other issues. Netflix barely uses any bandwidth. It's highest available HD stream is very slow and is only around 5.8Mb/s. ANd Netflix recommends having only a 7 to 8Mb/s connection for it.


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

aaronwt said:


> There must be some other issues. Netflix barely uses any bandwidth. It's highest available HD stream is very slow and is only around 5.8Mb/s. ANd Netflix recommends having only a 7 to 8Mb/s connection for it.


:up: I could usually get HD Netflix when I had a 5Mb/s connection, but it would sometimes stop to buffer every once in a while, which was annoying. Sometimes it would downgrade the stream, also annoying. My Tivo HD doesn't have the CPU horsepower to get much more than 10Mb/s on my LAN anyway. 25 should be more than enough.


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## leiff (Aug 24, 2005)

I'm new at using Netflix. Do their servers get saturated sometimes, somedays resulting in SD qualty only? after a couple hours i checked back and Im getting super hd & DD+ now. are you sure there highest stream is only 6 mbps?


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## Tico (Dec 10, 2002)

leiff said:


> I'm new at using Netflix. Do their servers get saturated sometimes, somedays resulting in SD qualty only? after a couple hours i checked back and Im getting super hd & DD+ now. are you sure there highest stream is only 6 mbps?


Highest I have ever seen is 7mbps.

And yes Netflix can get saturated.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

leiff said:


> are you sure there highest stream is only 6 mbps?


Yes the average bitrate for Super HD is 6Mbps. With H.264 you can really get good compression if you do a multi-pass encode.


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## tim1724 (Jul 3, 2007)

Some cable companies rate-limit Netflix. Because they see it as a competitor to their own services.


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

Are netflix's CDN's still capable of being confused if you use nonstandard DNS settings? And are you using nonstandard DNS settings?

It used to be the case where an east coast user, using a west coast dns (a poorly selected OpenDNS server for example), could end up streaming from a west coast CDN server, and the results would stink.

I seem to recall they fixed that, and it's unlikely in the first place, but I thought I'd throw it out there...


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## leiff (Aug 24, 2005)

Im seeing the same Netflix problem now, it being prime time evening hours again. after googling it looks like Comcast limits net-flix bandwidth duing prime time hours. at least in my area (bay area). this is Netflix specific I can still download fast or stream HD quality using any other service during this time. So for me Netflix HD is unavailable during the evening primetie hours. very upset


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

leiff said:


> Im seeing the same Netflix problem now, it being prime time evening hours again. after googling it looks like Comcast limits net-flix bandwidth duing prime time hours. at least in my area (bay area). this is Netflix specific I can still download fast or stream HD quality using any other service during this time. So for me Netflix HD is unavailable during the evening primetie hours. very upset


 Cox is doing throttling YouTube here during prime hours but Netflix Super HD works any time. Luckily I don't care about or watch YouTube, but I still don't like the principal of the matter.


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## jeffosoft (Jul 17, 2013)

Tivo has been notorius for their Netflix App for 3 generations now. ITs likely something with the tivo


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

jeffosoft said:


> Tivo has been notorius for their Netflix App for 3 generations now. ITs likely something with the tivo


TiVos have never had issues streaming the HD stream from Netflix. If you aren't getting the HD stream it is most likely a problem with Netflix CDN or with your setup. During prime time, it is not uncommon for Netflix to have issues and it not let you stream the highest quality.


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## jmpage2 (Jan 21, 2004)

jeffosoft said:


> Tivo has been notorius for their Netflix App for 3 generations now. ITs likely something with the tivo


I rather doubt that. As pointed out, Netflix HD does not take much bandwidth, relatively speaking for broadband.... and with the Roamio the UI is very quick and responsive.

My own personal experience is that with upgraded Comcast to the "blast" level of internet service I NEVER get any buffering or downgrade of Netflix HD content even during prime time hours.

My own personal suspicion from my work doing network engineering is that Comcast puts blast or other high tier users into a higher priority queue, so that their service is less likely to be interrupted during peak bandwidth times.... so, mine is working great but the guy two houses over with basic internet might be getting buffering or downgrade to SD during those times.


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