How can I improve streaming picture quality

leadhead

bubblegun wrote: »

When you say fibre broadband, what do you mean?

an Openreach FTTC service like BT infinity or Sky unlimited or plusnet, etc?
Virgin Cable "Fibre" service?
or a true Fibre service?

They all rely on your link to the remote service though. If any of the interlinks are running slow then the stream will suffer.

If it's a common problem then run a tracert from the windows command prompt when you are having the problems and if the same link is running slow every time.
Then call your isp to see if they can get the routing improved or changed. {it's very unlikely they can do anything if the slow link is outside of their network}.

I have fttc with Plusnet up to 38mbps, of which I seem to average around 35mbps.

leadhead

the_r_sole wrote: »

I don't think it's anything to do with your machine op,
I watch a few internet streams for sports and it's usually always down to the quality of stream availible, with your connection you could try to find a sopcast link to a broadcast as those streams are sometimes as good quality as you will find - when I'm trying to find a stream, I usually try as many as possible in the 5mins before faceoff/kick off and then stick with the best one :money:

Thanks for this, and all above who have suggested its the stream rather than my equipment..

Not realising MSE would answer this type of question, I asked on a worldwide technical forum, and got answers from various parts of the world which suggested I upgrade my laptop, buy a simple android computer, buy a media centre or buy a set top box......all of which made me think that it actually was my equipment at fault.....

Do I need software to use a sopcast link........on my way to "google it"

Thanks again...

tombruton87

it could be to do with the machine and how well it renders compressed video its a lot harder so it than non compressed. Im not talking about the res im talking about the bit stream. Also look at setting up quality of service on your router will help if you have bandwidth problems

XBMC is awesome and can work miracles. Setting it up on a windows machine wont work miracles. Setting it up on a 19 meg linux machine will aslong as you have good driver support. This isn't for the faint hearted tho.

apple tv is pretty good for an out of the box streaming experience can pick them up pretty cheap aswell

leadhead

tombruton87 wrote: »

it could be to do with the machine and how well it renders compressed video its a lot harder so it than non compressed. Im not talking about the res im talking about the bit stream. Also look at setting up quality of service on your router will help if you have bandwidth problems

XBMC is awesome and can work miracles. Setting it up on a windows machine wont work miracles. Setting it up on a 19 meg linux machine will aslong as you have good driver support. This isn't for the faint hearted tho.

apple tv is pretty good for an out of the box streaming experience can pick them up pretty cheap aswell

Would iPlayer (which runs ok) not use compressed video as well.

bluesnake wrote: »

I'm not into this but a friend who is raves about xbmc and how clear it is

Looking up(on Wiki) the hardware specs needed to run XBMC, I need a much more powerful laptop for it to run ....

Will have a look at Apple TV.

Addendum . ....Looked up Apple TV, and its not what I require...I need something that I can type in individual URL's, and search for sites.

closed

Can the D600 cope with an iplayer hd stream?

Which site was streaming the hockey?

a newer/better laptop with hdmi/better video card and processor should improve things, D600 is getting on a bit.

leadhead

closed wrote: »

Can the D600 cope with an iplayer hd stream?

Which site was streaming the hockey?

a newer/better laptop with hdmi/better video card and processor should improve things, D600 is getting on a bit.

I dont know whether the Capital One Cup Highlights I watched yesterday to test iPlayer, were HD streams or not.....

I cant remember which site I used for that specific Hockey...

Getting newer equipment is contrary to what the majority are saying, as iPlayer quality is ok, then it questions the quality of the live sports streams...as the laptop seems to cope ok with iPlayer....

But I'm still listening to all advice...

tombruton87

yes iplayer is compressed!

paddyrg

leadhead wrote: »

I dont know whether the Capital One Cup Highlights I watched yesterday to test iPlayer, were HD streams or not.....

Unless you specifically were offered and switched on the HD feed, they were normal bitrate feeds of 1.5Mbps - they do not default to the HD bitrate as it only takes 35 mins to use 1GB of your data allowance, and most people are on cheap capped packages!

If iPlayer played OK, the answer is clearly the hooky streams, save yourself the trouble of looking further, you are not the weak link in the chain!!

leadhead

paddyrg wrote: »

Unless you specifically were offered and switched on the HD feed, they were normal bitrate feeds of 1.5Mbps - they do not default to the HD bitrate as it only takes 35 mins to use 1GB of your data allowance, and most people are on cheap capped packages!

If iPlayer played OK, the answer is clearly the hooky streams, save yourself the trouble of looking further, you are not the weak link in the chain!!

Thanks for this, although I got this answer much earlier in the thread, see below

Jemma-T wrote: »

Streaming from what at what speed (ie how good is the speed served to you)? You never mentioned the most important bit. If you setup works great with iPlayer then it's fine so you will have to find a better source for your stream.

Seen lots of terribly slow and poor streamed video and it has nothing to do with the end user's kit.

I feel happier now that Ive gone into it a bit more and its come to the same conclusion.......altho having said that, the quality on my laptop screen is slightly beller than that on the 40inch 1080p TV.

custardy

leadhead wrote: »

Thanks for this, although I got this answer much earlier in the thread, see below




I feel happier now that Ive gone into it a bit more and its come to the same conclusion.......altho having said that, the quality on my laptop screen is slightly beller than that on the 40inch 1080p TV.

well its not
its the same picture without being stretched over 40"