by drudiak » Sun Jul 19, 2015 8:18 pm
Just put this up on the Roku forum about this problem in hopes that maybe it will help Sonic people figure out what's going on. In particular, some shows stream (older, less popular ones), but most do not (new programs and older more popular ones).
Re: Netflix Connection Issues - July 2015
Previously reported problem, sonic.net, Albany, CA, Roku 3, and noted some programs on Netflix still stream OK, but most don't. What I've found is that older, less popular programs tend to stream OK (Leave It To Beaver, Adam 12, Rockford Files, Emergency, McMillan and Wife, Quincy), but older, more popular TV shows, almost "cultish" (Twilight Zone, Andy Griffith Show, Columbo, MASH) do not. New (2012), but probably not-watched-much show Rita (Dutch) streams OK. Does Netflix have multiple pipes for different shows, newer more popular ones (don't stream), older, more popular ones (don't stream), and older/newer, less popular ones (usually stream)?
I can also tell which programs will work and which won't by watching how fast they buffer at the beginning. Shows that stream come up almost immediately; those that don't buffer a long time at 25% before starting (then kicking out at EXACTLY 2 minutes, perhaps indicating a possible Roku 3 watchdog timer is involved set at 2 minutes, that is triggered by a software/hardware problem involving affected shows.
Also problem seems to have started up about 2 weeks ago and seems to affect almost entirely sonic.net, SF East Bay cities. Did Netflix or Sonic make a server software change about 2 weeks ago? My Roku 3 indicates last system update was June 2, so a month too early to have caused problem.
Seems like one place to start is Sonic is reviewing the servicing and seeing if something was changed in SF East Bay about 2 weeks ago. Or Sonic contacting Netflix and checking if they changed how they stream about 2 weeks ago.
I had perhaps a similar problem with my Roku 3 when I first got it, namely I couldn't get it to connect to my wireless network. Finally, after several days of frustration, I found a forum where they described Roku 3 using an internal router IP address that conflicted with mine. Resetting my router IP address solved the problem. Only a tiny percent of Roku 3's probably had this problem, since most routers would have been randomly set to some other internal IP address. I and few others just happened to win the loser's lottery. Ultimately it was an undocumented Roku 3 problem. Perhaps Roku 3 reserves some other address that is conflicting with Sonic or Netflix software. If it is some random address, it might make it hard for the engineers at Sonic to replicate the problem, just as only a few unlucky Roku 3 users couldn't connect to their routers, but most could.
The way to resolve this seems to be get Roku/Netflix/Sonic heads together since nobody is probably doing anything "wrong", but there is some incompatibility issue that can only be tracked down if there is some communication between companies.
DrD
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Joined: Wed Jul 15, 2015 3:30 pm
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