Video streaming quality (Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max, Disney+, etc)

[WhiningKhan]

What TV are you using and how are you watching Netflix? E.g. TV's own app, external device etc.

For the last ~5 years (i.e. the period after I gave up on home theatre ideas) I've had an IPTV service with STB supplied from the operator. The box is outputting 50Hz to TV, as the live channels are PAL around here, and many streaming services (I have HBO Nordic on it also currently) and rental library offer only 25fps-converted content which is of course free of judder. Netflix on the other hand has mostly 24fps stuff which is the problem (there is a Netflix app on the STB).

I have a Bluray player that outputs 24Hz and has Netflix app, but it is so ridiculously slow to both boot and slow and laggy in the app menu that I can't bother anymore turning it on just for Netflix, since other content is OK on the STB. So I've just ended up swallowing the crap as it is handed to me and stop fighting.

The TV itself is an aging 47" Full-HD by Samsung. It has motion interpolation functionality but I haven't used it really, except a couple of times watching FIFA World Cups and stuff. Especially not for movie content...

 

[Deleted member 11852]

The TV itself is an aging 47" Full-HD by Samsung. It has motion interpolation functionality but I haven't used it really, except a couple of times watching FIFA World Cups and stuff. Especially not for movie content...

Ok, there's quite a few places in your media chain that could be causing an issue. Is it possible for the TV to show you what the native input is and the current TV mode (i.e. 50Hz in, 24P video)? That would help diagnose where the issue is. Besides being slow, does the Netflix app on the Blu-ray player have the same issue?

While I avoid generalisations, generic STBs are often not the best in terms being updated to ensure good interoperability. It took Apple a while to have native 24P output from the Apple TV and that was a box designed to be plugged into a TV by a company who want to sell you TV shows!

 

[WhiningKhan]

Ok, there's quite a few places in your media chain that could be causing an issue. Is it possible for the TV to show you what the native input is and the current TV mode (i.e. 50Hz in, 24P video)? That would help diagnose where the issue is. Besides being slow, does the Netflix app on the Blu-ray player have the same issue?

The Bluray-player's Netflix of course gives smooth frame rate at 24Hz for the 24Hz movies. There's no doubt about the TV's refresh rates, it tells them to me.
Before dropping the ball and taking the IPTV, I used to run a HTPC with XBMC (before it was renamed as Kodi) to play DVB-T recordings from VDR server and occasional disk rip images. I even helped the developers to add DXVA decoding and postprocessing into XBMC to get good quality playback for the interlaced DVB-T MPEG2 files. Before that, on CRT TV days I had a VDR box also as front-end - at one time with Matrox G200 (which those days was the only display card able to do correct vsync output) and later a dedicated MPEG2 decoder card. I've been diagnosing the stuff for the last 20 years, not intending to sound arrogant I believe I know my shit by now, although I have been retarding a few years after losing interest...

While I avoid generalisations, generic STBs are often not the best in terms being updated to ensure good interoperability. It took Apple a while to have native 24P output from the Apple TV and that was a box designed to be plugged into a TV by a company who want to sell you TV shows!

Sure, and I would never use this set top box were I not forced to by the IPTV service.
The Apple example shows precisely what I'm talking about - this is a hugely neglected image quality issue even though it's quite fundamental and known issue by anyone even remotely familiar with video playback processing.