Amazon 4K Fire Stick NOW App Watching Sports Micro Stuttering

[schnapps]

Been meaning to ask this question for a while.

Does anybody else notice any micro stuttering on the Fire 4K Stick NOW App when watching sports with a Boost subscription.

Doesn't matter which of the Sky Sports channels i watch there is definitely micro judder when watching on my television.

When watching sports on any other services or Apps the Amazon Fire Stick seems to run smoothly from my testing (apart from NOW sports) though i need to change the Stick Display back to Automatic which doesn't look great on NOW sports.

I have forced the correct display settings in the Fire Stick at 50hz and tried both 4K & 1080p and still see the micro stuttering.

Can't use Automatic or 60hz in the Fire Stick Display settings because the stuttering is far worse and unwatchable for NOW Sports.

Using the same television in question on every single HDMI port my other NOW playback devices (ie NowTV 4K Smart box and BT Youview 4K box) plays NOW Sports silky smooth with no noticeable judder.

Don't know if i am overly sensitive to micro judder and see it more than others.

Just wondering if anybody else notices it or its just me ?

[sdan10]

i have 3rd gen fire stick and got boost dont use 5.1.

got it set at 720p 50hz.think fire stick go to 1080p 60hz

[schnapps]

Hi @sdan10 

What happens if you force 1080p 50hz (the Fire Stick should have this option instead of Auto or 1080p 60hz in it's Display Settings section).

Then when watching NOW on the Fire Stick and under the My Account NOW App on the Fire Stick when clicking on the Boost Membership setting button toggle between Stereo, to Surround Sound and then toggle back to Stereo once again and then leave it set to Stereo.

Does the micro stutter still remain when watching live Sky Sports ?

See if this above test works instead of dropping the picture resolution down to 720p when watching NOW.

Unless 720p 50hz is the only setting that helps for you by either reducing or eliminating the micro stutter on the NOW App with your third generation Fire Stick with your television set after toggling between Stereo, Surround Surround and back to Stereo.

[sdan10]

well thank you did what you said about stereo to 5.1 then to stereo and no stuttering fingers crossed 

that a good fix 

[sdan10]

got it set at 1080p 50hz all good stereo 

[sdan10]

well doing work around to fix micro stuttering by turning boost to stereo has helped.

but this morning i see a slight stuttering not to bad 

[Popeye13]

I thought id update this thread as earlier, i had the second update since i brought to the attention of NOW, the stutter.

Neither has addressed the issues, and now we have the added issue of Watchlist has disappeared, so i can't even find what i was watching and carry on!

How on earth does this constant mess continue?

Still a wild stutter on Sky Sports with 5.1 enabled, and now the app has removed a very useful function.... I give up!!

[sdan10]

it still stutters when i have it set at 1080p 60hz &1080p 50hz 

only stop when i put it to 720p 50hz 

[sdan10]

thats micro juddering back on fire stick 3 i have  uninstalled and re loaded and still micro judder 

all sky sports can some one help me  

[Popeye13]

Same. Noticed this late last week and gave up, and gone back to Apple TV.

Actually sick of the inability of Now/Sky to make, properly test and maintain a functioning app on any platform!!

[sdan10]

there was a new up date to app i think i will need to go back to my now stick 

iam so fed up with this 

[schnapps]

I haven't used my Amazon 4K Fire Stick in a while.

Just fired it up and noticed the micro stuttering on NOW Sports with the previously workaround of forcing Stereo in the My Account Settings on the NOW App which would remove the micro stutter for me.

Decided to try forcing 5.1 Surround Sound in the My Account App Boost Setting and the micro stuttering now seems to have disappeared for me 😁.

What I could do with now is for the NOW App to work with Match Original Frame Rate on the Amazon 4K Fire Stick to prevent all the faffing around when switching Apps such has Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney + back to NOW where you need to force 50hz.

[Popeye13]

Its funny you mention this actually, because i recently had to raise another ticket with them regarding the judder on Sky Sports, regardless of stereo or 5.1 workaround, on the 4K Max Stick. Thankfully the CS i spoke with tried to replicate it and was able to, so they're also dealing with that.

Ive given up the Fire Stick. Its fully of bugs and basic functions like framerate matching ect. Its got some good qualities but those sadly are buried by the bad, because the bad is appalling. For not, using a combo of Apple TV and Chromecast, which works for me well enough.

[schnapps]

Just noticed when you go back to Auto Frame Matching and then when you want to watch NOW again and force 50 hz playback the micro stuttering returns.

You need to toggle from 5.1 to Stereo back to 5.1 to remove the micro stuttering which is an absolute pain.

My Roku Stick Plus works like a dream with regards to Auto Frame Rate, once set then forget.

Though I do prefer the PQ on the 4K Fire Stick to my Roku Stick Plus where the PQ looks a tad sharper with the bonus of Dolby Vision on Disney Plus compared to HDR10 on my Roku Stick Plus (generation 1 where I think the newer gen 2 has the Dolby Vision feature).

An Apple 4K TV is a little pricey for me (otherwise I would have snapped one up).

[sdan10]

been getting it once more on my fire stick 3 tech team looking into it for me

its a pain thats over 3 weeks now

[GeneTunney]

The 4K Firestick was initially superb for live sports, crystal clear and smooth, but the micro stutter has been a constant for a while now and I've had to revert back to my NOW TV Stick (good picture, but not as good as the firestick used to produce, and the NOW stick has also been discontinued, so that's not a long term solution.)

I have noticed that the Firestick produces the same stutter on the DAZN app so it might not be a fault at NOW TV's end, in terms of issues with live sport.

It is frustrating...especially since I have an LG TV and an Xbox, neither of which support 50fps on NOW TV. 

[Popeye13]

Worse thing is, that stutter is two-fold. If you have Dolby Digital Surround enabled in Boost settings, you get an extra one. I have found that the new stutter disappears after around 4 - 6mins gradually, but the one caused by wanting to use the 6ch audio doesn't go at all. Usually in a morning, i stick SSN on, go make a coffee and take care of the usual morning routine, come back to the telly and its fine, but of course, changing a channel or getting to something late, its another period of juddering if you use the Fire Stick, which is inexcusable.

DAZN have been a joke when it comes to them addressing issues, and they have several across their apps on multiple platforms and don't see that bothered in addressing them.

XBOX ONE does support 50fps, BT Sport makes full use of it, its just that Sky/Now/Comcast can't be bothered to code it properly to force it to 50fps, much like BBC, where the 50fps streams are jumpy because of the 60Hz output.

Agreed RE: Apple TV box being pricey, but is worth the money. Just a ball-ache when it comes to forcing the 5.1 audio on LIVE channels (I find going to Alibi enables and forces the 5.1 audio playback) but its worth every penny if im honest, just wish NOW would get to enabling Airplay, but not holding my breath before 2030 for that!

Hoping for the Fire Stick fix, its a much needed one, but then they've been aware of the DD Surround fault for months and haven't done diddly about it, so not expecting anything to address it frankly. Bit of a sham really.

[GeneTunney]

Might have to spend some money on the Apple TV box then, many thanks for the info. I'm content with 2.1 stereo so that simplifies things for me a bit.

I was tempted to buy a Roku but...no DAZN. The NOW TV stick doesn't have DAZN either, but it does have the Sky Sports Box Office App exclusively.

Feels like I need to have every streaming device available just to cover all bases...

[schnapps]

For the last couple of days, watching Sky Sports with a Boost Membership and forcing 50Hz playback on the 4K Fire Stick and forcing Stereo under the NOW App My Account Boost Audio section on the Fire Stick, playback is now smooth again with no signs of micro stuttering.

Still can't use the 5.1 surround sound option under the NOW App My Account Boost section where micro stuttering reappears it's ugly head again.

For me I am using the sound from my TV speakers so I just leave it in Stereo.

[Popeye13]

They still haven't addressed the 5.1 stutter, so still can't use it for that, just thankful there is a way to force 5.1 on Apple TV (Going to Alibi or one of the Sky Cinema channels if you have those; watching for a few seconds enables DD and you're golden, it pulls the DD audio, and gives you 5.1 if available)

Had more issues with the Fire Stick than i care to mention, driving me up the wall!

[SweetBlitz]

I find there are issues with sports on Fire stick.  Tennis, rugby and football from Amazon aren’t as smooth as they could be.

I tend to use my old Now TV stick for sports on Now which never has any issues and a 30 minute pause.

[Popeye13]

I've taken to using my Chomecast Ultra now, with the Apple TV as secondary, and not using the Fire Stick much at all. Its getting tiresome the number of bugs still present and not being addressed, years after raising said issues.