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Anonymous User
Not applicable

Constantly dropping picture quality

Hi everyone,

My problem is the picture quality keeps dropping to insanely pixelated then goes back up to HD for a bit and drops again, making the watching of anything absolutely unenjoybable. I have a 1080p HD TV and decent wifi connection. Any ideas if there is a setting similar to YouTube where the picture quality changes when the Internet slows down and whether it can be turned off?

Thanks in advance for any help
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi @Anonymous User

 

Thanks for your post and welcome to the forum.  Like most providers, NOW TV uses adaptive bitrates, this can't be overidden and aims to give you the best quality picture your connection can support.  If you're experiencing fluctuations in quality, a wired connection to your box is always preferable to wireless. 

View solution in original post

157 REPLIES 157
Anonymous User
Not applicable

I'm going to add myself to the growing number of users experiencing this problem. Within the past month or so the NOW TV app on my Roku has become 'buffering and drop out' central, yet all other streaming services on the same device (Netflix, iPlayer, UKTV Play etc) all work perfectly and my broadband service is excellent. Would any at Now TV care to explain what is going on as the problem is clearly not this end.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Have just been watching Dexter quite happily and suddenly the picture quality is awful! Please can you help? 

Thanks

Anonymous User
Not applicable

My box started doing this a week ago, the issue is not caused by your wifi, it is caused by an issue with the box, I suspect a fault with the wifi chip. I know this as I have 3 now tv boxes (the newest ones you can pause and rewind) they all use the same network and 2 of the boxes work fine. I swapped the problem box for one of the others and the picture is perfect again.

Interestingly the problem box shows far more glitches in the hidden wifi menu than the other 2 that work fine.

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

I have also started to receive poor picture quality recently. I first noticed this over the weekend whilst watching the Ryder Cup. The picture quality only returned after I restarted the Roku nowtv box. After several resets I am convinced there are more severe underlying issues I would like nowtv to investigate.

Anonymous User
Not applicable
Yes you’re right. They definitely have some serious issues their end and
blaming the customer is not the right way to resolve it. NowTV isn’t
working adequately, they won’t return my emails and whenever I contact them
they tell me my internet speeds are too slow even though I can see for
myself on my own speed test that they’re not. Receiving 22mbps when the
issue occurs and if I only need 2.5 to stream then I obviously have enough
at nearly ten times that. I’ve seriously had enough. What’s the point in
having a contact service or a community feed like this if NowTV don’t even
bother looking at it?!

What a joke of a company.
Anonymous User
Not applicable

It's becoming laghable now. The picture quality is unwatchable, service unuseable,. I have paid for a season pass which I am going to retract the cost of through my bank. Now TV please help does anybody have an email address, telephone number that I can contact Now TV on?

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Please send me your tips too.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Yup. My (brand new) black box started off well and worked for a fortnight. Now films dip in and out of watchable quality. The explainer captions in films are unreadable.

Tried all the suggested solutions - outlined in the 'accepted solution' at the top of this post. All ballcocks.

Particularly dislike the user being blamed for the poor service. We are not idiots, so don't treat us as such.

If you are seriously suggesting WiFi is a bad idea, don't offer it as a viable alternative to hard-wiring.

Absolutely rubbish service.

chilli2
Elite

[quote] My (brand new) black box started off well and worked for a fortnight. Now films dip in and out of watchable quality. The explainer captions in films are unreadable.[/quote]

Hope you got a good discount on the black box, as they have been discontinued for a few months now.

 

There are a few things you can try, such as a speedtest app on your box, log into your manin account on a pc/tablet etc, and add channel code SPEEDTEST  you will then have a speedtest channel/app on your main menu try that and see what it says.

 you could also try an ethernet connection - if you have one of the now discontinued boxes that feature ethernet, the new devices do not have ethernet.

shortcut to the add channel/app is here https://my.roku.com/account/add/  log in with the same username/password you used to set up and enter code SPEEDTEST

ukbobboy
Legend

@chilli2 @Anonymous User

 

Guys

 

Depending on your ISP, you do know that they sometimes drop your download speed to see if you make a complaint about it, and to see if they can get away with it.  Once you complain, lo and behold, your speed is put back to what you signed up for.

 

You see, they don't tell you when they're doing it, they just do it to see if you notice, and if you don't they probably reallocate the "liberated" resource elsewhere on their network.

 

Be vigilant and do not wholly trust any company.

 

 

UK Bob