Slow to load HD on nVidia Shield

[TheCableGuy96]

Hi,

First of all, apologies if this is in the wrong section, I'm not sure what category the nVidia Shield Pro comes under so have created this in "Set top boxes and Smart TVs", I hope that is okay and apologies if not.

So I have just signed up to Now TV for my home and am having issues with HD taking around 2 minutes 30 seconds to start coming through which is a whopping amount of time, but this is only when watching it on the nVidia Shield.

I know for a fact this is not my end and I'll explain why:

1) I am on FTTP 900Mbps with BT business and can monitor my throughput put and am using nowhere near the amount of bandwidth required.

2) I have managed pro switches throughout the house with link LACP aggregation setup between all switches and again I can monitor the bandwidth and there is more than enough.

3) The nVidia Shield Pro is using Ethernet and all other apps (Netflix, Prime, BBC iPlayer, ITV X etc...) are able to stream in full 4K Dolby Vision with Dolby Atmos perfectly fine (or their respective maximum quality) and instantly. I also have a remote seed box and can stream video content up to 100GB without an issue through the same device.

4) I can watch it on my laptop and cast it to the TV wirelessly and it loads HD instantly (I don't want to have to tie up my PC each time I watch it though so this isn't a solution for me).

5) I can watch it through the LG TV app and it loads HD instantly as well. But the issue with this is there seems to be a limitation on the bitrate (or other app issue) watching it this way as anything fast is a little blurry. A bit like when TV processors were sub 100mhz back in the day and and struggled with fast paced stuff. But this is a 77" LG C9 and doesn't have the issue with other devices so again it must be an issue with the app.

So I've done as much testing as I can and think I've proven it's not my end (unless I've missed anything?).

I was wondering if anyone else has the same issue or is this just me? I'd be particularly interested if anyone else is using the Shield or Shield Pro and what their experience is?

I have raised this with Now TV who said they would get back to me but like all big companies these days they haven't.

Thanks.

[gavs82008]

@TheCableGuy96 

Not sure what else can be done as I know the stream can take a wee while to sort itself out sometimes on my Sony Bravia TV. Haven’t done any casting in the last 3-5 years however so I can’t really comment.

When you mentioned PC, this doesn’t have the support for 1080p. So it’s capped at 720p, for some bizarre reason! 

Take it you’ve done the usual reboot of the shield and router? 

This might sound like a daft question, but do you have boost?

[TheCableGuy96]

@gavs82008 

Hi mate,

Although the PC is still 720p it's still a far better image (instantly) than the SDR on the shield for the first 300 seconds, so even though they limit it to 720p this isn't the issue. The casting is irrelevant as the PC still goes straight to HD not casting.

Yes we have boost or it wouldn't go to HD at all and yes I've closed all apps on the shield and rebooted it. 

The router isn't a traditional router, it's something called pfSense which manages multiple connections over multiple properties so I'm not going to reboot it. I can see we aren't using anywhere near our bandwidth (less than 10% 95th Percentile) and all devices and apps are streaming as they should apart from the NOW TV app on the Shield Pro. 

I feel like it's a bug in the app to be honest, it's the only thing that makes sense.

[gavs82008]

@TheCableGuy96 

That’s cool bud, we have boost as well. Mainly got it for 1080p and 5.1 sound as well as the 3 streams, the no adverts is a bonus. 

Yeah the app and streams sometimes can be very temperamental. When we tried to watch Chicago Med it refused to play, had to start on my iPhone, then switch over to the TV app 😠

Just keep pestering support is all I can say dude.  

[schnapps]

Hi @TheCableGuy96 

2 minutes 30 seconds to ramp up to full HD with Boost is terrible (especially if like me you tend to do plenty of live channel hopping with NOW).

My worst devices are the Amazon Fire Stick and Google Chromecast 4K TV which takes around 35 to 40 seconds to reach full HD stream with the NOW App.

Where my Roku's and NOW boxes will hit HD 1080p instantaneously with the NOW App on NOW Boost.

Here's another recent thread about the subject, where I did mention Google DNS to see if it made any picture speed ramp up improvement.

Though I doubt this will work.

https://community.nowtv.com/t5/Setup-Performance/Long-Delay-before-HD-starts/m-p/599053 

[schnapps]

My Amazon Fire Stick 4K now seems to ramp up instantaneously to 1080p HD with Boost when watching the live NOW channels or switching from one live NOW channel to another.

Only tested with my NOW Sports Membership and Boost.

It used to take around 35 to 40 seconds (see my previous post above).

Haven't checked my Chromecast Google 4K TV yet to see if this device has also improved when ramping up to full HD when watching live NOW channels with Boost.

Edit - My Chromecast Google 4K TV also now ramps up instantaneously to full HD with Boost, where previously it took around 40 seconds.

[schnapps]

Hi @TheCableGuy96 

Forgot to mention that Android based playback devices using the NOW App seems to take longer from my experience to ramp up to full HD picture  quality with Boost compared to other playback devices I have owned using the NOW App.

Though I have no experience how quickly other NOW playback devices load up to full HD with Boost, such has Apple TV boxes, Playstations, Xbox etc.

[TheCableGuy96]

@schnapps 

So it's not just me then, further adding to my suspicions it's a problem with the app...

We run our own DNS servers and I've checked the lookups which are more than fast enough and nothing is being blocked. It uses multiple upstream providers including Cloudflare, Google, Adguard and Quad9 and will use whichever responds the quickest. It's not a DNS issue either. 

I "suspect" they are implementing some form of traffic shaping to limit the stream and use less bandwidth and thus which takes longer for the stream to load. I can only speculate of course but I do know that no HD stream should take anything more than a few seconds in this day and age, expecially with broadband 100Mbps+ (never mind 900Mbps+ as we are on).

I think i'll continue to pester them and force them to reply (actually do their job) as @gavs82008 suggested!

[RoyB]

@TheCableGuy96 

It’s not traffic shaping. Given the amount of Now bandwidth consumed, and with just about every other device ramping up to HD in seconds, the bandwidth they would save by ramping up slowly on the handful of NVidia devices that Now customers use wouldn’t shift the needle 😛

I expect the algorithm used on the NVidia version of the Now app is ramping up too conservatively.

Badger Live Chat until they indicate that something is to be done about this.

[TheCableGuy96]

Yeah I'm inclined to agree with you. I've been back on to chat and they said they have escalated it a second time and they should be back in touch within 72 hours... I won't hold my breath!

Cheers!