Hopper/Netflix suggestions, bugs, etc

Hall

SatelliteGuys Master
Feb 14, 2004
18,409
3,200
Germantown OH
The Hopper and the TV are 12" apart. The Roku is upstairs in our bedroom, so it is much, much further away. Our router is in the basement making the Roku two floors away.
 

VegasVoomer

SatelliteGuys Pro
Dec 3, 2004
672
45
Las Vegas
Does anyone see the spinning circle with a % counter ? It's almost like an indicator that it's buffering but it will frequently just get hung up (25% seems to be a common point for me). I am hard-pressed to say that I have ever seen a buffering problem with my TV's Netflix app or the Netflix app on my Roku.
I get that % counter each time I start to watch a program. It goes to 100% after about 10 seconds and the program starts. That's seems normal to me. I've never had it hang up before 100%.
 

Tony S

SatelliteGuys Pro
Lifetime Supporter
Sep 7, 2003
1,502
934
Hills of Eastern CT
The Hopper and the TV are 12" apart. The Roku is upstairs in our bedroom, so it is much, much further away. Our router is in the basement making the Roku two floors away.

Signal strength may not be your problem, but I would not rule it out based solely on what you wrote. I know it doesn't seem logical, but I have found that sometimes only moving the receiving device a few inches in the right direction will improve the signal a lot.
 

king3pj

SatelliteGuys Master
Lifetime Supporter
Jun 7, 2009
9,469
1,730
Michigan
Signal strength may not be your problem, but I would not rule it out based solely on what you wrote. I know it doesn't seem logical, but I have found that sometimes only moving the receiving device a few inches in the right direction will improve the signal a lot.

Not only that but some devices just pick up a WiFi signal better than others.

At my family's lake cabin we don't have internet but one of the few people who live in the neighborhood full time gave us their WiFi password. My Toshiba laptop and my sister's MacBook are both able to hold a steady connection just about anywhere in the cabin. My brother in law's HP laptop and all of our iPhones and iPads don't even list this same WiFi network as an option to try to connect to. These will connect outside on the porch but as soon as you go inside the signal always drops. The neighbor's router and all of these devices have wireless N radios. Some devices just do a better job with a weak WiFi signal than others.

That being said, I agree that it might not be a signal problem. Netflix on the Hopper is brand new while Roku has been doing it for years. I'm sure there are a few things that still need to be ironed out.
 

Hall

SatelliteGuys Master
Feb 14, 2004
18,409
3,200
Germantown OH
I get that % counter each time I start to watch a program. It goes to 100% after about 10 seconds and the program starts. That's seems normal to me. I've never had it hang up before 100%.
I'm not even considering that counter at start-up - I'd consider it "normal". I'm referring to it popping up at random times, in the middle of shows, etc. In fact, sometimes it gets stuck and I have to cancel/back to the menus and effectively restart/resume.
 

lazydogmot

SatelliteGuys Pro
Jan 27, 2009
482
77
N/E Florida
The percent counter only lasts a couple of seconds (5 tops) at the beginning of a program on both of our HWS. Also, we have never seen it in the middle of a program (never has stopped to buffer). Just curious, what is your internet speed?
 

Hall

SatelliteGuys Master
Feb 14, 2004
18,409
3,200
Germantown OH
Just curious, what is your internet speed?
We pay for 15Mb/s from Time Warner. I can confirm that with torrents, for example, I have maintained 12Mb/s downloads pretty routinely, so I'm confident it is not the issue. As I mentioned previously, with my smart TV's Netflix app or the Netflix app on the Roku, I do not have buffering issues. All of those devices are using WiFi.
 

dke

SatelliteGuys Family
Nov 21, 2013
46
4
California
Does anyone see the spinning circle with a % counter ? It's almost like an indicator that it's buffering but it will frequently just get hung up (25% seems to be a common point for me). I am hard-pressed to say that I have ever seen a buffering problem with my TV's Netflix app or the Netflix app on my Roku.

Yes I get that pretty much every time I watch something on Netflix on the hopper. I've pretty much stopped trying to use the app. I just use my roku which rarely has streaming problems. I have 50mbps down & 6mbps up and the hopper is connected wired. If you look at the network details in the app it's generally the Netflix app loses connection not the hopper.

Dan
 

Hall

SatelliteGuys Master
Feb 14, 2004
18,409
3,200
Germantown OH
If you're seeing it on a wired connection with internet service that fast, sure sounds like the app needs fine-tuning for that part.
 

fishman316

SatelliteGuys Pro
Jul 31, 2011
433
196
michigan
24 mb down with wired connection to one hopper. Works fine on both hoppers. We have watched all 23 episodes of hemlock grove with no issues at all. Knock on wood
 

JM42

SatelliteGuys Pro
Lifetime Supporter
Nov 25, 2010
1,748
280
GA
Same here. Streams start faster on my Hopper and handle "trick play" better than any other Netflix client I have, although admittedly the others are a generation or so behind.
 

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Missing program icons

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