I decided to check out the Netflix streaming service and I am teh confused. Simply put, not all content labeled "HD" streams in HD. I'd been pulling my hair out trying to figure out why as I suspected it was my setup, but I'm 99.99% sure it's not.

I have a Samsung BDP-1590 Blu-Ray player that I'm using to stream Netflix using the built-in app. It has the latest firmware update. It, along with my Xbox and Dish receiver connect to a wireless bridge to give them Internet access.

Connecting a laptop to the wireless bridge and running speed tests yields ~14Mbps down, ~4Mbps up, and ~40ms ping. This should be sufficient for Netflix HD streaming, no?

FWIW, clients hard-wired to my network yield 20Mbps+ down and ~20ms ping. Although the wireless bridge is a bottleneck, it should still be sufficient.

Here's where it gets weird. I've selected a random set of items to stream, all with the "HD" notation. Here's what happens:

• The Big Lebowski - Watched it in HD on Sunday, will no longer stream at HD.
• Dumb and Dumber - Streams in HD every time I select it.
• Dirty Dancing - Streams in HD every time I select it.
• Super Troopers - Has never streamed at HD.
• Parks and Rec - Has never streamed at HD.
• Food, Inc. - Has never streamed at HD.
• Office Space - Watched it at HD on Saturday, will not stream at HD since.
• Black Hawk Down - Sometimes HD, sometimes not.
• Ghostbusters - Has never streamed at HD.
• Scary Movie - Has never streamed at HD.
• Hot Tub Time Machine - Has never streamed at HD.
• Serenity - Has never streamed at HD.
• You get the idea...

I have my "Manage Video Quality" preference set to "Best Quality". When a given selection refuses to stream at HD, I can select one I know works and it streams at HD no problem. I even went as far as running a long Ethernet cable from my office to my Blu-Ray player and that didn't seem to make any difference...this was when I decided that the issue is not bandwidth/latency related. I'd try streaming from the Xbox but neither I or my wife have an Xbox Live Gold membership (we're too cheap ).

I don't know if this is related, but when I go to "Manage devices and computers" nothing is listed. Shouldn't I see my Blu-Ray player here?

Anybody have any idea what gives?

 

Netflix streaming is ... I thought everyone knew this already.

Hence why I use the DVD service.

 

Yeah I've noticed it acting a little odd lately but other than that it's been running great for years.

 

is right...

Last night (after posting this) I tried streaming stuff on my Mini and nothing would stream in HD...not even the select few that reliably streamed on my Blu-Ray player. All of my browsers and the Sliverlight plugin are up to date. Bandwidth was not an issue either.

Could the problem be account specific? Maybe I'll give them a call just for the heck of it...

 

i stream though my PS-3 (hdmi to tv) with a wireless connection, never had a quality issue

 

HD streaming works 98% of the time for me

 

HD streaming is fine for me too through the PS3 and Apple TV

 

14Mbps should be more than enough, I think max Netflix needs is 8mbps to avoid any buffering... ((Though real HD content needs min of 25mbps..but that's for videophiles))

Test your router, not just a speedtest, you probably have bottlenecks with long latencies, one way to test it, is to directly connect the ethernet wire; once you rule that out you can then yell at the blueray player and netflix, they may even give you free few months

 

I stream Netflix through my PS3 hardwired with cat5 and have never had an HD streaming issue

 

I stream HD via my Roku and PS3 all the time with no issues.

 

Mine works just fine.

 

I watch through wifi on my PS3. What I notice is that when it first starts playing, it looks pretty crappy and then it starts looking better after about a minute. Have you tried that?