OT: Hulu Picture Quality Problems?

[tailgater371]

Anyone else having poor picture quality with Hulu Live? I've had it since last April and had no issues. Even stated i'd never go back to DTV after having it for 20 years. Then around October it has just been almost unwatchable.

I did everything I could with my Fire TV, modem and router with resets. Finally had the Geek Squad come by and troubleshoot my network. I have a 40 mbs plan with Century Link. Was only pulling about 15 mbs so they recommended a new router. I did and initially was getting about 27 mbs and things looked better.

But again now even with non-live content it is worse than standard def. Nothing else is bad. Netflix, Amazon, HBO Go, all HD quality. It will be good for about 30 seconds then go blurry again in and out constantly. I'm at my wits end on this and on the verge of going back to DTV or even worse Mediacom, but I love my 100 dollar per month savings. Just wondering if anyone else is having similar issues. Have considered going up to the 80mbs plan, but with everything else seeming to work I am not confident I need to make the jump.

 

[InGoodCo]

I've experienced similar things with Hulu live, but it's typically very short. Like, it will go way out of focus and come back. In my experience, the streaming world can be very frustrating but IMO in the long run much more affordable. Ya just gotta kind of live with the bad for a while. In a few years, this will be the new normal. I only have Hulu live for Iowa FB and BB, once this season ends I am gonna ditch it til next September.

 

[EstronHawkKing]

I've experienced similar things with Hulu live, but it's typically very short. Like, it will go way out of focus and come back. In my experience, the streaming world can be very frustrating but IMO in the long run much more affordable. Ya just gotta kind of live with the bad for a while. In a few years, this will be the new normal. I only have Hulu live for Iowa FB and BB, once this season ends I am gonna ditch it til next September.

Do you think cable companies like Mediacom or ImOn are in trouble? I'm worried that if they lose a large majority of cable customers, they will jack their internet prices through the roof. In another post on here I mentioned that yesterday was suppose to be my last day for having cable with my cable company (I'm keeping my internet with them) but, this morning I turned on my tv and I still have the cable working. Either they think they are going to keep billing me for it against my wishes or they forgot to turn it off.

 

[mopkins]

Anyone else having poor picture quality with Hulu Live? I've had it since last April and had no issues. Even stated i'd never go back to DTV after having it for 20 years. Then around October it has just been almost unwatchable.

I did everything I could with my Fire TV, modem and router with resets. Finally had the Geek Squad come by and troubleshoot my network. I have a 40 mbs plan with Century Link. Was only pulling about 15 mbs so they recommended a new router. I did and initially was getting about 27 mbs and things looked better.

But again now even with non-live content it is worse than standard def. Nothing else is bad. Netflix, Amazon, HBO Go, all HD quality. It will be good for about 30 seconds then go blurry again in and out constantly. I'm at my wits end on this and on the verge of going back to DTV or even worse Mediacom, but I love my 100 dollar per month savings. Just wondering if anyone else is having similar issues. Have considered going up to the 80mbs plan, but with everything else seeming to work I am not confident I need to make the jump.

Generally picture quality on streaming is due to bandwidth. I don't want to hate on DSL too much because I realize not everyone has the options I do, but I hate DSL and have had terrible luck with it.

Have you tried multiple devices? Maybe when you find the video sucks on your fire TV, go to your computer/laptop/cell phone/tablet and load the same video and see if its crappy there too. At least doing that could help you narrow it down to either a device issue or an ISP issue.

Also when the video quality sucks I'd recommend running an internet speed test from your phone or laptop to check how fast your wifi download speeds are at that exact moment. Hulu recommends at least 8mbs for live tv so if your ISP if spiking below that it could easily impact your video quality.

Also check your Hulu app settings and look to see if its set to "Data Saver" or "Best Available"? That can make a big impact as well if its on Data Saver

There's also the standard responses...check for app updates, clear your cache, uninstall/reinstall Hulu.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Anyone else having poor picture quality with Hulu Live? I've had it since last April and had no issues. Even stated i'd never go back to DTV after having it for 20 years. Then around October it has just been almost unwatchable.

I did everything I could with my Fire TV, modem and router with resets. Finally had the Geek Squad come by and troubleshoot my network. I have a 40 mbs plan with Century Link. Was only pulling about 15 mbs so they recommended a new router. I did and initially was getting about 27 mbs and things looked better.

But again now even with non-live content it is worse than standard def. Nothing else is bad. Netflix, Amazon, HBO Go, all HD quality. It will be good for about 30 seconds then go blurry again in and out constantly. I'm at my wits end on this and on the verge of going back to DTV or even worse Mediacom, but I love my 100 dollar per month savings. Just wondering if anyone else is having similar issues. Have considered going up to the 80mbs plan, but with everything else seeming to work I am not confident I need to make the jump.

Try a YouTube TV free trial to see if the picture quality is better, then you would know. Also, you may end up liking YTT. Why not seek out another streaming service instead of going backwards to satellite or Mediacon.

 

[mopkins]

Do you think cable companies like Mediacom or ImOn are in trouble? I'm worried that if they lose a large majority of cable customers, they will jack their internet prices through the roof. In another post on here I mentioned that yesterday was suppose to be my last day for having cable with my cable company (I'm keeping my internet with them) but, this morning I turned on my tv and I still have the cable working. Either they think they are going to keep billing me for it against my wishes or they forgot to turn it off.

IMO if companies jack up their internet prices too much there will be massive public outcry and increased threats to make internet a public utility. So the ISP's have to walk a really fine line. Not that greed has ever stopped anyone.

 

[tailgater371]

Try a YouTube TV free trial to see if the picture quality is better, then you would know. Also, you may end up liking YTT. Why not seek out another streaming service instead of going backwards to satellite or Mediacon.

Appreciate the suggestion. Did a free trial of YTT before having my network troubleshot. It was similar. It was similar. I found out that I liked Hulu’s whole platform better. Not by much but overall winner.

 

[HawkeyeDug]

I did everything I could with my Fire TV,.

What device do you have? Is it a Fire Stick? If so that could be the problem. We used a fire stick for awhile and it was a POS. We have a couple Roku devices now and a Chromecast and they are both much better than the Fire Stick.

 

[InGoodCo]

Do you think cable companies like Mediacom or ImOn are in trouble? I'm worried that if they lose a large majority of cable customers, they will jack their internet prices through the roof. In another post on here I mentioned that yesterday was suppose to be my last day for having cable with my cable company (I'm keeping my internet with them) but, this morning I turned on my tv and I still have the cable working. Either they think they are going to keep billing me for it against my wishes or they forgot to turn it off.

I do think cable companies like that are in trouble, but only in trouble that they will have to buy out or get swallowed up by streaming companies and then streaming companies will become more and more expensive. I cut the chord a little over a year ago, since then, my Hulu live has had 3 rate increases of a total of over $20. That's just gonna keep going up. I do like that I can do al a carte type ordering of the services tho. It makes you really think about what you want to subscribe to and what you can live without. It turns out I can live without just about every thing other then Hawkeye sports and HBO.

There are also sites out there, like say, F movies - that you can get on your streaming devices that have every show you'd like (sans live TV) and have their programs streaming for free. Its as learning curve, it doesn't work real slick, but you can see just about anything you want on that site. Every body is gonna say you're stealing and technically they are probably right, but it's not downloadable, so you don't really take possession of it. I will watch a few things on there from time to time if I don't have a subscription, which makes me a dirty thief I guess, but something I've grown to live with.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

I do think cable companies like that are in trouble, but only in trouble that they will have to buy out or get swallowed up by streaming companies and then streaming companies will become more and more expensive. I cut the chord a little over a year ago, since then, my Hulu live has had 3 rate increases of a total of over $20. That's just gonna keep going up. I do like that I can do al a carte type ordering of the services tho. It makes you really think about what you want to subscribe to and what you can live without. It turns out I can live without just about every thing other then Hawkeye sports and HBO.

There are also sites out there, like say, F movies - that you can get on your streaming devices that have every show you'd like (sans TV) and have their programs streaming for free. Its as learning curve, it doesn't work real slick, but you can see just about anything you want on that site. Every body is gonna say you're stealing and technically they are probably right, but it's not downloadable, so you don't really take possession of it. I will watch a few things on there from time to time if I don't have a subscription, which makes me a dirty thief I guess, but something I've grown to live with.

If you aren't downloading the content and trying to profit off it, then screw it. I don't see anything wrong with what you occasionally do. I don't think down on you.