Streaming Netflix on Sony TV

[willyb]

Good luck with that Sony.  If Sony's built-in Internet apps are like their Blu-ray players, then you might as well either buy a Roku box or upgrade your UV Internet service to 18GB.  You can check some other forums and you'll see the Sony 570-590 players making people very unhappy.  You see, your Netflix streams go through the mfr's servers (I can't say why it's that way, although it may have to do with the devices not being web browsers and real computers.)  In any case, your stream is only as good as the mfr's servers.  If they get too busy or make your Netflix stream subordinate to their own services, as Sony seems to do, then you have a problem.

My experience.  Supposedly, you need only 2.5Mbps for SD streaming and 6Mbps for HD streaming.  With Sony, though, you need 6Mbps for SD and 12-18Mbps for HD.  Roku is excellent and would be my first recommendation, so if your Sony built-in apps leave you "Loading..." repeatedly, you can invest $79 in the wireless 1080p Roku and solve the problem.  Vizio built-in apps are very good, although with occasional "blink outs" at any Internet speed.

Of course, this may all be a moot point as of May 2.  Check your email for notices from AT&T, then see the Internet Caps thread under Uverse Internet.  The times, they are a-changin'.

[athenian]

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Sherm01 wrote:

I was told you could hook it up through the Ethernet

internet connection on back of DVR box directly to the TV and use it to access your internet and stream movies.

Was I misinformed.  From the conversations on here it seems you need other equipment.

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You were misinformed.   The Ethernet jack on the DVR should not be used for other devices. 

To take advantage of the Bravia Intenet Widgets, you'll need a separate connection to the TV through your Residential Gateway.    The best way is with a wired connection but if you do not have an Ethernet jack in the wall behind the TV, or if the Residential Gateway is too far away to use a cable, you can use a wireless connection.  The Sony wireless adapter (UWA-BR100) runs about $80 retail and is available at Best Buy, Amazon, or Costco.

[dhascall ACE - Professor]

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athenian wrote:

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Sherm01 wrote:

I was told you could hook it up through the Ethernet

internet connection on back of DVR box directly to the TV and use it to access your internet and stream movies.

Was I misinformed.  From the conversations on here it seems you need other equipment.

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You were misinformed.   The Ethernet jack on the DVR should not be used for other devices. 

To take advantage of the Bravia Intenet Widgets, you'll need a separate connection to the TV through your Residential Gateway.    The best way is with a wired connection but if you do not have an Ethernet jack in the wall behind the TV, or if the Residential Gateway is too far away to use a cable, you can use a wireless connection.  The Sony wireless adapter (UWA-BR100) runs about $80 retail and is available at Best Buy, Amazon, or Costco.

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I must be doing it wrong.  

Sherm01 - Not misinformed at all.  Just use it at your own risk.  I have two Seagate Freeagent Theater+ media streamers in my household.  One is hooked up directly to an open ethernet port on the RG and the other is hooked up via the Ethernet port on my (coax fed) DVR.  The one hooked up to the STB's ethernet port outperforms the one direct connected to the RG.

I have stress tested the setup and can stream videos from my PC to the Seagate while watching/recording 4 streams.  I have also watched youtube videos from the net and it does seem to work just fine.

Just remember that it is unsupported thoigh many of us have had tremendous success with it.

[willyb]

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athenian wrote:

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Sherm01 wrote:

I was told you could hook it up through the Ethernet

internet connection on back of DVR box directly to the TV and use it to access your internet and stream movies.

Was I misinformed.  From the conversations on here it seems you need other equipment.

---

You were misinformed.   The Ethernet jack on the DVR should not be used for other devices. 

To take advantage of the Bravia Intenet Widgets, you'll need a separate connection to the TV through your Residential Gateway.    The best way is with a wired connection but if you do not have an Ethernet jack in the wall behind the TV, or if the Residential Gateway is too far away to use a cable, you can use a wireless connection.  The Sony wireless adapter (UWA-BR100) runs about $80 retail and is available at Best Buy, Amazon, or Costco.

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Caution.  Let me warn again, Sony apps may be a problem for you.  If you need wireless and don't have it, your $80 would be better spent on a Roku box than on a Sony wireless adapter.  If you can, you'll likely be more successful in streaming if you take Sony out of the Internet stream.  I have three Netflix/Amazon/et al streaming devices.  The Roku box and my Vizio TV have browsing capability at Netflix, and they stay connected and playing with no problems, where the Sony Blu-ray player can only see what has been put in the queue from a computer, and even with 18Mbps Internet, it frequently stops playing and shows "Loading..." until I turn it off and unplug from the wall.

BTW, the Ethernet port on the DVR may interfere with playing recordings back on other STBs, but you can safely use the Ethernet port on the non-DVR STB's.  I've done so on two of them, when I had a weak wireless signal.

Otherwise, Netflix is great, although nearly every time I look up a movie, it is DVD only--so don't get the streaming only account.  Pay the couple dollars more for one DVD at a time.

[Sherm01]

I hooked it up through the Ethernet connection and so far no problem.  I haven't tried any movies, but I

did play around with youtube and it looked great.  This is on the DVR box.  I checked one other box, non-DVR,

by just using a computer and it worked okay.

Thanks to everyone who replied.  Appreciate the input.

[dhascall ACE - Professor]

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willyb wrote:

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athenian wrote:

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Sherm01 wrote:

I was told you could hook it up through the Ethernet

internet connection on back of DVR box directly to the TV and use it to access your internet and stream movies.

Was I misinformed.  From the conversations on here it seems you need other equipment.

---

You were misinformed.   The Ethernet jack on the DVR should not be used for other devices. 

To take advantage of the Bravia Intenet Widgets, you'll need a separate connection to the TV through your Residential Gateway.    The best way is with a wired connection but if you do not have an Ethernet jack in the wall behind the TV, or if the Residential Gateway is too far away to use a cable, you can use a wireless connection.  The Sony wireless adapter (UWA-BR100) runs about $80 retail and is available at Best Buy, Amazon, or Costco.

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Caution.  Let me warn again, Sony apps may be a problem for you.  If you need wireless and don't have it, your $80 would be better spent on a Roku box than on a Sony wireless adapter.  If you can, you'll likely be more successful in streaming if you take Sony out of the Internet stream.  I have three Netflix/Amazon/et al streaming devices.  The Roku box and my Vizio TV have browsing capability at Netflix, and they stay connected and playing with no problems, where the Sony Blu-ray player can only see what has been put in the queue from a computer, and even with 18Mbps Internet, it frequently stops playing and shows "Loading..." until I turn it off and unplug from the wall.

BTW, the Ethernet port on the DVR may interfere with playing recordings back on other STBs, but you can safely use the Ethernet port on the non-DVR STB's.  I've done so on two of them, when I had a weak wireless signal.

Otherwise, Netflix is great, although nearly every time I look up a movie, it is DVD only--so don't get the streaming only account.  Pay the couple dollars more for one DVD at a time.

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Son-in-law concurs on that.  BUT he says that streaming Netflix is fine for movies that are a few years old or older and they have tons of TV series.  IIRC they pay about $9 a month for one DVD out @ a time and unlimited streaming.  Not bad, IMO.

As far as the Roku box goes, I have a Seagate Freeagent Theater+ (which has now been replaced by the Seagate GoFlex) and it does similar things for about the same price.  I do not remember where I saw it but it seemed to have more features than the Roku, at least in the compare matrix that I saw.

[willyb]

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dhascall wrote:

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willyb wrote:

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Otherwise, Netflix is great, although nearly every time I look up a movie, it is DVD only--so don't get the streaming only account.  Pay the couple dollars more for one DVD at a time.

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Son-in-law concurs on that.  BUT he says that streaming Netflix is fine for movies that are a few years old or older and they have tons of TV series.  IIRC they pay about $9 a month for one DVD out @ a time and unlimited streaming.  Not bad, IMO.

As far as the Roku box goes, I have a Seagate Freeagent Theater+ (which has now been replaced by the Seagate GoFlex) and it does similar things for about the same price.  I do not remember where I saw it but it seemed to have more features than the Roku, at least in the compare matrix that I saw.

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As to streaming movie boxes, I can only speak to the one with which I have experience, although all three Roku models have excellent user reviews on Amazon and Roku's own forum.  The Roku works with Netflix and Amazon Prime (as well as others, but these are the two I use) and will browse both.  It's negatives:  You have to give Roku a credit card number when you configure the box initially...just in case you want the conveniently add more channels without having to set up separate accounts.  That stinks, but if you contact tech support, they'll set up a Roku account without a credit card.  This aspect of the Roku is a pain, since it adds a couple hours to the initial setup, and they could have easily made the credit card an optional screen.  I have the middle version, the $79 model.  All, including the $59 model, support wired or wireless connections, but I upgraded to the middle one for 1080 HD.

Remember, when you use other than a computer to stream movies, you are dependent on the servers of the hardware manufacturer for reliable service.  Roku, Vizio, and I'm told Apple provide excellent, reliable streaming.  Sony, not so good, possibly because it gives its own content priority over Netflix.

Your Son-in-law is generally right about new vs older movies at Netflix, although there are a large number of exceptions.  Often a popular older movie is DVD only, while the less popular sequels are available streaming, like the Tom Hanks DaVinci Code movies, for example.  Also, the availability of movies and TV shows changes frequently.  A given movie may be available today, but two weeks from now it is DVD only.  Same with TV shows.  The classic road trip TV series, Route 66, is available on DVD for all seasons.  For a while, though, the first half of season one was available to stream.  Now it's DVD only also.  Same with several movies I've encountered and put into my streaming queue.  One day they're there, the next they're in the "save" list (aka wish list) and available as DVD only.  I imagine it is a combination of server capacity and licensing that dictates what is available to stream. 

[dhascall ACE - Professor]

The "they were there and now they are gone" conversation not only hits Netflix but VOD from all providers.  Same reason, the infrastructure can only hold so much.  We had one "one post wonder" on U-Talk that complained that all of the seasons of The Sopranos (IIRC) were not available on VOD at the same time. 

[willyb]

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Sherm01 wrote:

I hooked it up through the Ethernet connection and so far no problem.  I haven't tried any movies, but I

did play around with youtube and it looked great.  This is on the DVR box.  I checked one other box, non-DVR,

by just using a computer and it worked okay.

Thanks to everyone who replied.  Appreciate the input.

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My experience using the STB as an Ethernet connection has been good with non-DVR STBs and not so good with the DVR.  My DVR box, for example, is connected to the network via coax, leaving the RJ45 port available.  I can connect a streaming device or a computer there, and it works fine.  HOWEVER, when it is connected it has a negative effect on DVR recordings playing back through other STBs (I have four non-DVR STBs).  Symptom is stuttering, that is, freeze--play--freeze--play.  Disconnect the device or computer from the DVR's Ethernet port, and then the DVR recordings play fine on the other STBs.

I have concluded that the weakness is the HPNA networking, which, I believe, is a 10Mbps network (not surprising, since 10-base-T networks used coax and were 10Mbps).  If the network is carrying both HDTV from the DVR and Internet packets from the Ethernet-connected device, it just can't keep up.

[SomeJoe7777 ACE - Geek]

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willyb wrote:

I have concluded that the weakness is the HPNA networking, which, I believe, is a 10Mbps network (not surprising, since 10-base-T networks used coax and were 10Mbps).  If the network is carrying both HDTV from the DVR and Internet packets from the Ethernet-connected device, it just can't keep up.

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A properly working HPNA implementation on the U-Verse system has a shared bandwidth amongst all connected devices of 112 Mbps, not 10 Mbps.

[WhiteShark27]

I just got a system notice today that implied Netflix is now available through On Demand. I am not a regular On Demand user and am having trouble finding the Netflix menu. Does anyone know where it is or how to activate it?

[peteyboy]

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WhiteShark27 wrote:

I just got a system notice today that implied Netflix is now available through On Demand. I am not a regular On Demand user and am having trouble finding the Netflix menu. Does anyone know where it is or how to activate it?

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I highly doubt this,you probably mis-read a new movie release that states get it before Netflix...As netflix holds back new rental releases back 28 days due to studio request and propaganda.

I dare say though, it would be neat if netflix and uverse play nice and work out a deal/compromise and get a netflix app on uverse stb's...

[WhiteShark27]

Hmm, that's too bad. I s there any way to get to a list of messages so I can read it again? Coming from a TiVo HD the interface on this DVR is so bad I often just throw my hands up.

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

Yes, you misread the message.  The message stated that U-verse On Demand offers some movies earlier than when they are available on Netflix or Redbox.

[RCSMG ACE - Master]

If ATT was going to stream Netflix there would probably be a monthly fee for that feature.  Netflix wouldn't be interested in giving ATT this feature fee.

[dhascall ACE - Professor]

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RCSMG wrote:

If ATT was going to stream Netflix there would probably be a monthly fee for that feature.  Netflix wouldn't be interested in giving ATT this feature fee.

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Actually I bet Netflix would not mind, since they're already getting paid by the subscriber but it would be AT&T who would balk as they would lose VOD fees, folks might downgrade TV (U450 to 300 and so on) and etc.

[RCSMG ACE - Master]

umm hmm

[craigun]

My concern is with the new 250 Gig per month cap.  Watching several Netflix movies in HD is not going to help matters at all, not to mention Hulu Plus.

[RCSMG ACE - Master]

Unfortunately all we can do is wait until our billing cycle is over and we get  a bill.  It would be great if they put a monthly bandwidth usage section in the bill.

[Sherm01]

What is this about a 250 gig cap?  I haven't gotten anything about that from AT&T.  They impose a cap and I may be

going over the T-W.  I am already a little ticked that I cant get what I am paying for.  Ability to record and/or watch

four HD channels at one time.  They say I don't have enough bandwith because I have some copper lines in the

system.

[RCSMG ACE - Master]

According to the announcement the Caps went into effect on May 2.  Most if not all subs are waiting to see if we get any warnings about over usage at the end of this billing cycle.

[Kong57]

Th

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dhascall wrote:

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RCSMG wrote:

If ATT was going to stream Netflix there would probably be a monthly fee for that feature.  Netflix wouldn't be interested in giving ATT this feature fee.

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Actually I bet Netflix would not mind, since they're already getting paid by the subscriber but it would be AT&T who would balk as they would lose VOD fees, folks might downgrade TV (U450 to 300 and so on) and etc.

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Then we would never get 5.1 sound with Netflix

[PO-d]

Hi...I know it's an old topic, but I just got hooked up (switched from Comcast) yesterday. The sales person told me that I could stream through the DVR, and that I could throw away my Roku box. Now I am bitterly disappointed. We got all this stuff done to the house and will be learning a new system (which is far less intuitive than Comcast was) and we won't have the added advantage of streaming...which was one of the guy's main selling points.

Going to stick with it for now, since I have already invested in the installation...but I'm feeling ripped off at the moment.

[RCSMG ACE - Master]

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PO-d wrote:

Hi...I know it's an old topic, but I just got hooked up (switched from Comcast) yesterday. The sales person told me that I could stream through the DVR, and that I could throw away my Roku box. Now I am bitterly disappointed. We got all this stuff done to the house and will be learning a new system (which is far less intuitive than Comcast was) and we won't have the added advantage of streaming...which was one of the guy's main selling points.

Going to stick with it for now, since I have already invested in the installation...but I'm feeling ripped off at the moment.

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Sorry to know you were misinformed about what you can do with Uverse.  I don't know if you spoke to a door to door salesperson or someone in ATT customer service.  For quite some time people were selling Uverse who didn't know anything about the service.  Others were giving false information.  Hopefully your Uverse experience will improve, but if you ever have any questions comments, or concerns.  Feel free to post them here.  There are many people who are ready willing and able to offer assistance.  Welcome to Uverse.

[Sherm01]

I have used the DVR box to stream Netflix.  I have my TV  hooked-up to the DVR computer out on back of DVR box  and have a TV that

has Netflix plus other computer related programs already programmed into the TV.   Like

you tube and some other free movie sites. I have a sony 46 inch flat screen.

I don't know if you have a new HD smart TV or not.  Mine is about a year old.

I don't if I have made myself clear or not, reading back over my post.  But on the back of the DVR box there is another

out plug for a computer.  As well as the HDMI out for TV.  The computer "out" is like a telephone receptical but larger.

And it also plugs into the TV.  So you will have two cables to the tv.  Your HDMI video/sound and a cable for the

computer out from DVR to TV.

Clear as mud.....but it works.

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

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Sherm01 wrote:

I have used the DVR box to stream Netflix.  I have my TV  hooked-up to the DVR computer out on back of DVR box  and have a TV that

has Netflix plus other computer related programs already programmed into the TV.   Like

you tube and some other free movie sites. I have a sony 46 inch flat screen.

I don't know if you have a new HD smart TV or not.  Mine is about a year old.

I don't if I have made myself clear or not, reading back over my post.  But on the back of the DVR box there is another

out plug for a computer.  As well as the HDMI out for TV.  The computer "out" is like a telephone receptical but larger.

And it also plugs into the TV.  So you will have two cables to the tv.  Your HDMI video/sound and a cable for the

computer out from DVR to TV.

Clear as mud.....but it works.

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You are using the Ethernet port on the back of the U-verse DVR to provide internet access to the your internet TV.  It sounds like you have Google TV built into your Sony TV. 

This is not the same as streaming Netflix on the the U-verse DVR.  You are streaming Netflix on your TV not the U-verse DVR.

[Sherm01]

What is the difference?  Are you talking about using UVerse to access Netflix?  I am getting my feed to the internet

through the DVR,.

[SomeJoe7777 ACE - Geek]

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Sherm01 wrote:

What is the difference?  Are you talking about using UVerse to access Netflix?  I am getting my feed to the internet through the DVR,.

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There is a large difference.  The piece of technology that is allowing you to decode the Netflix stream is your TV.

The person who was asking if U-Verse can stream Netflix does not have a TV like yours.  He wanted to know if Netflix can be streamed to the U-Verse receiver so he can watch it.  It cannot.

[jimgfitzgerald]

If your tv is not internet capable, as mine is not, you will still need to use your Roku to receive Netflix.  However, you can plug your Roku into the ethernet port in the back of your DVR or STB to provide the internet signal to your Roku.  I don't think this is supported by U-Verse, but I find it works quite well and better than trying to receive a wireless signal to your Roku.