You tube buffering on smart TV

[RaceDiagnostics]

I get this every few days at random, usually in the evening.

The stats page normally shows something this when it's running ok, the buffer is more than 40 seconds.

Then when it starts to buffer, looks like this,

At the same time my speed test shows no problem, and there is no buffering on my phone.

Any thoughts on this?

All our internet is done via hotspots on our phones. Neither phone ever has a problem as we are in a good signal area.

 

[AdventuresInMetal]

It looks like its the wifi between your TV and the phone thats the problem, rather then your 4G signal, some interference from something like a microwave perhaps?

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Thanks, I see what you are saying, nothing obvious causing interference.

 

[JOEPRO]

Is your house wi fi not strong enough or why are you using mobile phones?

In my house I have Fibre and the router is too far away from the TVs to get solid wi fi signal.

Therefore I added a (hardwired with cat 5 cables from main router) wi fi access point in my living room which gives very strong wi fi signal for the TVs In that area of house.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

It's mobile phones and the distance from the TV makes no difference. When the problem occurs, it persists even if the phone is right next to the TV.

 

[m_c]

I used to notice this when I was running on mobile broadband.

I suspect it's how mobile operators prioritise network traffic, and probably don't optimise things for hotspot usage.

 

[skotl]

I expect it's latency, rather than bandwidth. Bandwidth is the maximum sustainable download speed, however the download is broken down into thousands (or millions) of "packets" - latency is the round-trip time for each request and, if this is high, then there will be a significant impact on how long it takes to download files (and streaming is just downloading of a file).

Latency over a 4G connection is typically not great and, to be honest, there's almost certainly nothing you can do about it.

To check

To check latency, pop over to https://www.speedtest.net/ and run a test - ignore the download speed and look for the "ping" numbers: 20ms or below is ideal, and 100ms or higher is going to make streaming or online gaming very painful.

Technical / hard solutions
If latency is bad then there are some technical hacks you can carry out but only if the device (e.g. youtube app and/or TV) make these settings available.

The first is to increase the maximum packet, fragment (or other word suggesting chunk-of-data size). Most systems optimise for a huge quantity of small packets but this means high-latency has a more marked effect. If you have the option to turn the packet size up then that should decrease the effect of latency.
The second is to adjust the parallel data transfer setting (again, if available) - most apps will try to bring down dozens of packets at a time, which works great on low-latency connections but ends up with them competing with each other under high latency. If there is an option to turn down the concurrent / parallel packet transfers (they might also call it something like "simultaneous requests") then experiment with that. Note that going too far with this setting will decrease reliability and performance.

Easier solution
I know you said that you use 4G phones but I don't know whether this is literally a phone, or a router with a 4G SIM in it?
If it is a router then try hardwiring the TV to the router with a bit of CAT5 cable. Wifi introduces its own latency which will only make the 4G latency worse.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Latency is normally pretty good, somewhere between 15mS and 35mS.

Just had a look.

So had a look at the app on the TV, there are no user setting for the items you suggest above but there was a setting to "link" to a phone to use "casting". I'll have a look into that and see if it solves the problem.

 

[reb78]

I am having a similar problem with iplayer on a 6ish year old Samsung TV. I run broadband via 4g (through a router though as it is more reliable than using the phone as a hotspot) but I have put my problem down to the fact that samsung havent released an update for the TV for about 3 years. So, I think the apps are all out of date but there seems to be nothing I can do about it. Its probably for a different thread, but is there a way to stick a different OS on these TVs - perhaps something Android based that will allow you to update apps when the manufacturers have clearly given up doing it themselves??!

 

[JOEPRO]

It's mobile phones and the distance from the TV makes no difference. When the problem occurs, it persists even if the phone is right next to the TV.

Why running off phones though?

Is it due to location having no utilities or do you just not have broadband / fibre for other reasons.

 

[reb78]

Why running off phones though?

Is it due to location having no utilities or do you just not have broadband / fibre for other reasons.

For me, yes (except I use a sim 4g router not a phone). I have an old copper cable from BT which isnt capable of much or I can jump onto a very good 4g signal which I think has been upgraded to 5g but the routers are much more expensive for some reason.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Why running off phones though?

Is it due to location having no utilities or do you just not have broadband / fibre for other reasons.

Don't see the point of paying for broadband when you get it for "free" on your phone.

Been broadband free for 2 1/2 years.

 

[Kayos]

YouTube has started complaining about ad blockers recently. PiHole became too difficult to make work with YouTube

Adverts will become self defeating

 

[Robotstar5]

YouTube has started complaining about ad blockers recently. PiHole became too difficult to make work with YouTube

Adverts will become self defeating

Since they started blocking me unless I disabled adblocker I tried a couple of work-arounds that also failed after a few days so I'm watching less Youtube now

 

[Kayos]

Since they started blocking me unless I disabled adblocker I tried a couple of work-arounds that also failed after a few days so I'm watching less Youtube now

I've found allowing the adblock to work incognito is sufficient for now, except having to login and accept cookies every time.

 

[Erie Fred]

I use a dedicated mobile hotspot at the home office, as well as I mobile hotspot my phone, for my laptop.
I always use a wire to connect to the computer, bypassing WiFi.
It's faster.

 

[Seadog]

Since they started blocking me unless I disabled adblocker I tried a couple of work-arounds that also failed after a few days so I'm watching less Youtube now

I logged out and now all is OK.