4K video on a 1Gb cable issues in Rogers, Toronto
4K video on a 1Gb cable issues in Rogers, Toronto
Using either my LG C7 or my Xbox One X, achieving a 4K stream is extremely challenging. While I can pick a 4K video, the quality options are limited to 1080p or 1440p. Setting the quality to 4K often causes intermittent playback with brief interruptions and a spinning buffer indicator. Network performance falls below 10 Mbits, which is slower than the 1080p range where the connection remains active despite short network spikes. I noticed occasional smooth streaming on Chrome on my 2016 MacBook Pro when connected to the LG, but other times it failed. Speed tests indicate Xbox handles around 450Mb, while a direct wired connection to the Rogers modem/router works better than the TV. A combined test with two MacBooks and one wireless device showed speeds between 750-850Mb, well over 1Gb. When 4K streams did work, Stats For Nerds on Xbox reported 25-80Mbps, maintaining buffer fills through bursts of activity. These numbers come from Digital Foundry’s comparisons, especially for video game quality. Previously, my Asus router couldn’t support the full speed, so I switched to Rogers, which was partially bridged. My main suggestion is to replace the current router with a recommended model and reconfigure the modem via bridging. Rogers didn’t assist further.
It seems unusual, most of what I watch on YouTube comes through my NVIDIA Shield TV in 4K with no buffering or issues. My internet speed is about 76Mbit/s, but I usually get around 66-70 average. I’m wondering if creating a hotspot on my phone and connecting to it would help. I think the ISP might be throttling the connection, though there’s not much data to go on right now. I’d also like to test with your PC using your ISP connection to see if the same problem occurs.
By PC @paddy-stone I assume you mean MacBook Pro since I don’t own a PC. I can attempt this again over the weekend, as I mentioned, though it seemed to function well previously but not recently. I also tried using TunnelBear VPN a bit, which might have improved things slightly, though it’s hard to measure exactly. I’m uncertain whether sharing internet access through my MacBook Wi-Fi to an Xbox will route that traffic through the VPN tunnel. Perhaps I could test with my wife’s phone at the end of the billing cycle to see what happens. Since I pay as you go, I’m not keen on using up data there. Are you confirming the content streams in 4K on your shield by checking the quality settings during playback? Maybe my old eyes can’t distinguish the difference between 1080p and 4K even on a 65" OLED display. I definitely pay for the best speeds and expect smooth streaming from YouTube with my connection.
It seems the device in question should be normal, just to confirm there’s no odd behavior. I’m not sure about hotspots yet, but I’ll give it a try and get back. I’ll use whatever connects via Wi-Fi, Xbox/shield, or similar. Yes, the 4K content is actually 4K, confirmed by stats from the YouTube app for youtubers. I always double-check that my streams look right. There are some streams missing the 4K version, but they’re becoming less common as more people adopt 4K and others also offer 1080p/720p. I’m hoping we can figure out what’s happening here. I’m not an expert, but I’ve dealt with several tech issues over the past 30 years or so—lol.
I recently tested my 2016 MBP in Chrome and it kept 150Mbps or higher while streaming smoothly. The LG C7 performed between 8-10Mbps and behaved similarly. It looks excellent on the Mac, but impresses most when used with a TV, especially thanks to its resolution and HDR support—though the slide show needs improvement. I’m exploring some examples from that article about finding HDR YouTube content. I’ve included a sample of the Mac’s playback as well. I also tried the same setup on an Xbox One X; it didn’t perform much better, despite being a powerful GPU. All devices used the same host mentioned in the Stats For Nerds guide. I’m curious to see how this would work on a local Fibe 1Gb connection and with a 4K set. If not for occasional 4K YouTube results, I’d wonder if the VP9 codec isn’t handling lower-end TV CPUs well. That also doesn’t explain the slow connection speeds or network activity. Maybe I should try the new 4K Firestick with HDR support or ChromeCast to see if they work better? I’ve had a tough time finding anyone discussing 4K YouTube issues.
It seems unusual when using Xbox. You experienced some dropped frames, but otherwise it worked well. The main possibilities are either your Wi-Fi connection or an issue within your home network. Since streaming to the 2016 MBP runs smoothly, your internet isn’t likely the cause. Are there any areas with poor coverage or other Wi-Fi problems at home? If you have another router or access point, you could test by disconnecting the current one and connecting a different device with a distinct SSID to see if performance improves.
I usually connect my Ethernet to both TV and Xbox, but I switched directly from the router to each device to check for interference. The same setup worked on my laptop too. I also used Wi-Fi for both, but didn’t see much improvement. The router is roughly ten feet away from the entertainment unit, so either wired or wireless should perform well. I even tried routing via a VPN using the laptop’s connection sharing, though the speeds weren’t great—I think the provider doesn’t support such high bandwidth. It looked like I got more stable speeds without reaching the maximum possible.
It seems there’s no shared factor affecting the issue. My plan is to switch to a different router or review network configurations. By the way, do you experience any network performance problems outside of streaming? In short, when you run speed tests and downloads, do you notice any difficulties? I’m not comfortable with Macs and don’t want to assume anything about them. Just in case, if you have an extra router, you could try it out.
Speed tests work well throughout most times of day. A dedicated app for Mac is available, and they say once you reach speeds over 100Mbps the internet might not be as reliable. Both TV and Xbox can perform web-based speed tests, though the Xbox version runs slower—typically between 200Mbps and 450Mbps. I’m planning to bring back my old Asus Dark Knight in a few weeks; I removed it from use because it can’t handle full 1Gb speeds, especially on Wi-Fi. I’m not confident enough in the ISP modem/router setup. It’s a bit of hassle reconfiguring the network settings and then adjusting them again when moving back to the cottage next spring.