HBO Go Freezes
July 10, 2016 2:01 PM Subscribe
HBO Go freezes in mid-broadcast. How can I either buffer it on my Apple TV, or get it to play through?
I'm getting 5Mb/s download speeds on SpeedTest. I'm going through Unblock-Us because the service doesn't seem to exist here in Canada.
Sometimes restarting my Apple TV seems to help, sometimes it doesn't.
Is this likely an issue with...
a. my download speed? In which case 10Mb/s would solve it.
b. my unblocker? Would another unblocker work better?
c. HBO just has lousy infrastructure and there's nothing to do?
d. Any reason this would work better on my computer than on my Apple TV?
Also, is there any way to buffer the stream? With YouTube, I can buffer a whole show and then watch it when it's all safely in the buffer. I.e. this wouldn't be happening. However, buffering doesn't seem to be an option with HBO Go.
I'm getting 5Mb/s download speeds on SpeedTest. I'm going through Unblock-Us because the service doesn't seem to exist here in Canada.
Sometimes restarting my Apple TV seems to help, sometimes it doesn't.
Is this likely an issue with...
a. my download speed? In which case 10Mb/s would solve it.
b. my unblocker? Would another unblocker work better?
c. HBO just has lousy infrastructure and there's nothing to do?
d. Any reason this would work better on my computer than on my Apple TV?
Also, is there any way to buffer the stream? With YouTube, I can buffer a whole show and then watch it when it's all safely in the buffer. I.e. this wouldn't be happening. However, buffering doesn't seem to be an option with HBO Go.
> I'm getting 5Mb/s download speeds on SpeedTest
5 Mb/s or 5 Mbps? (5 megabytes per second or 5 megabits per second)? Because 5 Mb/s = 40 Mbps. Speedtest.net measures in Mbps. Typically ISPs sell their service as Mbps as it's a larger number that looks more impressive on the advert. If it's only 5 Mbps, that might be your issue.
Also, do you have the newest Apple TV (version 4 - with the touch remote?) We had glitchy issues with version 3. The 4th version just has a better/more powerful processor, as well as more RAM, which has made streaming much smoother for us.
posted by bluecore at 3:24 PM on July 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
5 Mb/s or 5 Mbps? (5 megabytes per second or 5 megabits per second)? Because 5 Mb/s = 40 Mbps. Speedtest.net measures in Mbps. Typically ISPs sell their service as Mbps as it's a larger number that looks more impressive on the advert. If it's only 5 Mbps, that might be your issue.
Also, do you have the newest Apple TV (version 4 - with the touch remote?) We had glitchy issues with version 3. The 4th version just has a better/more powerful processor, as well as more RAM, which has made streaming much smoother for us.
posted by bluecore at 3:24 PM on July 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: It's 5 Mbps. Apple TV version 4.
posted by Native in Exile at 10:43 PM on July 11, 2016
posted by Native in Exile at 10:43 PM on July 11, 2016
I'd consider:
1) Upgrading to the faster plan. 5 Mpbs isn't the fastest, especially if you're adding overhead by pushing it through a VPN pipe, or if another family member is surfing the web while you're trying to watch video.
2) Trying a region unlocking service (rather than a VPN). A VPN encrypts all of your traffic and the exit point is in a particular country, making it look like you're there. A region unlocker fools the service into thinking you're from a particular place by fooling the DNS servers, but doesn't encrypt all the traffic, so there's not the bandwidth overhead. One such service is adfreetime, made by a Canadian.
3) Look at your router & modem. I usually recommend to have user owned modem + router, rather than one provided by the ISP, and to have a separate modem and router, rather than a combined device. On top of this, it could help to have a wireless router with the newest wireless standard that the AppleTV supports (802.11ac) over an older standard (802.11g). And I'd argue a best case scenario for your setup is a user purchased modem and an Apple Extreme router, which should pair nicely with the AppleTV. If you want to eliminate wireless issues from the equation, run an ethernet cable from the router directly to the AppleTV and see if it's still laggy.
posted by bluecore at 5:59 AM on July 12, 2016
1) Upgrading to the faster plan. 5 Mpbs isn't the fastest, especially if you're adding overhead by pushing it through a VPN pipe, or if another family member is surfing the web while you're trying to watch video.
2) Trying a region unlocking service (rather than a VPN). A VPN encrypts all of your traffic and the exit point is in a particular country, making it look like you're there. A region unlocker fools the service into thinking you're from a particular place by fooling the DNS servers, but doesn't encrypt all the traffic, so there's not the bandwidth overhead. One such service is adfreetime, made by a Canadian.
3) Look at your router & modem. I usually recommend to have user owned modem + router, rather than one provided by the ISP, and to have a separate modem and router, rather than a combined device. On top of this, it could help to have a wireless router with the newest wireless standard that the AppleTV supports (802.11ac) over an older standard (802.11g). And I'd argue a best case scenario for your setup is a user purchased modem and an Apple Extreme router, which should pair nicely with the AppleTV. If you want to eliminate wireless issues from the equation, run an ethernet cable from the router directly to the AppleTV and see if it's still laggy.
posted by bluecore at 5:59 AM on July 12, 2016
I had a similar problem, and this helped:
http://help.hbonow.com/app/answers/detailHBO/a_id/116
I suspect it was deleting and re-installing the app that did it.
posted by TochterAusElysium at 1:47 PM on July 12, 2016
http://help.hbonow.com/app/answers/detailHBO/a_id/116
I suspect it was deleting and re-installing the app that did it.
posted by TochterAusElysium at 1:47 PM on July 12, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
d. Any reason this would work better on my computer than on my Apple TV?
I don't know what the problem is, but I'm pretty sure it's not either of these, because I use HBO Go on Apple TVs multiple times a week (for a couple of years now) and I almost never have the kinds of issues you're describing. It's not inherent to HBO Go, Apple TV, or the combination.
If I had to guess, I'd say that it's insufficient bandwidth or something about your VPN/unblocking setup. 5 Mbps is pretty slow these days. HBO's official documentation says that 3 Mbps is the minimum, but 5 is barely above that, and if you have other things using the connection at the same time they may be competing. Or if your service bursts to 5 Mbps long enough for a speed test, but can't sustain it, that could be a problem.
I assume the speed test result you're reporting are running over the VPN, not just on the bare connection, right? The VPN is going to have some overhead and likely slow things down a bit.
posted by primethyme at 2:12 PM on July 10, 2016 [1 favorite]