SC Tom wrote:


"Paul" wrote in message
news
SC Tom wrote:


"Seymore4Head" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 22 Jan 2018 00:08:03 -0500, Paul
wrote:

Seymore4Head wrote:
I got a firestick for my niece hoping we could drop cable and phone.
She is complaining that the programs she is trying to watch are
pausing in the middle like a Youtube video sometimes does.
We have 100Mbs down and 5Mbs up. My router is a RT-AC66U and it is
located about 30 ft from the TV.

She thinks the buffering might be because of the stations she is
trying to watch. Is there a good way to use my cell phone to
check if
it is my Wifi or the Firestick?

http://www.yourkodi.com/amazon-fire-...buffering-fix/

STEP 1: Go down to the processing section and
Turn down Enable HQ Scalers to 0%

STEP 2: Disable MediaCodec (Surface)

STEP 3: REBOOT KODI AND TEST

If you still have minor issues you can try to
disable Media codec as well but try the (surface one first)

I have no idea what any of that means, except to suggest
the settings are somehow responsible for the poor performance.
I don't even know what computing devices are involved there
and what's doing the computing and what's doing the downloading.

One picture I could find, says it connects via HDMI to the TV set,
and uses a power adapter. The text in the picture, seems to imply the
HDMI cable is being used as an antenna for the internal Wifi ?
I wonder if a Wifi issue is the problem, and nothing to do
with Broadband service ?

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....329209627_.jpg


I could also find a goofy setup, consisting of a USB ethernet device,
and some associated USB cabling, to fit a particular Ethernet
interface
to the Firestick, and then you're no longer dependent on how well
the Wifi is working.

Thank God for toys eh. Never a dull moment.

Paul

Thanks
I will pass your suggestions on to her and see if she can fix it.

I have 2 Firesticks, one in the front room away from my router, and
one in the room where the router is located. The one in the front
room had a similar problem with the lag you're describing. By
adjusting the angle of the antenna on the router, and using some
velcro to hold the Firestick and it's extension cable straight (on my
TV, parallel to the floor), the lags and occasional disconnects are
gone. I used "Wifi Scanner and Analyzler" to get the best antenna
angle for the best signal near the front room TV.
The one in the room with the router doesn't even need the extension
cable; it works great plugged straight into the TV.

Do you know anything about the little "kit" with the USB Ethernet
in it ? Using something like that (as long as the FireStick
has a driver for the Ethernet), might eliminate flaky Wifi
from the picture. You then run a wired connection to the USB
device, and the USB connection on the FireStick is how the
FireStick gains access to the net. I saw a picture of
this while searching for a FireStick take-apart. In the
take-apart, I could spot what looked like a microUSB on it.

Paul

No, I haven't heard of that until I read your previous post. I might
consider it if I had Ethernet close by.

By golly, here it is!
https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Ethernet-Adapter-Fire-Devices/dp/B074TC662N

Looks like it does away with the HDMI extension, and has the power and
the Ethernet cable plug into the dongle, and then it's plugged into the
Firestick's µUSB power port. It gets 3.8/5 stars in 354 reviews. Might
just be what Seymore4Head's niece needs :-)

The one I spotted was a jumble of wires.
Like a home project of some sort.

Still, the comments in the product you found do raise
a point. The adapter might be limited to 100BT, which
is 12.5MB/sec at the best of times. But, the transfer
rate should be relatively reliable. Whereas the FireStick
wifi, who knows what it benches at in real conditions.

I could find reference to an ASIX and an SMSC USB to
Ethernet, and it's possible the reason the FireStick
has drivers, is because of the limited number of
competitors in that market. I think ASIX may have
made a GbE version, but then you'd need USB3 to get
more than 30MB/sec from it. And the FireStick might
only be USB2. The 30MB/sec would still be welcome,
so it would still be worth it to run a GbE dongle
over USB2.

I just like the idea of getting a wired connection
in there, to take the "flaky" out of stuff like this.

Paul