Netflix on the PMID701i

[Hamloaf]

I have the 701i with stock rom and, like many of you, was having trouble with Netflix freezing after 10 or so minutes. I was able to watch old, B&W movies with no problem, but newer releases were out of the question.

Someone else on this forum brought up the fact that you can go to the Netflix site and change the video quality setting by clicking on "Account and help." Two nights ago I changed my video quality setting to "good" and was able to watch two recent feature films back to back without a glitch. Last night I bumped the quality up to "better" and watched "Shutter Island" and it performed perfectly. The picture quality is great. I can probably just leave Netflix on this setting since my TV is 720p. If you have a 1080i TV, you may need to toggle the settings if you want to watch movies on your Polaroid and also enjoy full HD on your TV. it would be great if the Netflix App for android would automatically downgrade the video quality for the device.

Perhaps the problem is trying to steam HD content on a device that's not built for it? Anyway, this worked for me and I'm now in love with my $99 Kind-le (kinda like a Kindle).

P.S. I should note that I'm using version 1.6.0 of the Netflix app. Don't know how this fix will work with the latest version.

[SingleDad]

I can say that this statement is very true! At least for my 701c. I decided to give this specific version (1.5.2) a go and wow, what a difference! Before, it didn't matter what version I used-my videos would become choppy at 1 - 2 minutes, but with this version I can view multiple videos (so far I'm on my 2nd 30 minute video of "Spongebob Squarepants" (Don't ask, lol!)) without even so much as a 'hiccup'!

Singledad, take note of this since you are having those issues (I think you have a 701c....maybe it's time to 'downgrade' from ICS if this is important to you).

The only annoying thing is that it keeps asking me to install a newer version when I'm done playing a video-a minor annoyance...

Thanks. I'm actually the one who tried a bunch of different versions and discovered version 1.5.2 runs very well on the 701C with GINGERBREAD as the OS:

http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?577-Can-anyone-help-me-get-Netflix-working-smoothly-on-the-PMID701C

I haven't been able to get ANY version of Netflix to consistently run well running any ICS rom on the 701C. Even with market fixes, downgrading video quality settings in Netflix etc. Of course the 1.5.2 version that works well on the 701C with Gingerbread refuses to even work on ICS. It forces you to upgrade to a newer version =(

You are absolutely right that I should think about downgrading from ICS. I LOVE the menu layout etc. of ICS but I did lose functioning of my favorite game or two and Netflix won't work well on it for me.

[elektrik]

Thanks. I'm actually the one who tried a bunch of different versions and discovered version 1.5.2 runs very well on the 701C with GINGERBREAD as the OS:

http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?577-Can-anyone-help-me-get-Netflix-working-smoothly-on-the-PMID701C

I haven't been able to get ANY version of Netflix to consistently run well running any ICS rom on the 701C. Even with market fixes, downgrading video quality settings in Netflix etc. Of course the 1.5.2 version that works well on the 701C with Gingerbread refuses to even work on ICS. It forces you to upgrade to a newer version =(

You are absolutely right that I should think about downgrading from ICS. I LOVE the menu layout etc. of ICS but I did lose functioning of my favorite game or two and Netflix won't work well on it for me.

Hey SingleDad-I don't know if you've tried this yet, but I have some updated information. I decided on a whim to install the Amazon market App and 'upgrade' to a version of Netflix from there-I don't have any idea what version it is or how to check but that version works just as well ast the 1.5.2 and didn't skip/stutter on my 701c (I played the whole 'spy next door' movie and though there were occasional slowdowns, it worked ok (I was running lots of crap in the background).

ANYHOOO, If you haven't tried the app from Amazon Market, do that one last thing before you decide whether to downgrade....I'd be interested to know if that works...

[SingleDad]

Hey SingleDad-I don't know if you've tried this yet, but I have some updated information. I decided on a whim to install the Amazon market App and 'upgrade' to a version of Netflix from there-I don't have any idea what version it is or how to check but that version works just as well ast the 1.5.2 and didn't skip/stutter on my 701c (I played the whole 'spy next door' movie and though there were occasional slowdowns, it worked ok (I was running lots of crap in the background).

ANYHOOO, If you haven't tried the app from Amazon Market, do that one last thing before you decide whether to downgrade....I'd be interested to know if that works...

I've tried a version of Netflix through Amazon appstore...but it was a month or so ago. I'll definitely give it a try.

Thanks!

[elektrik]

I've tried a version of Netflix through Amazon appstore...but it was a month or so ago. I'll definitely give it a try.

Thanks!

Sure! let me know what happens now-I'm morbidly interested lol!

[VolSum]

works on one not other

I bought a Polaroid pmid701i x10 ICS 4.0.3, did the market hack install and added netflix, which was totaly unwatchable no matter what I did. This version does have the tv out jack but I didn't get a chance to test it. While taking some pics of it I noticed one of the screws was missing from the back of it, so I decided on taking it back and do a exchange for a different unit.






The new unit was a Polaroid pmid701i 10 ICS 4.0.3 with TV out also, so I did the same market hack and installed Netfilx again, same results as the other one, choppy video and freezing after a bit, then I installed Amazon Market and when I went to netflix, there was an update for it, but google play had NO update. So i installed the update from Amazon and now netflix seems to be working fine I watch 4 movies and all was able to finish without problems.

I dont know if the different model number(10 instead of x10) or the amazon new updated version of Netflix made the difference, maybe worth a try if you only have netflix from google play go get the update from amazon market and try that. And then again maybe ICS 4.0.3 just isnt as ready for netflix as everyone thinks. I also wonder what the difference is between the model numbers 10, x10, and 13 is, different processor abilitys or features or totaly different hardware ???

As you can see the picture was very good and was in sync with the sound on the 10 model where the x10 just refused to play netflix movies all together. There seems to be an issue with the hardware and coding for netflix between the 2 units for some reason.

And I had no luck using the video out jack, the cable I have has red, white and yellow composite jacks and when i hook it to the tv all i get is a black screen. I read where people using the cable with green, blue and whatever other color had luck making it work on their tv's so maybe I'll try to pick up a different cable and give that a try.

[elektrik]

And I had no luck using the video out jack, the cable I have has red, white and yellow composite jacks and when i hook it to the tv all i get is a black screen. I read where people using the cable with green, blue and whatever other color had luck making it work on their tv's so maybe I'll try to pick up a different cable and give that a try.

As for the cable, I bought the recommended one off Amazon (don't remember the link..I think it's in another thread, however I had to switch the RCA jacks around in the following order: Red -> Green, Green -> Blue and Blue-> Red. Once I mapped those, the video played great on my 55"

[jtintle]

I thought with the ICS version the tv out function was disabled.
Also it is a component (red, green blue) connection, so the composite cables (yellow, red, white) won't work either way.
Sent from my SCH-R720 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5

[Hamloaf]

I dont know if the different model number(10 instead of x10) or the amazon new updated version of Netflix made the difference, maybe worth a try if you only have netflix from google play go get the update from amazon market and try that. And then again maybe ICS 4.0.3 just isnt as ready for netflix as everyone thinks. I also wonder what the difference is between the model numbers 10, x10, and 13 is, different processor abilitys or features or totaly different hardware ???

As you can see the picture was very good and was in sync with the sound on the 10 model where the x10 just refused to play netflix movies all together. There seems to be an issue with the hardware and coding for netflix between the 2 units for some reason.

And I had no luck using the video out jack, the cable I have has red, white and yellow composite jacks and when i hook it to the tv all i get is a black screen. I read where people using the cable with green, blue and whatever other color had luck making it work on their tv's so maybe I'll try to pick up a different cable and give that a try.[/QUOTE]


Mine is the 10 unit as well, and Netflix has been working great for me ever since I changed the vidoe quality setting on my Netflix account.

[mr2jaycee]

Netflix fixed, for me anyways...

I have a 701i x10 installed Netflix from the Google Play Store, then upgraded Netflix on the Amazon Appstore. Then on the Netflix website, I set the picture quality to the lowest setting. Tried it out and it worked. It would skip once or twice every 5 minutes, but at least it wasn't freezing and locking up anymore.

Just to see if I could get a better result, I then enabled 2D rendering in Dev Options and now everything is very smooth. My daughter was able to watch the whole first season of Pocoyo with no problems. Even better, she was able to rewind and fast forward with very limited buffering time as much as she wanted.

So now I (and my daughter) am very happy with this little tablet because now I get my Asus TF101 back!!!

[EnzoMatrix]

Haven't bothered with the firmware update because 4.0.3 is the most recent version of; icI did download from play store and updated from android market. Question, what speed connection do you have, I don't understand the logic of choking netflix? If you are using dsl, that might make a difference, I have a 20Mbps connection and enjoy having HD on my Xbox and Blu-Ray player, slowing the speed on the netflix web site would end that capability.
The setting on the web site slows their upload = slower streaming. But, doing everything else you listed (oh, and I have the 701i X10) did nothing to change netflix performance for me. Oh, and I enabled GPU on 2D apps weeks ago.

[SingleDad]

Sure! let me know what happens now-I'm morbidly interested lol!

So I got around to testing the latest Amazon version of the app...doesn't work for me .

I mean it works..but videos are either really choppy, the audio pops in and out. or if it plays the audio and video are way out of sync again.

I've been battling random reboots and trying to figure that out...so at this point it may be be a hardware issue.

Thanks though!

[SingleDad]

Haven't bothered with the firmware update because 4.0.3 is the most recent version of; icI did download from play store and updated from android market. Question, what speed connection do you have, I don't understand the logic of choking netflix? If you are using dsl, that might make a difference, I have a 20Mbps connection and enjoy having HD on my Xbox and Blu-Ray player, slowing the speed on the netflix web site would end that capability.
The setting on the web site slows their upload = slower streaming. But, doing everything else you listed (oh, and I have the 701i X10) did nothing to change netflix performance for me. Oh, and I enabled GPU on 2D apps weeks ago.

I've tried dialing down the video quality settings in Netflix long ago. The main purpose of that setting is to keep you from going over data usage caps some ISP's are enforcing. From what I've seen here's how the settings work:

- The "Good" setting limits video/audio to 625 kbps/64 kbps

- The "Better" setting limits video/audio to a maximum of 1300 kbps/192 kpbs.

- The "Best" setting will use any of the video/audio rates available. The highest quality files are 4800 kbps (for 1080p HD video) and 384 kbps audio (for 5.1 audio)


I've tried playing with the quality settings too just out of desperation, but it's never made an improvement for me either. To me that's made sense because Netflix basically already manages bandwidth for you. One thing I will say is Netflix is actually quite good at throttling the quality of the stream for you.

I'm no expert but here's how I THINK Netflix streaming works. Netflix automatically gives you the best/fastest quality your connection and device can handle. It starts out with the lowest quality stream and increases it to what your connection can handle. That's the way it's set up. The only real reason to change the quality settings would be as Enzo said, to "choke Netflix" to keep from going over data usage caps. Even though your connection is capable of 100 Mbps you would want to throttle Netflix back to keep it from willingly streaming the highest quality video and audio and pushing your over the data usage cap of your ISP.

Netflix automatically adjusts the quality of your video stream according to your connection speed. That's why the video quality of a Netflix stream is typically very crappy the first 30-60 seconds of every video. They start out with crappy quality and increase the quality to the maximum quality your connection speed can handle.

Changing the video quality settings simply limits the maximum bandwidth Netflix is allowed to feed your device. If a lower quality stream is needed by your device/connection it should already be providing that to you already automatically shouldn't it?

I can only assume, but maybe the Netflix server side manages quality based on connection speed alone and nothing to do with the device. Perhaps the android app itself is supposed to deal with throttling the connection based on what the device can handle? If the app doesn't do that correctly maybe slowing things down manually via quality settings is necessary?

I'm glad messing with the quality settings seems to have worked for some of you, but I'm a little confused about how/why as well. Maybe I'm wrong, but if the issue was simply a connection speed/quality issue wouldn't one of the main symptoms be frequent and constant buffering?

Netflix recommends a minimum internet connection speed of 1.5Mbps and at my parents house that is the connection speed they have. I can tell you without messing with any quality settings it streams to TV and PC just fine. If anything I've seen it stop and buffer for a minute in the middle of a movie.

I guess I'll never understand this. I should have just kept exchanging these by the dozen until I found the magical tablet that somebody put together correctly!

[elektrik]

So I got around to testing the latest Amazon version of the app...doesn't work for me .

I mean it works..but videos are either really choppy, the audio pops in and out. or if it plays the audio and video are way out of sync again.

I've been battling random reboots and trying to figure that out...so at this point it may be be a hardware issue.

Thanks though!

Aww that sucks! I was SO hoping that would have fixed it, hehe. Oh well....sorry to hear...

[mr2jaycee]

Haven't bothered with the firmware update because 4.0.3 is the most recent version of; icI did download from play store and updated from android market. Question, what speed connection do you have, I don't understand the logic of choking netflix? If you are using dsl, that might make a difference, I have a 20Mbps connection and enjoy having HD on my Xbox and Blu-Ray player, slowing the speed on the netflix web site would end that capability.
The setting on the web site slows their upload = slower streaming. But, doing everything else you listed (oh, and I have the 701i X10) did nothing to change netflix performance for me. Oh, and I enabled GPU on 2D apps weeks ago.

Well I have cable internet supposedly at 15Mbps. I too stream netflix on my HD TV via Xbox as well and just toggle the quality depending if my daughter is using the PMID701 or not. I primarily got this tablet so that my daughter can use Netflix while I was using the Xbox for gaming, and so that she will stay off my Transformer 101, (there's always new unexplained scuffs and scratches when I get it back from her, even when it's in a full case) otherwise she's watching Netflix via the Xbox. It is a pain to toggle the quality back and forth, but it's better than not being able to use the tablet for the primary purpose that I bought it for.

Perhaps SingleDad's theory of the Netflix app is supposed to lower the video quality to cater to the device using the app is correct; then maybe that is the reason the manual adjustment is working for me. I'm just sorry that this is not working for everyone. So I guess there are discrepancies from device to device even within the same version numbers of the tablet.

How's the BBB complaint coming along EnzoMatrix? Any response from ST/Polaroid yet? I applaud that you did pursue that venue to get some sort of resolution and was about to the same if this last tweak didn't work out.