Android TV 1 (very) poor Network performance

[nicogri]

Hi guys,

just a new thread to tell you guys how I am disappointed (sort of) with my new Android TV from Sony KD65XD9305.


I just bought this TV with a pretty great discount (2000€) and picture quality is very good.


For Android TV, I find it stable and fine. The main reason I chose Sony was for Android TV (I didn't wanted WebOS or Tizen).


So as I use the TV ONLY with network stored media, I plugged the Ethernet cable to get something reliable and fast...


HORROR !!! Ethernet port is not Gigabit... Sony are you kidding me ??? How do you plan to stream 4K HDR content to the TV with 100 Mb link ???


Let's do some math : Movie 2h00 / 63 GB = 64512MB to send to TV in 2 Hr so / 7200 = 9 Mb /s we are pretty close of the max we can output on 100mb network so as the bitrate is variable and some actions scene require much more of it you get bad picture lag and audio drop in half of the movie.

To confirm that it was not decoding problem, I putted the file on an external HDD plugged directly into the TV and had no problem at all.

So I wrote you a mail Sony, to explain that to you... 1 week later I got a person with no knowledge whatever who told me that I needed to run a speedtest because it was my internet (WAN) connection that was slow.

Just LOL ^^

I told myself that I was doomed.

So I search again and discovered that the Onboard wifi was 5 Ghz AC compatible. Maybe a way out.

So I droped my Cisco Meraki 300N Wifi and I got a TPLink Archer C7 C1750 (so it meens 900 Mb theorical on AC 5 Ghz)

It could have solved my bandwith problem on local network !!!

And guess what... it didn't because I think wifi chip or driver or ??? is total crap...

The TV is at less than 1 meter of the access point (no wall...), connected at 5 Ghz and I can't get download bandwith to a minimum of 100 Mb (a joke).

If I do the same test from the same spot with the same app at the same time on the same wifi of the same network with my phone (Google Nexus 6P) I get approx 230 mb of bandwith.

Screen cap are just at the bottom

What do you want to answer to that ???

So your Smart TV of 2016 is just to slow to play a 4k movie of 2016 (I tried Mad Max and Deadpool) on local network (no matter how good network connection is, I have full gigabit network at home).

So now my very precise question : Do you plan to adress this problem Seriously upgrading Wifi driver / firmware to get real fast connexion (as I am sure you cannot upgrade wired card to gigabit with software upgrade) ?

I am available if you need more statistics and / or informations with the test environment.

[rooobb]

So @nicogri you have a pretty business-like network configuration at home

I would not rely to much on app that measures the speed of the network (my other own TV has an app on Opera Store that states I have a 13Mb download bandwidth on my 30Mbps Fiber connection, and I can assure you that Netflix in 4K HDR is playing smoothly over it...)

If I understant right you are still rely on WIFI for the TV being that it is not able to have a gigabit connection, what about the NAS? How it shares the file to your TV?

I would suggest (if you want to) to try the following:

• assuming your NAS doesn't have any DLNA server, share it via a powerful PC using a DLNA server (I use serviio www.serviio.org) or activate the embedded DLNA if it is available
• connect the tv via a good CAT5/6 cable (if not already available or just a flying one for testing purpose)
• play your video via the Video app (after a good old reboot of the TV)

I know DLNA is adding up resource consuming step to the setup, but Video is able to play only via this protocol

PS: just re-read your post and understood you don't have a NAS but just an HDD connected to your PC, so it should be easier adding up serviio

PPS: being a professional I'm quite sure you are not sharing your files via DLNA already using WMP....

[Kuschelmonschter]

I am with @nicogri. A self-proclaimed premium HDR TV set should at least support the streaming of up to HEVC level 5.2. But it should also support VP9-profile 2, which it does not either...

[Kuschelmonschter]

Concering the Video app... I got higher rates via DLNA when using Kodi.

[nicogri]

@rooobbThank you for the compliment.

Fact is I also have a NAS (a QNAP TS something also Gigabit) but I don't like NAS at all. Professionnaly I like SAN (Fiber and iSCSI) or vSAN (with 10 Gigabits switchs of course) !

So my files are stored on my computer (Windows 10) and for Kodi / VLC, I use a SMB share because I find it more practical.

As Windows 10 is also UPNP / DLNA natively capable, I already activated it and tested but results where not different that using SMB.

For your remark on speedtests, like you I don't rely on them to test a broadband connection as many point can change the result : concurrent charge on the remote test server, unknow quality of the remote test server, time of the day, concurent load on the pearing points of your ISP...

With the little program and on my own controlled network, the metrics I get must be pretty accurate 😉

[rooobb]

@nicogri as a matter of fact it's very interesting this discussion with you... hope that we may find a solution

Regarding SMB it's for sure less impacting than DLNA and I know that Windows has it embedded (I was referring to it as WMP Windows Media Player that is the layer that implements it on MS platform, but it is crap... serviio is free and it is one of the best DLNA server... you may want to give it a try (BTW it is far richer being able i.e. to add metadata and poster about the movie being shared) combined with Video on the TV side: this is what I use (serviio being installed on a iMac... don't like to much MS stuff too).

And a good reboot on the TV.. I don't want to ask a complete Factory Reset

PS: BTW serviio is available also for QNAP NAS

[Kuschelmonschter]

I also distribute HD DVB (<20mbps) over 802.11ac WiFi. Every now and then bandwidth becomes unsustainable. Reboots every now and then are indeed inevitable. Quality of those TVs is really poor...

[nicogri]

Will try to put the 2 movies impacted so far (other are not HDR) on the NAS.

It is also natively UPNP capable so will give it a try with native app.

I reboot the TV on regular basis (maybe every 2/3 days)

PS : so you are a Mac person... nobody is perfect 😉

PS : I have a 2008 Mac Pro at work (With dual Xeon and 14 Gb of RAM) but I prefer Windows

[rooobb]

Oh I did not invested too much many on it, but I have a rather fancy iMac mid 2014 with an external Thunderbolt SSD drive (that costed almost as much as the iMac itself )  and it is sooo fast now even if it has only an i5 processor and 8GB RAM and MacOs is fantastic...

Let me konw if in this way it works better... do not forget to test it wired

[rooobb]

... and I don't know how we can arrange it (being 65GB of file) but if I have it I may try it in my setup as well... than we will discover that is only only a Bill Gates fault!!

[nicogri]

OK Guys,

I'm sure you miss me yesterday evening ^^

So I have done some more (and more) testing

As I listen to everything you guys said I tested all scenario ( @rooobb is gonna be happy)

So first I rebooted TV and access point and fire up my computer (it sleep at day to lower my electricity bill and save the planet)

So after this reboot I performed a first wifi datarate generic Speed Test (using dedicated app)

Same result than the other day (approx 40 down and 120 up list of tests on the right of the TV)

Then I plugged the network cable (which is already on the TV and in my wall) and perform a wired test using same app, results are "good" (90 mb+ on both download and upload)

OK so Ethenet keeps it "promess" (as wifi clearly don't) and we really have 100Mb (what a shame)

So I copied my 2 test movies to my NAS, this confirm the good helth of the network : 110Gb copied in 30 mins (750Mbps stable) yeeeeaaahhhh

And then to complete the tests and be thorought I installed Serviio both on my computer and NAS and used the Movie Stock player app :

It's better but still not good, they are some slowdown and it's painfull (wherever movie is fast or lot of moving objects like waterfall in mad max)

I took some metrics on my computer while playing the movie and we regulary stack 100 Mb (reason of the slowdown)

So what now :

There are 3 "realistic" options (because Sony cannot magically transform USB2 to USB3 or 100 to Gigabit by magic) :

1) User side : I will try to do some tuning on servio to increase buffer / cache size and see if I can smooth network load but it is not a real solution just a patch

2) User side : Try to find a compatible USB2 or 3 Gigabit external adapter like this one :

https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Gigabit-Ethernet-Network-Chromebook/dp/B003VSTDFG

They states on there site that only USB2 versions are android compatible with "some" devices

http://plugable.com/2015/04/21/selecting-the-right-usb-ethernet-adapter-for-your-computer-and-networ...

So it is something to test and it will give us even on USB2 approx 300Mb that is more than enought

3) Sony Side : Serously Sony do someting for the Wifi controller to reach 200Mb on download (it's a 866 theorical !!!!)

I think I have tested everything now so it would be great if some of you Expert guys can escalate this to sony and if they can take a look at Wifi driver / firmware...