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10drum's avatar
10drum
Explorer
Jun 03, 2018

Internet tv streaming?

Ok, I have an iPad with cell access. I bought a cable to hdmi. I am running Netflix on at&t 4g. The picture is really grainy, both on the iPad and tv. Is this the best I can expect? Oh yeah, it’s also grainy on WiFi.
  • Kavoom wrote:
    We hike and sleep and sit by the fire... I must admit the lighter failed here a week ago but the stove lit up a piece of wood so we did get the fire going. The stars were frigging amazing that far away from the world. Will have to buy a back-up lighter.


    I will be doing some of that, but I will be track side for most of my trips, and I'd like to watch a little tv while you're watching the stars.
  • We hike and sleep and sit by the fire... I must admit the lighter failed here a week ago but the stove lit up a piece of wood so we did get the fire going. The stars were frigging amazing that far away from the world. Will have to buy a back-up lighter.
  • 10drum wrote:
    Ok, I have an iPad with cell access. I bought a cable to hdmi. I am running Netflix on at&t 4g. The picture is really grainy, both on the iPad and tv. Is this the best I can expect? Oh yeah, it’s also grainy on WiFi.


    Check your download speed at the time of day you are wanting to watch Netflix.

    First use Fast.com (that is a Netflix tool). After the test is complete, at the bottom of that screen you will see a place to click on "Compare at speedtest.net". Click there.

    If you are trying to watch Netflix during the evenings when everyone else is streaming, you may be experiencing tower congestion. To determine this, in the VERY EARLY hours (before the rest of the world gets up) or very late at night after most of us have gone to bed, run these tests again. That will tell you a lot.

    Mr. Wizard is correct about carriers slowing down speeds when video streaming. Who is your cell carrier? AT&T will apply their "Stream Saver" to your account by default, but you can remove it free. Verizon recently implemented their own slow down to all accounts. They will remove it for an extra $10 a month.

    Run your speedtests and report back. Then we can help you more.
  • Another option you could explore is downloading tv. Netflix with some programming and Amazon prime as well allow limited amounts of downloading of their programs at several different quality levels.
    Data saver is grainy or blocked. good is around 480p, better is about like 720p, and the highest is supposed to be 1080.
    We usually binge watch a show this way and will record it at a restaurant during lunch or dinner, or stop for a few minutes at a library or whatever and download 10 episodes to watch later. We have kept an old otherwise retired, tablet just for this purpose.
  • netflix will send lower resolution IF your data signal is slow

    try youtube and viemo , if everything is grainy it might be your data plan

    some carriers now have 'video streaming' included in the plan
    BUT it is in 480 SD resolution, usually it looks ok on the phone or pad
    but you can see the quality difference on a TV screen
    check your data plan info

    i get hi-res video from netflix most of the time, with a beautiful picture

    Data speed is important

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