Slow and choppy playback with Sony BDP-S570 Blu-ray

[Mig]

Recently purchased a recently released wifi capable Sony BDP-S570 Blu-ray player, which has wifi and Netflix. I thought this would make our Roku redundant. But so far, Netflix playback is terrible. I have the latest firmware and my network and internet connections are very fast. And playback on the Roku always was and still is nearly flawless. The Sony will buffer and load endlessly and I'll switch to the same movie on the Roku and it will play fine. They are sitting right next to one another.

Anyone else with similar? Suggestions? There aren't many configuration options on the Sony to even try. Hard to believe it's so bad as to be nearly unusable, it's not rocket science and Sony should have this down by now.

[Hokiedad]

Hi Mig,

I have the Sony BPD-460N and the streaming play is a bit jerky. This seems to be one of the major criticisms with the Sony players. Other than streaming, the player works quite well. I've got a cable connection to my router and have a 15/5 internet connection, so it should be flawless.

[Tabigarasu]

Since your Roku's doing well, the cheapest troubleshoots are to move the unit to a good signal or wire it. If - as Hokiedad suggests - the problem really is a pathetic wireless NIC, you may have to spring for a repeater.

What's your router? The Sony page for your unit says, "Wireless connectivity requires a home network with an 802.11 access point (802.11n recommended)."

[Funkybot]

I've noticed the same choppy playback with my BDP-S570 on a fast internet connection with a strong signal. It's definitely the player, and appears to be software related since Amazon On Demand content streams just fine. If you search around the net, you'll find it's pretty much everyone with this player who uses it for Netflix and cares enough about picture quality to notice (my X-Box is a lot smoother).

I just got the 491 firmware and still no luck on the choppy Netflix streaming using the BDP-S570. So, I decided to shoot an email to Sony Tech Support (with a link to this thread) and called Netflix to complain there as well.

Surprisingly, the Netflix representative I spoke with was very proactive and even asked for the specific model number of the unit to note the complaint. I suspect that Sony, left to their own devices, would drag their feet in relation to the choppy video unless pressured by Netflix to correct it. After all, Netflix looks bad when their movies do. And again, there seemed like there was real interest on the Netflix front in terms of reaching out to and working with Sony to correct the poor video quality.

So, I'd suggest people who are seeing problems with the Netflix streaming contact both Netflix and Sony, but especially Netflix.

Netflix: 1-866-716-0414

Sony Tech Support: https://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/contact-email.pl?

[Funkybot]

Update

I spent an hour on the phone with Sony today, and made it up to level 3 tech support where I finally got a response on the BDP-S570 & Netflix problem with choppy video. After not being able to resolve my issues, the level 3 tech support guy (Ulysses, if that's not just a phone alias) spoke with his engineering contact and was only then told that Sony is aware of the issue with "frames dropping" and are looking into it. I tried pressing for an answer as to whether or not it will be fixed in a future firmware update, and all I could get the tech support guy to commit to was "we're looking into it" and I should periodically check to make sure my firmware is up to date.

A quick summary of what was determined throughout the length of the call:

1. These problems are NOT network related (in fact, the Sony rep said I had a great connection getting over 15mbps down when last using Netflix)
2. This appears to be a software problem with the players themselves
3. Frames are getting dropped during Netflix playback, particularly on panning/motion sequences
4. Other video content is not effected
5. Sony is looking into it and may or may not address it in a future firmware update

My hope is that this does get resolved in a future update. Other than that, if you're considering purchasing this unit for Netflix, I'd pass until you hear that this has been resolved.

It literally took over an hour to get this information [it seems like the people outside of "engineering," particularly the phone reps, are completely unaware of this "known issue"], but if you're inclined to complain (to add your voice to the chorus chanting "fix it"), here is Sony's tech support number: [phone] in the U.S. or [phone] Intl.

[Tabigarasu]

Given:

Amazon On Demand content streams just fine

and:

These problems are NOT network related (in fact, the Sony rep said I had a great connection getting over 15mbps down when last using Netflix)

I would say it's not the shitty NIC I suspected as long as Mig and Hokiedad's symptoms match yours. Thanks for the determined work, Funkybot. There's no way to focus on these problems without the owners of the units in question doing what you've done.

[coles33]

I have sony 570 bluray and Samsung 55"650 lcd tv.

When playing netflix hd movies with panning scenes, I get the choppy thing.

I was able to reduce the choppiness by turning on the tv's game play mode.

[Rob R.]

I just bought the Sony BDP-S570, and also have intermittent buffering issues (player stops for 5 seconds or so, every 5-10 minutes). Device is connected to DLink wireless-G router with Comcast cable internet.

I have used other devices (Wii, PS3) also connected wirelessly, for streaming Netflix with no issue. Internet speed tests confirm a 15.47 Mbps downstream.

I haven't seen the issue on the other streaming services yet, but then again, haven't used any of them as much (other than the NPR which is audio only).

[Mig]

My problems stopped when I switched to the 5GHz network in my dual-band N router. I could swear I tried to use the 5GHz earlier and the S570 couldn't see it, but now it can and it works very well. Not only without the buffering and choppiness, but visibly faster when it loads the images and such. There has been at least one S570 firmware update since I posted the above, so maybe one solved the other. I'm not going to go back to the 2.4GHz network just to check it, but if you have 5GHz capability, try that.

[Rob R.]

I just upgraded my firmware from M04.R.491 to M04.R.588 released today (6/9/2010). Some noticeable improvements are faster queue refresh, and better buffering... no issues yet (fingers crossed).

UPDATE spoke too soon, 11 minutes of streaming "24-Season 4 Ep 18" and I've experience three 10-15-second interruptions while buffering... Problem not fixed!

Improvements over firmware version M04.R.491:

* Adds support for 3D content
* Adds support for DLNA content
* Improves router connectivity

Benefits provided by previous upgrades and included in version M04.R.588:

* Improves compatibility to enhance interactivity with some BD-ROMs.
* Resolves an issue where video streamed over the Internet may be displayed at SD (Standard Definition) instead of HD (High Definition) even when using a high speed Internet connection (10 Mbps or more) and watching video that is provided in HD.
* Enhanced Gracenote Entertainment database browser features:
Adds new features such Related Information Browse and Contents Search to improve your Blu-ray Disc™ movie database.
* Enhanced photo slideshow:
Adds new visual effects and music to add to your photos when they are displayed on a TV.
* Improved Compatibility:
Adds compatibility with DTS Neo:6 to convert the audio into 5.1 or 6.1 channel format.

[Mig]

Just in case there are people using only wireless connectivity like I am who don't know this, you can update your player's firmware without attaching it to a network cable. (You can't update wirelessly because it resets midway through and loses the connection.) The Sony site has pages to download the firmware files and instructions on creating a CD-ROM you insert into the player to update the firmware. You only need to download the file and use an image burning program to create the disc. The free program ImgBurn works great and it's dead simple to use. Googling your player and the word firmware should do it, or you can navigate down through the menus at the Bravia site.

[Rob R.]

This link might help for the BDP-S570:

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=BDPS570&Select...

[Mr. Hokie]

I, too, experience choppy play of Neflix with my Sony BDP-S570, both with wireless and wired connections. I called Netflix to report this and dropped an e-mail to Sony support linking this page. Sony's response was
that they were sorry about my issue but that the player is not known to be defective in any way and they are not aware of such an issue. With respect to the link to this page, they commented that they do not address comments published on, or quoted from non-Sony websites. They then provided a link to troubleshoot videos pausing or buffering that was of no help whatsoever. It is frustrating that they are not aware of this issue and it seems to me unlikely that it will be resolved.