HD movie rentals

[Matthewhunt0707]

I have BT Infinity 2, the most expensive broadband option they sell, and I get an error message after renting an HD movie that they are ‘having trouble playing this right now’. I checked my broadband speed and sure enough I am told that I will have trouble playing hd movies. I have now been charged for a movie I can’t watch and seem to be unable to do so despite paying for BTs most expensive package. Anyone else had this and know if it is fixable?

[-Richie-]

Your line needs to support the speeds to see the benefit of Superfast fibre 2.

Unless your broadband speeds are over 55 mbps download and 10 mbps upload then being on Superfast fibre 2 (previously Infinity 2) is pointless, apart from some extra cloud storage and netprotect licenses.

If you're in a contract you'll have to wait until the end of it before downgrading, otherwise you could end up paying more for Superfast fibre 1 than you do now.

[zulu17]

Hi @Matthewhunt0707,

a few clarifications I presuming you are

a) renting a HD movie from the BT Player on your YouView Box. is this the first time you have rented or bourght a HD movie on the BT player or have your previous rentals/purchases played normally on your YouView Box.

b)when you checked your broadband speed . How did you do this .  Was this from within the Settings of the BT Player  on theYouview Box or another checker (ie not on the YouView Box )

c) At the time you accessed the HD rental was your YouView Box Recording any  BT Tv channel  and prior to accessing the rental were you accessing a BT channel ? Also were there any high bandwidth activity going on in your household at the same time as you accessed the HD rental ?

d) Is you Youview Box connected to your Homehub directly by cable or via home plugs ?

[Matthewhunt0707]

Hi there and thanks for the rply:

a)  Yes, exactly.

b) on the BT Player settngs - it didn't give a speed, but just said HD would 'give me problems'.  ALetrnative check showed 55mbps download speed.

c) it was recording something, yes.  I have a couple of iphones also on the home wifi but nothing was being used at the time.

d) it is connected by the plugs

Cheers

[scointer]

That would seem to narrow the issue to the homeplugs...Try resetting them or improving them. If it is possible try running an ethernet cable temporarily between the hub and STB and that will 100% prove the plugs are the issue but the amount of issues seen on here down to plugs is numerous.

If you are doing a speedcheck wirelessly you may need to factor in some more losses, it might be worth looking at the connection on your hub (192.168.1.254 in your browser if BT hub) to get a better idea what speed you are syncing at but that said 55Mbs is plenty, i only get 48Mbs but have no issue watching the UHD channel so HD movies are a breeze.

[Matthewhunt0707]

The homeplugs are pretty old - c.10 years.  Have they made them any better since?  I assume so....  Other than buying new ones, how does one improve the existing ones?  I have definitely downloaded HD movies before, so this is a relatively new issue....

[Matthewhunt0707]

my download speed as tested last night was 55mbps.  Not sure about the upload speed.....  I am in central London though so would have thought we should have the line speeds here.

[scointer]

Try watching a movie rental while the box is not recording something and you might find it works ok then. You might have just got unlucky with what was recording at the time you wanted to watch the movie (IP channels affect things not terrrestrial channels). Other activity shouldn't make a difference at that speed just the things driven through your homeplugs  (BTTV). That said I would definetly be looking at better homeplugs if yours are c10 years old, they have improved a lot although a direct connection will always be by far the best way.

[NeilO]

@Matthewhunt0707 If you could try connecting directly with an ethernet cable it would help determine if its the powerline adapters or not.  The speeds you've got should are more than enough for HD so it does look like its the connection between the hub and the Youview box rather than an network problem.