Chromecast lagging and stopping

I just got my Tablo on Friday and have been very happy with what it can do, except when it comes to watching it on my TV. I have a Chromecast and a media PC connected to it. With the chromecast, when playing back recorded content it starts playing, stop for about 4 seconds and starts again, then repeats that about 3 times before it starts playing for a while. It then stops again about every 45 seconds then continues on its way. Playing the same content on my tablet is very responsive and never has this kind of trouble.


A few other things to note about my setup:
- I can stream 1080p content on netflix and youtube on the chromecast with no trouble
- I have recorded everything in 1080p because I want it to actually look good on my TV unlike it did with the default 720p settings.
- I have a windows PC connected as well. On there the playback doesn’t stop but the framerate is horrible. Very choppy.
- The chromecast is literally 3 feet from the wireless router. The Tablo is wired

Does anyone have a solution for watching 1080p video on a TV that consistently works for them?


For best performance with a chromecast set the tablo to record in the recommended 720p roku/chromecast setting. The chromecast itself can stay in it’s 1080p setting. Keep in mind that anything previously recorded with the Tablo set at 1080p will remain unchanged. Only future recordings will be recorded at 720p.

That’s the thing… as I mentioned in my post I want to be able to watch recordings in 1080p, not 720p. Watching at 720p on a 55" tv will look pretty bad. If it isn’t going to work with Chromecast, that sucks but ok. I just want to know what is needed to be able to watch 1080p. Surely if the setting exists on the Tablo there is some way to do it

1080p video on the Tablo is around 10 Mbps. Many individuals found the wireless antenna in the Chromecast not strong enough to be fast enough to consistently stream from their router at this setting. Even some were having problems at the regular 720p, this prompted the creation of the 720p Roku / Chromecast quality setting. This fixed the issue for many.

The difference in quality is negligible on my 52" HDTV. Give it a try at least and see if it solves your problems.

Must of us use Roku 3 or Fire TV for playback on HDTV, it handles WiFi streaming a lot better than the Chromecast. To be honest, even using the Fire TV Stick on my old Wireless N 2.4 GHz network it was too slow to stream from the Tablo. I upgraded my router to a TL-WDR3600 and switched the Fire TV Stick to the Wireless N 5 GHz band and no more buffering problems.

@ShawdowsPapa can likely weigh in with his extensive experience with Chromecast.

I am able to stream 1080p content to my Chromecast, and it is located on a different floor than my router.


I am using my cheap Android (5.02) phone to initiate the stream.  

One suggestion would be to turn off “Enable live Fast TV startup” in your settings and see if that helps.  Also, what router are you using?

Yeah I did try the 720p chromecast setting but it definitely looks bad on my TV. 


I’m using a Asus RT-N66U. I know it is fine because it can stream great to my tablet at 1080p. It’s just the chromecast that it has trouble with (the PC too but it’s about 5 years old so probably a slow processor issue).

I was thinking of getting a Roku 3 but the specs on the processor seem like it wouldn’t be able to handle it (dual core, 900 Mhz) but if there are people who definitely know it works maybe I’ll try that. Fire TV is not an option because I can’t get it in Canada. Anyone have a Nexus Player? It seems to have better specs (quad core, 1.8 Ghz)

If you have a 5ghz network available on your router can you try connecting your chromecast to that if you haven’t already?

I have roku 3’s and am able to set my tablo to 1080p without any issues.

That does look like a pretty good router.


Don’t worry about the specs on the Roku 3.  It works very well with the Tablo, even at 1080p (if your home network is decent).  I would think a majority of the people here have at least one Roku 3.  

A few people here do have the Nexus player, and you can find some threads about it.

I don’t use my Chromecast anymore because the Roku and FireTv are just so much easier to use.

Yes that’s a good router, but just because the router itself can handle the 1080p bitrate it doesn’t mean the Chromecast itself is making a strong enough connection to your router.

Try the Chromecast on the 5 GHz band and report back.

The Roku 3 can playback 1080p for sure.

Thanks for all the input. I will try the 5 GHz signal. I have it disabled right now

All good suggestions @MarcCharette. Hopefully the 5GHz band will help. 

It is important to note that while the 5 GHz is technically faster than the 2.4 GHz band due to the higher frequency it does not do well over long distances or through many walls. So if your router is far away from the Chromecast, it may not help.

The 5 GHz band did help me though with the Fire TV Stick.

He did say the Chromecast was only 3 feet from his router.

I think Chromecast only work on 2.4 GHZ band.

https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/3046409?hl=en-CA&ref_topic=3058948

 

Yes looks like the Chromeband is not a dual band wireless device. That’s unfortunate.

Looks like my plans are foiled before I even try based on these comments. I’ll likely pick up a Roku 3 today and compare.

I'll likely pick up a Roku 3 today and compare.

I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. A hard wired tablo and roku 3 with the Asus RT-N66U should give you optimal results.

@MarcCharette

Some advice, the Roku 3 from 2013 which is Model 4200 is the same internal hardware as the new Roku 2 Model 4210 and Roku 3 Model 4230, both released in April 2015.

So either get a good deal on the 4200 (WiFi DC remote, no voice search), or just get the 4210 (IR remote) unless you really want the WiFi Direct Remote with voice search then get the 4230.

I think the 4210 does not have a USB port though.

@philsoft

No, both the 4210 and 4230 have Ethernet ports and USB ports. Please check the Roku website to confirm.