Hello
I have noticed that live television with the TV Box 5 is often not possible at low Internet speeds of 30 -120 Mbit/sec, or is very jerky.
However, with the old boxes, such as TV Box or TV Box 21 (updated to Android operating system), this works perfectly.
Has anyone else noticed this?
Hello @Lifriejitz37
Basically, an HD picture needs around 8 Mbit/s and UHD (just tested with blue Sport UHD HDR) around 20 Mbit/s (just tested with a Box 5.
Therefore, the 30-120 Mbit/s you mentioned should be absolutely sufficient.
Unfortunately, you don’t write whether it’s a general problem. Or whether it affects certain channels.
How is the box connected to the Internet?
It’s a problem on all channels. The programmes can be watched slightly later without any problems. However, if you fast forward to the live stream, the problem occurs.
I operate a Tv-Box 5 in Switzerland on a TP-Link Deco network, connected downstream to an Internet Box 2.
I operate the other TV Box 5 in Italy, also connected to a Deco network downstream of an ASUS VPN router, which is connected to an Asus router on the home Internet box via the EOLO network using a Wireguard tunnel.
If I swap the TV Box 5 with a TV Box 21, there is no problem at either location. All boxes are connected to the routers via WLAN.
“a little bit delayed, then it works” indicates a multicast problem. As long as you are watching time-shifted, you are travelling with unicast. As soon as you start watching live, the tv box tries to switch to multicast, and then there’s a problem. So this switching doesn’t work properly because the multicast stream can’t cope with your equipment. Perhaps this information will help you to get to the bottom of your problem in more detail.
Your network setup is a bit “special” anyway. You don’t actually do this (separate mesh WLAN stuff behind the IB, and operate the TV via this WLAN -> ideally, the TV box should be connected directly to the router with a network cable. Then it also works with your slightly lower connection values. Have you already tried this? If not, why don’t you do that? If it still doesn’t work, you can report to the hotline that something is not working as it should.
Lifriejitz37 then the case is clear, it’s a multicast problem. The TV Box 5 is a bit more demanding (takes a closer look at the multicast) compared to the IP1800 (TV Box 21).
https://www.tuxone.ch/2013/07/swisscom-multicast-im-lan.html is a somewhat older article, but it still explains the context of what multicast is.
The live programme from blue TV to the Swisscom TV boxes is technically transmitted using the multicast method, unlike the time-shifted stream.
For this to work properly, the entire chain from the Swisscom connection router to the Swisscom TV box must be multicast-capable, which is by no means the case for all network devices.
Individual network devices, such as switches, intermediate routers and the like, sometimes also have to be specially configured for the IGMPv3 protocol so that multicast actually works properly.
Now your two setups are anything but the usual connection of a Swisscom TV box directly to a Swisscom provider router and special problems are certainly to be expected with these types of use.
If you would like to improve something, I have two recommendations for you:
- since the TV Box 5 is a little trickier than its predecessors in terms of multicast traffic, check on all network nodes involved whether IGMPv3 and not just IGMPv2 is actually supported. If you can set it manually, always select at least IGMPv3
- make your technical life easier in general and replace the Swisscom TV boxes in these complicated network setups with Apple TV boxes, because these do not use any special multicast for the live programme, but always stream in normal unicast and are also otherwise more “robust” in operation compared to special network designs
Hobby-Nerd ohne wirtschaftliche Abhängigkeiten zur Swisscom
