iPlayer freezing on Samsung TV

[#1]

I can see this problem below was asked in 2015, but that thread didn't come to a conclusion, and I didn't want to wake up a dead thread.

I have changed from Sky broadband to Plusnet. I get good connectivity, and a similar bandwidth to what I did with Sky.

The only problem I get is that on my Samsung smart TV the iPlayer freezes every 5-10 minutes or so. I then have to restart the TV. After a restart, the iPlayer annoyingly is a few minutes behind remembering where we are in the program, so we have to fast forwards.

Absolutely nothing has changed other than me moving from Sky broadband to PlusNet. Same TV, same router position, same general internet usage pattern. But, I never got this problem before and we noticed it within a handful of days of moving to PlusNet. 

The iPlayer app on the TV is up to date (it is on auto-update, but I checked anyway). I also do not get this on other streaming services (Netflix, Amazon, All4).

As nothing else in my setup has changed I am concluding that the move to PlusNet is the issue. Can anybody help us? we are keen iPlayer users, and I think I may to switch from PlusNet unless I can solve this.

George

[#2]

Moderator's note(s):

Thread moved from Fibre Broadband to Everything Else.

[#3]

@hagak Are you using the Plusnet Hub 1? It would be worth asking for it’s software to be updated. iPlayer doesn’t freeze for me using a Panasonic TV.

[#4]

I used to suffer from iPlayer freezing on my Samsung 40 inch TV, but it did not freeze on another one year older and smaller Samsung 22 inch TV we had which used a different "smart engine". The 40  inch TV was a lot nearer the router as well!

As far as I recall this happened with both the HUB 1 which I started to use after upgrading to fibre and with the previous Plusnet router. No matter what I did (changed from 2.4Ghz to 5GHz wifi, changed DNS settings on the TV, upgraded TV firmware etc.) I could not stop this behaviour. Then, as the TV was close enough to the router I decided to try a wired connection, which I could hide away, and have not had the problem since (fingers crossed!).

It was not only iPlayer that did it - Amazon Prime did it when we trialled that - but Netflix and other TV catch up apps seemed OK.. I suspect that it had something to do with the TV's wifi card the way that Samsung adapted the IPlayer app on their platform which is what the TV uses rather than a direct connection to the BBC.

So wired may be the way to go if that is at all possible.

[#5]

@hagak you could try a wired connection via Power Line Adapters if that would be more convenient.

[#6]

Thanks all. I will try powerline adapters and see how it goes.

[#7]

I too have a similar problem.  I switched over to Plusnet fibre after being on just broadband with the Post Office.  Since the change iPlayer on my Samsung TV (2014/15 model) freezes after about 15 to 20mins & the screen goes blank.  I am also getting a similar problem when trying to watch iPlayer on a Samsung tablet.  I also seem to have problems with the iPlayer Radio on the tablet.

Even after reading through similar problems on the Forum I'm not sure what the fix is, if any.

[#8]

Problem appears to go away if a wired connection (possibly over Power Line Adapters) is used between TV and router, rather than WiFi.
But I use WiFi with my Panasonic TV and don’t have problems. Perhapjs a Samsung specific issue?

[#9]

Hi @JannieH,

Are you able to connect to the TV via an Ethernet cable to see if the same issue occurs?

[#10]

I have connected the router to the TV via the ethernet cable & connected to iPlayer but after 20mins of iPlayer the screen froze. I hit play again after a few seconds of buffering there was a message basically saying check internet connection.

[#11]

Hi @JannieH, thanks for confirming, I'm sorry that you're having these issues.

I've tested the line just to check for any underlying issues but everything looks OK so I've flagged this to our products team to see if they can shed some light on this, if you have any further information relating to the issue in the meantime please let us know.

[#12]

Not aware of any issues affecting Samsung smart TV's and the Hub One. We would require further information in order to look into this in any further detail.