# NetFlix and 5.1 Sound streaming



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

I spoke to a NetFlix person yesterday about a new Panny BD player that I had just bought because Panasonic tech support assured me that the BD player was compatible with NetFlix 5.1 audio streaming. When I got the BD110, it would only stream Linear PCM. Just as my Samsung 5500 BD player does. Samsung 2nd tier tech support has assured me that they have the 5500s receiving 5.1 Sound in their laboratories. I'd like to bring my 5500 to that lab and see it do 5.1.

So, the NetFlix person tells me that, at the moment, the only devices that they are streaming 5.1 (and I believe he said 1080p, too) to are the Sony PS3s and the Apple TV box. They I asked him when all the other devices out there are gonna get 5.1 and 1080p. Might be by the end of the year. Then I asked him if they were planning on stopping DVD and BD disk distribution. Within ten years was his reply.

He did say that some streaming content might be in 5.1, but that was rare and usually because of some kind of testing.

I ordered an Apple TV box a few minutes ago. I'm getting really pessimistic about this whole streaming transition. I'd guess that we're in for an interesting year.

Rich


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## inkahauts1367066121 (Feb 17, 2011)

As far as I am concerned, we are still in the beta phase for streaming, and we will be for another 5 years or so.. Its going to take that long before all the kinks have ben worked out from top to bottom, assuming that's even long enough.


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## Christopher Gould (Jan 14, 2007)

so the roku box doesnt do 1080p for netflix? 10 years is a nice big answer


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## oldschoolecw (Jan 25, 2007)

Christopher Gould said:


> so the roku box doesnt do 1080p for netflix? 10 years is a nice big answer


I'm getting 1080p off my Roku


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

I've heard 5.1 from my laptop.. I have the 3.5mini optical to standard optical cable for it (as well as HDMI cable to tv)


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Christopher Gould said:


> so the roku box doesnt do 1080p for netflix? 10 years is a nice big answer


My one Roku did get an update and now shows "1080p" under Settings, but NF isn't streaming 1080p to the Rokus yet. The "ten year" answer the guy gave me was for how long it would take NF to get out of sending out DVDs and BD disks. His guesstimate for getting streaming 1080p and 5.1 to "all" devices was "within the year".

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

HarpoonIPA said:


> I'm getting 1080p off my Roku


I'm not. What movies are you getting 1080p on?

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

SMOKE said:


> I've heard 5.1 from my laptop.. I have the 3.5mini optical to standard optical cable for it (as well as HDMI cable to tv)


I thought I had it on my Sammy 5500 BD player, and it even showed up on my AV receiver as 5.1, but my three sub-woofers wouldn't fire. Same thing happened with my other 5500 on another AV setup. If the sub-woofers don't work, it's not 5.1. I am getting a pretty good Linear PCM that uses all five speakers and my sub-woofers.

Rich


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## oldschoolecw (Jan 25, 2007)

rich584 said:


> I'm not. What movies are you getting 1080p on?
> 
> Rich


On my ROKU XD hooked up via my Pioneer VSX-1120
Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

HarpoonIPA said:


> On my ROKU XD hooked up via my Pioneer VSX-1120
> Rich


And your TV says it's receiving 1080p? I can't find one movie on my Roku that the TV says it's getting in 1080p or that I can get in 5.1 sound. Which is what the guy from NF told me.

Rich


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## oldschoolecw (Jan 25, 2007)

rich584 said:


> And your TV says it's receiving 1080p? I can't find one movie on my Roku that the TV says it's getting in 1080p or that I can get in 5.1 sound. Which is what the guy from NF told me.
> 
> Rich


Yup it says 1080P on my menu on my TV, my receiver is allowing 1080P to go through it


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## Christopher Gould (Jan 14, 2007)

rich584 said:


> My one Roku did get an update and now shows "1080p" under Settings, but NF isn't streaming 1080p to the Rokus yet. The "ten year" answer the guy gave me was for how long it would take NF to get out of sending out DVDs and BD disks. His guesstimate for getting streaming 1080p and 5.1 to "all" devices was "within the year".
> 
> Rich


i know, but 10 years is a very long time in the electronics world. if streaming doesnt take over there will probably be another level higher than dvd and bluray.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

HarpoonIPA said:


> Yup it says 1080P on my menu on my TV, my receiver is allowing 1080P to go through it


I just called Roku and asked them if any of their Rokus were, at this time, streaming NetFlix content in 1080p and 5.1 sound. I was told by the CSR that only 720p was being streamed.

I then did an online chat with a Roku rep and got the same answer.

Perhaps your TV upscales 720p to 1080p?

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Christopher Gould said:


> i know, but 10 years is a very long time in the electronics world. if streaming doesnt take over there will probably be another level higher than dvd and bluray.


I was surprised by that "ten years" answer too. I know NF is paying a fortune in postal fees and they'd like to get that monkey off their back. Guess we'll just have to see how it all shakes out.

Rich


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## oldschoolecw (Jan 25, 2007)

rich584 said:


> I just called Roku and asked them if any of their Rokus were, at this time, streaming NetFlix content in 1080p and 5.1 sound. I was told by the CSR that only 720p was being streamed.
> 
> I then did an online chat with a Roku rep and got the same answer.
> 
> ...


Yeah, I did some looking into it, and this is what it says at Pioneer's web site about my receiver http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/AV-Receivers/Pioneer+Receivers/VSX-1120-K



> MarvellÂ® 1080p Video Upscaling from Any Source
> Marvell's cutting-edge advanced video processing lets you upscale your picture to digital 1080p from virtually any source, even digital HDMI, at a quality level unprecedented in home theaters. PureCinema's extra processing of 3D noise reduction and Y/C color separation ensures you'll get the best picture possible from anything you've got.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

HarpoonIPA said:


> Yeah, I did some looking into it, and this is what it says at Pioneer's web site about my receiver http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/AV-Receivers/Pioneer+Receivers/VSX-1120-K


Figured it had to be something like that. I use BD players to upscale NF content, but I have no way of "upscaling" the audio to 5.1. I got sick of waiting for Rokus to get around (I realize it's not just Roku's fault) to 1080p and 5.1 so I ordered an Apple TV box which NF says is the only other device, PS3 being the first, to receive 1080p and 5.1. Should get it today.

Rich


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## oldschoolecw (Jan 25, 2007)

rich584 said:


> Figured it had to be something like that. I use BD players to upscale NF content, but I have no way of "upscaling" the audio to 5.1. I got sick of waiting for Rokus to get around (I realize it's not just Roku's fault) to 1080p and 5.1 so I ordered an Apple TV box which NF says is the only other device, PS3 being the first, to receive 1080p and 5.1. Should get it today.
> 
> Rich


Let us know how it works out
Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

HarpoonIPA said:


> Let us know how it works out
> Rich


I sure hope it works the way I was told it would. I'm getting tired of buying BD players that "support" 5.1 sound (don't they all?) and not being able to get anything but PCM. That guy I talked to at NF assured me that the Apple box would give me the sound that I want. But Samsung also assured me that they are getting 5.1 sound in their library. And the new Panny BD players are all streaming 5.1 "ready". I just sent one of them back too. Nothing but PCM.

I should be getting it this afternoon and I'll let y'all know if it's true or more BS.

Rich


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## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

rich584 said:


> I sure hope it works the way I was told it would. I'm getting tired of buying BD players that "support" 5.1 sound (don't they all?) and not being able to get anything but PCM. That guy I talked to at NF assured me that the Apple box would give me the sound that I want. But Samsung also assured me that they are getting 5.1 sound in their library. And the new Panny BD players are all streaming 5.1 "ready". I just sent one of them back too. Nothing but PCM.
> 
> I should be getting it this afternoon and I'll let y'all know if it's true or more BS.
> 
> Rich


I have the Apple TV and you will get 5.1 on Netflix. It works great for me.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Chris Blount said:


> I have the Apple TV and you will get 5.1 on Netflix. It works great for me.


I knew you had one and have been waiting for you to comment. Thanx.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

rich584 said:


> I knew you had one and have been waiting for you to comment. Thanx.
> 
> Rich


Sorry it took me so long to get back to the forum about the Apple TV and 5.1 sound. I got the Apple TV box late yesterday afternoon and hooked it up. Went thru the setup and had everything set correctly and then went to NF and played what I thought would be a 5.1 movie. PCM. OK, called NF and asked them how I could tell which programs were streaming 5.1. First thing the CSR says is, "You don't have enough bandwidth to get 5.1. You're only getting 1.7x Mbs to your Apple box." I explained to him that I have the fastest modem that Cablevision offers, plus a "booster" for it and usually get between 20Mbs and 30Mbs down. "Nope, you're only giving that box 1.7x to work with (don't remember the exact figure, hence the "x") and it won't put out 5.1." Talk to him for a couple minutes and we get cut off. Apparently there is a time limit on how long they can talk.

So, I call back and get a different CSR who tells me the same thing. I explain my modem-router setup and he says you have too many devices on the router. So I go to the modem and take the feed to the router off and plug the Apple box into the modem and the call is disconnected. I call back and get another CSR who quickly tells me that Apple TV boxes do not stream 5.1. I insist that they do and she goes to check with her supervisor. She comes back and says I'm correct but I don't have enough bandwidth (is that the correct term?). She suggests I call my Net provider. Call gets disconnected. I plug the router cable back into the modem and switch Ethernet wires from the Apple box, thinking that I might have a bad cable.

I call Cablevision, a company that I've done business with for years and I know that they have great tech support. The tech support guy I get tells me to run a speed test on my computer while he does the same thing to my modem from wherever he is. We both get the same figure: 20.18 down. I explain to him what's happening. He says it's not my system or Cablevision's. I just had all my feed lines to the modem replaced about a year ago and he notes that. Tells me we wouldn't be seeing 20.18 if there was a bad cable. I'm satisfied with his explanation.

I call NF back and start to explain exactly what's happening to another CSR who tells me I'm now getting less than 1.0Mbs to the Apple box. I explain what I've done and what the results have been and he says, "Wow! You really know a lot about this stuff." Then the call gets disconnected. By now, I'm past furious and beginning to have some really evil thoughts regarding NF. But I call back and ask for their technical support. Naturally, the CSR tells me that he can provide that support. So I start to tell him and he says, "You know a lot more about this than I do." Great. I ask him if he could transfer me to the tech support people. THEY DON'T HAVE ANY!!! I ask him how I'm supposed to get this problem resolved. "Call your ISP." Tell him I did that and we get disconnected again.

So, I take the router's feed out of the modem again and connect the Apple box directly to the modem. OK, now I'm ready, but just in case, I call Cablevision and ask them to run a speed test. Comes back about the same. Now I'm really ready to call NF and I do. Get another CSR and he tells me I'm only getting 1.66 to my Apple box. Now I'm thoroughly frustrated. And I hang up, repack the Apple and purchase a Sammy 5500 which is what I started this whole fiasco with. I give up. I simply cannot go thru another four hours on the phone with the good folks at NF who don't know enough to even come close to helping me. I put the Apple box out for UPS this morning. Seemed like such a nice, simple device.

Rich


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## oldschoolecw (Jan 25, 2007)

rich584 said:


> Sorry it took me so long to get back to the forum about the Apple TV and 5.1 sound. I got the Apple TV box late yesterday afternoon and hooked it up. Went thru the setup and had everything set correctly and then went to NF and played what I thought would be a 5.1 movie. PCM. OK, called NF and asked them how I could tell which programs were streaming 5.1. First thing the CSR says is, "You don't have enough bandwidth to get 5.1. You're only getting 1.7x Mbs to your Apple box." I explained to him that I have the fastest modem that Cablevision offers, plus a "booster" for it and usually get between 20Mbs and 30Mbs down. "Nope, you're only giving that box 1.7x to work with (don't remember the exact figure, hence the "x") and it won't put out 5.1." Talk to him for a couple minutes and we get cut off. Apparently there is a time limit on how long they can talk.
> 
> So, I call back and get a different CSR who tells me the same thing. I explain my modem-router setup and he says you have too many devices on the router. So I go to the modem and take the feed to the router off and plug the Apple box into the modem and the call is disconnected. I call back and get another CSR who quickly tells me that Apple TV boxes do not stream 5.1. I insist that they do and she goes to check with her supervisor. She comes back and says I'm correct but I don't have enough bandwidth (is that the correct term?). She suggests I call my Net provider. Call gets disconnected. I plug the router cable back into the modem and switch Ethernet wires from the Apple box, thinking that I might have a bad cable.
> 
> ...


Wow Rich, that's to bad


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## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

Wow Rich. Sorry to hear about your issues. I'm surprised you didn't give it a few days. It could have been a transient issue with Netflix. I've had days where I couldn't get more than 2 Mpbs from them. Sometimes it varies by shows I'm trying to watch. One movie will come down in HD while another won't. They probably have servers in different places causing possible connection issues.

At any rate, it sucks how Netflix treated you.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Chris Blount said:


> Wow Rich. Sorry to hear about your issues. I'm surprised you didn't give it a few days. It could have been a transient issue with Netflix. I've had days where I couldn't get more than 2 Mpbs from them. Sometimes it varies by shows I'm trying to watch. One movie will come down in HD while another won't. They probably have servers in different places causing possible connection issues.
> 
> At any rate, it sucks how Netflix treated you.


That's the first time I've had a problem with NF. Usually everything goes very smoothly, but if they can't understand the issue, I guess it's understandable. The Cablevision tech told me that their server is probably really far away and we were measuring my speed from NYC, which I can see from my roof. When I asked an NF CSR where their server was he said California. But he didn't seem to sure about that either.

Maybe I should have waited longer and kept trying, but after four or five hours of phone calls, I just couldn't take it anymore. I'll go thru the whole thing again in a year or so. They should have everything straightened out by then. One of their CSRs did point out that if you go to their website and look at each program's description they now have the Digital logo on the programs like _30 Rock_ that do stream 5.1. Took her a long time to figure that out.

Yesterday afternoon was probably one of the most stressful times I've had since I quit working in '94. I quit because of the stress. Sometimes it's just easier to walk away...

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

HarpoonIPA said:


> Wow Rich, that's to bad


Terribly frustrating and disappointing. On top of it all, another return to Amazon. Can't wait till they get tired of accepting returns for the same reason.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

I brought my son's PS3 down just a bit ago and hooked it up and I'm getting 1080p and 5.1 sound on it as I should. I just got off the phone with NF, asked them why the PS3 can do it and the Apple box couldn't. The CSR checked my settings and I was receiving or sending (getting kinda confused about this, you'll have to pardon me) and she told me it was over 12Mbs. Same wiring, same TV, same program. Asked her if they were having some difficulties last night and they weren't. I know Cablevision wasn't. I suppose it could have been the Apple box itself...it was. I just called Apple after grabbing the return box before UPS got here and they couldn't help me either. I think I'll stick with the PS3 and use the Samsung 5500 that's on it's way for upscaling content that's not in 1080p. I can already see that the PS3 doesn't upscale as well as the Sammy will.

Rich


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