Live Streaming Sports - Massive Stuttering/Buffering Issues

[DougEFresh333]

not sure if this was the right place to post this issue, but here goes nothing.

my Setup:
my PC is next to my main 55" Philips 4K TV (connected via 4k HDMI cable, and get internet through an ethernet cable), but it also uses it's own 21" AOC monitor. i typically play games and do standard PC things using the 21" AOC, but when we watch Netflix or stream sports, i switch to the 55" TV. my PC has a EVGA GTX 1070 FTW2, and the drivers are up to date. i am running windows 7 ultimate on this PC as well. i also have an old 2011 HP laptop which i connect to a 55" LG 4K TV in our game room, connected via 4K HDMI cable, but the laptop is through our wifi. the laptop is running windows 10.

using either my main PC or the laptop, the same thing happens. most streaming videos play fine (Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime, etc), but my issue comes in when i am streaming live sports via NBC Sports Philadelphia (formerly CSN Philly) and Watch ESPN, and the Slingbox just streams terribly most of the time, although i suspect the Slingbox can be considered a separate issue from what is happening with the NBC Sports Philly and WatchESPN live streams. i live in San Antonio, and i bought a Slingbox that my dad set up at his home in New Jersey near Philadelphia so we can stream Philadelphia Eagles games.

anyway, the issues with NBC Sports Philadelphia and Watch ESPN are terrible stuttering (using Internet Explorer) and buffering (using Google Chrome), and Firefox has just stopped streaming both altogether recently, even though all other streaming videos work fine. my download speeds average around 60 MBPS, so what the heck is happening? is it my adobe flash player (which i update regularly)? is it because i still use windows 7 as my main OS? i even tried downloading the "WatchESPN" app in windows 10 on the laptop, to no avail. so why do both of my computers stutter in Internet Explorer, and buffer using Google Chrome? typically, the streaming will start off smoothly, and gradually just get worse and worse, to the point where it is basically unwatchable, and i have to refresh the webpage to reload the stream, and again, it'll straighten out for a bit, but will always revert back to stuttering. the videos themselves say they are downloading at 7 MBPS when i hover over the setting in the bottom right (when watching NBC Sports Philly live stream), so where is the issue here? i've looked into this quite a bit, so reaching out to ya'll is my last hope before i just accept it. i have read that it can sometimes be the upload speeds of NBC Sports and Watch ESPN not being fast enough for the amount of people watching their live streams, but even that seems like a stretch. and i have closed all background application/processes, and nothing actually helps. i thought maybe lowering the resolution on the TV would help the stream, but it doesn't matter if it's on the TV or on my AOC monitor, the same thing happens, so i've kind of ruled out any video card issues. also, understand that i am not looking for 4K playback, the quality is understandably not going to be top notch, i just want it to play smoothly, in a way that is actually watchable.

i feel like this is an adobe flash player issue, but it is all up to date, so how could that be the case? i feel like it has to with the flash player in each of my internet options. FireFox just doesn't play anymore, even though Firefox is running the most recent version. Google Chrome has the Extensions for the flash player, but the videos in Chrome buffer, so the video and sound stop, and the circle pops up showing it is loading, and starts back up after i miss an entire play. Internet Explorer probably works the best of the three, and it stutters like crazy. the sound does not cut out though, even though the video stops and reloads fairly quickly, it is enough to miss Joel Embiid's 3 pointer and see them running back to play defense, or enough to miss Carson Wentz's deep bomb to Alshon Jeffrey, and just see the team playing baseball in the endzone to celebrate a touchdown...

anyway, if anyone could give me any advice on what i could try next, it would be most appreciated. i am at a loss here.

Thanks!!

 

[neieus]

Just based off your post I believe it's a bandwidth issue. The reason why Netflix, YouTube and other streaming media play fine is that it's being sent directly to your personal device. The reason you're experiencing buffering with Slingbox is that it's being sent to Philadelphia first then uploaded from your dad's location back to you. This tells me that the upload speed of your dad's internet provider just isn't fast enough to provide all of the information quickly enough on your end which is why you experience buffering.

It should be noted also that upload speeds are no where near as fast and download so in this case you're limited to the speed of your dad's upload which based on your experience so far just isn't fast enough to keep up with the amount of data that needs to be sent all at once.

 

[DougEFresh333]

Thanks for the response! i haven't been able to find any information for this issue. most of the time, it seems like people are having buffering issues with ALL of their videos, things like Netflix and Amazon Prime, not JUST live streaming video like my issue. i've tried searching quite extensively, and found nothing, which makes me think i'm not searching for the right thing. if i can narrow it down to a specific issue, i'm sure i could find some more answers.

and yeah, that's what i leaning towards with the slingbox... it is based on MY DAD'S upload speeds, regardless of my download speeds, which would make sense. it is always fading in and out of good quality to very poor quality, but it still works better than both NBC Sports Philly and Watch ESPN. well, "Better" is still not great though. as much as i love having the slingbox available, the system as a whole could use some fine tuning to make it a better experience when using it.

i just can't figure out why both NBC Sports Philly and Watch ESPN stutter the way they do. i understand why the slingbox might come in choppy, but do you have any idea why NBC Sports Philly and WatchESPN come is so poorly? why do they start off ok, but then end up being so choppy? do you think it might be my flash player? it is driving me nuts! i had been debating upgrading my internet speeds though Time Warner (now Spectrum), but i don't really think that will resolve anything. i also considered upgrading our wifi router, but that isn't the problem either, seeing how my PC is connected through the wired connection. which brings me back to the use of Firefox, Chrome, and IE. i even tried to uncheck the "enable hardware acceleration" in the flash player settings, but that did literally nothing. there aren't many options in the flash player settings, so i'm stuck...

i appreciate your response!