Dropouts, stuttering and slow loading: how to find the cause and fix it

5 min read

A video that stops every few seconds, takes ages to start or moves in fits and starts can have many causes, and not all of them are in your home. The first step is to work out where the bottleneck is: the connection, the device or the server. This guide helps you tell them apart and fix what’s in your hands.

First, pin down the problem

• Does it happen with everything or with one particular video? If only one fails, it’s usually that video’s server. If everything fails, look at your network or your device.
• Does it happen on another device? Try the same thing on another phone or on the computer, on the same Wi-Fi. If it works fine there, the problem is with the first device.
• Does it happen at certain times? If it’s bad at night and fine in the morning, it’s usually congestion, either at your internet provider or on the video’s server.
• Does it stop, or does it jump? If it stops with the loading indicator, data isn’t arriving: it’s the network. If the sound carries on but the picture moves in jerks, it’s usually decoding: it’s the device.

Wi-Fi: 2.4 GHz vs. 5 GHz

Almost all routers broadcast on two bands, sometimes with the same network name and sometimes with different names.

• 2.4 GHz reaches further and gets through walls better, but it’s slower and shares the airwaves with lots of devices: the neighbors’ networks, Bluetooth, some microwaves. In an apartment building it’s often congested.
• 5 GHz is considerably faster and has less interference, but it loses strength with distance and with every wall.

For video, connect to 5 GHz whenever the signal is good. If you’re far from the router, 2.4 GHz is sometimes more stable: try both. It also helps to have the router up high and in the open, not inside a cabinet, and to use mesh Wi-Fi in large homes. Be careful with repeaters in router mode: they create a separate network, and that matters when you cast to the TV.

Cable, when you can

For a TV or a TV box, a network cable to the router is the most reliable option: no interference and full speed. If the router is far away, powerline adapters, which carry the network over your home’s electrical wiring, are an alternative, although how well they perform varies a lot from home to home.

VPNs

A VPN sends all your traffic on a detour through its server. That adds delay and can limit speed, especially with distant or congested servers. If you notice dropouts with the VPN on, try without it or with a closer server. When you cast to the TV, the VPN on your phone can stop the TV from reaching it; for that case, Whatplay has Settings › TV › “Everything through the VPN”. Use it to protect your connection, not to get around a service’s terms.

The buffer

The buffer is the seconds of video the player downloads ahead of what you’re watching. If the network dips, the video carries on with what’s stored. In Whatplay you set it in Settings › Player › “Buffer”, from 10 to 120 seconds; the default is 30.

• Raise it if your connection comes and goes: on-demand videos will ride out the dips better.
• It helps less with live broadcasts: the player can’t store what hasn’t been broadcast yet.
• Lower it if you use mobile data and often close videos halfway through: you’ll download less that you don’t need. A very large buffer also takes up more memory on modest devices.

The engine and the decoder

If the video doesn’t stop but jumps, or the sound goes out of sync, the problem is usually decoding: the device can’t keep up, or its decoder fails with that format.

1. Leave Settings › Player › “Playback engine” on Automatic.
2. In the player’s “Options”, use the Hardware “Decoder”: it’s the one that puts the least strain on the phone.
3. If you see a green, black or broken picture with Hardware, switch to Software.
4. 4K, 10-bit HEVC or AV1 can be too much for an older phone, in hardware or in software. If there’s a lower-resolution version, use it.

You’ll find the full explanation in video and audio formats.

Video quality

With HLS and DASH, quality drops automatically when the network can’t keep up, which prevents dropouts; we cover this in HLS and DASH. But a video in a single file, like a 4K MP4, can’t adapt: if it needs more than your connection provides, it will stop. To see how much it needs, open “Options” in the player: under the title you’ll see its Mb/s when the video provides them. Your connection’s real speed, on that device in that corner of your home, needs to be comfortably above that.

The server and the source

Sometimes it’s out of your hands: the server is overloaded or the stream has gone down. Whatplay tells you what happened, with messages like “Couldn’t connect to the server” or “The server failed or is overloaded. Try again in a while”. If the item has alternate addresses in the list, it tries the next one by itself and tells you so (“Not responding: trying alternate URL 1 of 2”).

If you use your TV provider’s account (server, username and password; only with authorized providers), when you add it you can choose whether live TV comes in TS or HLS. If one format drops out, try the other and, if the problems continue, contact your provider.

When casting to the TV

• When the video goes through your phone (with WebCast, with files stored on the phone or when converting), your phone has to be near the router with Whatplay open.
• If your phone is converting the video and gets very hot, it lowers the quality to 720p by itself; if it gets too hot, it stops converting.
• “The TV can’t reach your phone” means they’re on different networks or a VPN is in the way. The help sums it up in I use a VPN on my phone and nothing loads on the TV.

Quick summary

1. Try another video and another device to find out where the fault is.
2. Use 5 GHz Wi-Fi or, for the TV, a cable.
3. Turn off the VPN while you test.
4. Raise the buffer if your connection comes and goes.
5. Try the hardware decoder and, if the picture looks wrong, the software one.
6. If none of that makes a difference, it’s probably the source: try again later.