A buffering question

Hustler · Dec 10, 2022

I think this is a buffering problem but possibly something else.

I have a 2021 24" iMac PC running BigSur and a 2017 12" MacBook laptop running Catalina.
When I watch the football on the iMac it gets very blurry which I assume is a buffering problem.
And yet the MacBook works fine and the football picture quality is pretty good with no blurring.

They are both sitting within 12" of a BT broadband hub.

It's not really a problem as I shall watch tonight's footie on the MacBook but just wondering why it's happening.

Thank you.

squibb34 · Dec 10, 2022

Buffering usually stops the image display, while it catches up.

Have you tried checking the display settings (resolution & brightness) ?

Hustler · Dec 10, 2022

squibb34 said:
Buffering usually stops the image display, while it catches up.

Have you tried checking the display settings (resolution & brightness) ?

Thanks squibb

I've just looked and the built in retina displays are similar and there is a list of these on both machines but they are different.
It's a rather technical meaningless list I'm afraid.

Everything else seems to be the same.

adventuredon · Dec 10, 2022

With so much of the same colour(grass) and fast movement to reproduce quickly, one of the displays may be struggling to process this fast enough

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

squibb34 · Dec 11, 2022

Have you tried using an external display, say a smart TV screen, to help identify the issue?

Hustler · Dec 12, 2022

Thanks don and squibb.
I watched the game on ITV the other night, as it was not available on the BBC, and the picture was very good.

Conclusions are a little tricky but maybe -
ITV gives a better display. Very unlikely.
I was playing with the settings after squibbs initial response and thought I had put them back as they were but maybe I changed something and if I did then it was for the better.
I don't have another external display I'm afraid.

But of course I really have no further interest in the world cup and footie won't be watched again until we get back to normal MOTD on BBC.
So fingers crossed the improvements stay. We shall see.

Thanks again.

wessie · Dec 12, 2022

if it is just iplayer, is the app using the same settings for both devices i.e. correct resolution for the little one but not adjusting for the bigger screen, so it is just an expanded image that is pixellating? You would hope there is an autoadjust setting, but perhaps you have knocked it into manual?

cookie · Dec 12, 2022

wessie said:
if it is just iplayer, is the app using the same settings for both devices i.e. correct resolution for the little one but not adjusting for the bigger screen, so it is just an expanded image that is pixellating? You would hope there is an autoadjust setting, but perhaps you have knocked it into manual?

My mac mini has no manual adjustment within iPlayer, it just goes to the highest resolution it thinks can comfortably run sometimes in lower res steps. I did have a lot of trouble getting it to reliably run the highest res (which is not actually that high). The answer was to change the DNS server address in the router to goole's server. Fixed the issue totally, but my BB is 4G not a landline.

filbe · Dec 12, 2022

Maybe check the spec of the graphics cards? :duno

Hustler · Dec 12, 2022

wessie said:
if it is just iplayer, is the app using the same settings for both devices i.e. correct resolution for the little one but not adjusting for the bigger screen, so it is just an expanded image that is pixellating? You would hope there is an autoadjust setting, but perhaps you have knocked it into manual?

Both machines are set to highest quality.

Hustler · Dec 12, 2022

filbe said:
Maybe check the spec of the graphics cards?

The iMac for whatever reason does not show me what graphics it is using.
MacBook is using Intel HD 615 1536 MB but we are now getting into areas I have not a clue about.
And as we don't know what the iMac uses we cannot do any comparison.

Hustler · Dec 12, 2022

I think I'm going to leave it there for now.

The MacBook seems to work well for watching the footie and the iMac worked well last time, although that might have been why we lost.

Thanks for your help and ideas folks.

A buffering question

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