Need Some Advise For PS3 And Netflix App

[Phog Allen]

Evening gents. I have a real issue that has cropped up the last two months regarding Netflix streaming on PS3. I have had a lot of ups and downs with PS3 and net streaming. However, the one thing that worked dead bang was Netflix. A great interface on PS3 and the machine always rendered the picture at just the right resolution for my telly. Then came Neftlix 2.13. Oh boy. Constant screen freezes and when it does resume the audio and video is sometimes out of sync. Trust me on this part. I have completely uninstalled and de-registered the PS3 from Netflix and reinstalled. No good. I have checked and rechecked my network connection and it works smashing well with other services or the Samsung BluRay. This is a known Netflix 2.13 issue. I even resorted to a trick of not allowing the update to 2.13 after reinstalling the app. It comes installed anytime you update the PS3 but the app version needs updating. I just refused the update and all was well...for awhile. Then about a month ago you simply could not log into Neftlix without the update. Okay, maybe they have it fixed. And sure enough, the menu skipping and all that was fixed. Except the screen freezing. No matter what I do it will play a title for a few minutes and then start to freeze up and stutter. It is not buffering. No indication of that at all or I would suspect network bottling. This is a software issue. I guess as a last resort I am asking if any of our many members here have a favourite PS3 tech/help website that may have some insight to fixing this. I strongly suspect it is endemic to the app itself and nothing will "fix" it til another version comes out. I am telling you, me and Sony are probably going to part ways when this machine goes south or I find something better. It seems that everything designed to work with Sony products...just doesn't. I won't even get started on the constant buffering of the YouTube app for PS3.

Cheers, Todd

 

[k2clones29]

I'm having the same problem as you. I don't think it is a PS3 issue, though. My netflix is acting up on my computer and tablet as well. The new program was just poorly debugged. The best thing to do is to send them emails regarding the problem. The more emails they get, the faster a patch gets sent out to everyone. For now, I just have to suffer through the hit-and-miss of when it's going to work. Wish I had better advice/info for you, but alas, we are in the sinking ship together.

 

[Phog Allen]

Thanks Joey. The thing that lights me up about this is my three year old Samsung BulRay, which hasn't had any sort of update for over a year plays Neflix just fine. I simply cannot get it to fill the telly screen correctly. Probably a setting that needs tweaked. Still, the PS3 was a better experience because the menu interface was much better. I am sure Neflix buggered it but it seems that anything attached to Sony and their we-do-it-our-way products always has issues. I just hope an updated app comes along soon. This is a real nuisance.

Cheers, Todd

 

[Phog Allen]

Okay, this is weird. After a marathon 45 minute chat session with Netflix, they prompted me to go to THIS PAGE. Their suggestion is this is a failing hard drive. I am very sceptical of this. I will say the Amazon app has always been choppy and restreams constantly. And the YouTube app is unusable because of constant buffering. However, Crackle, VUDU, and Cinema Now all work fine. I am hoping someone here can speak to hdd issues with PS3. The Sony support site says I can do it myself with no issues but I am hard pressed to revisit Sony products any time soon. This is the 320Gb model with Move controllers and camera. I hesitate to go buy a new 320-500Gb 2.5 inch drive if I do not need one. Does anyone know if there is any diagnostics tests for PS3 hard drives? They also have a page for backing up the contents of hard drive before inserting and formatting new one. Oi.

Cheers, Todd

 

[Go West Young Man]

Netflix works perfectly on my Roku, Android and laptop, doesn't seem to be a general problem with the service itself.

 

[Phog Allen]

Okay lads, one more post here before I try something a bit drastic. The above posts describe the issues so no need to elabourate. Suffice it to say that removing, cleaning(as best you can) and reinserting the hard drive did not solve the problems. I did not expect it to but thought maybe a reseating of the hdd and blowing the dust out of the unit may result in a lucky break.

So, I remembered I have my wife's old laptop laying in the garage and it has a suitable 2.5 hdd just laying there waiting to be re-purposed. The issue with the laptop was main board related(known issue to Compaq and not worth fixing) but the drive should be good. First of all I know there are some docs and photos on the old laptop drive I want to get off before I try it in the PS3. Will the 2.5 sata hdds plug right into a regular sata cable and power cable in the pc? I am not worried about hard mounting it. Just getting it connected.

Second, has anyone installed and went through the formatting process with a PS3? How much issue is it? I was thinking of this as a way to see if the issues show up after using a different drive. Thanks.

Cheers, Todd

 

[tinashubby]

Netflix on my Roku was giving me some "loading" messages the other day (actually couple days) that I do not usually see. Working fine since. I have no clue.

 

[Phog Allen]

Alright lads, I've a bit of progress to report. I removed the hdd from the old laptop, copied over the files I waned to save and then used the disk management features in windows to delete the old partitions. After inserting it into the PS3 and restarting it the machine reported it had no file system or somesuch and it needed to install them from storage media. I searched this out on Google and discovered it is an easy download on some site Sony refers to as SCE.

Procedure; Inert a usb flash drive or SD card w/adapter into a usb port on your Windows machine. Make sure it is formatted FAT32 and create a folder named PS3. Crete a sub-folder in PS3 folder named UPDATE. Fromnwhat I have read naming it in caps is critical to make the install work. Place the firmware you downloaded in the UPDATE folder. Now start your PS3 with one of the controllers connected via usb cable. PS3 will tell you to press the PS3 button and after a few seconds it will prompt you to install the firmware from the storage media. I had the usb stick in hand and inserted it at that prompt and after following the instructions yo hold down both start and select buttons at the same time for at least five seconds it reported it was attempting the update. After about five minutes it had formatted and installed the 4.41 firmware(the latest). It then reported the machine needed to update again and after a slightly longer wait it was all finished. Actually it was all rather painless. After signing back into Playstation network I reinstalled the "store", Netflix and some other video apps and let them all update as needed.

Results. We watched a one hour Bill Engvall stand up show and nary a twitch, let alone a hang up or freeze. The menu interface was noticeably faster as well. So with that experiment out of the way I somewhat nervously took the original 320Gb hdd and repeated the Windows treatment and then the firmware install. So far so good. A few days streaming will tell the tale though. Menu interface was not as snappy as the old WD 160Gb sata was with the fresh install but streamng Netflix has so far been a freeze-less experience. Makexsure to back up any saved game data or media files you may have stored on the machine. The takeaway is do not assume some "tech" reading fromnl a script has it right. I was immediately sceptical of the failing hard drive diagnosis. It may yet prove to be bad but I think it is like any other OS. They get corrupted or fragmented and need a fresh start. I hope all this helps anyone experiencing the same symptoms.

Cheers, Todd