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PS4 NowTV App (Sky Sports) buffering on Virgin Media was fine on Vodafone

JRS1
Joining in

Hi,

Up until Thurs last week I was a Vodafone fixed line home broadband customer for many years. My PS4 is wired in via ethernet and I'd used Now TV with Sky Sports for literally years without any problems in that configuration i.e. no buffering, no drop outs.

On Thursday I moved to Virgin Media for my broadband. Nothing else changed.

Virgin seems to work absolutely fine for Prime, Netflix, YouTube etc - no buffering no dropping out on the PS4 (or indeed on any other devices).

I am using the Virgin Super Hub 3 in modem mode, with my own router.

However immediately I noticed after moving to Virgin that Now TV Sky sports buffers on the PS4 app - sometimes it buffers for a short period and then recovers for a prolonged period (i.e. no interruptions). Sometimes it drops out with a PL-0 error message.

I have not noticed NowTV sky sports dropping out on my ROKU, but to be fair I don't use it much on that TV/platform so I've probably only used it once. I will check that but it would seem very odd that it was the PS4 app that only suffered from the problem.

I am aware of other posts in the NowTV community forums seemingly with similar issues but it doesn't seem to have come to a solution.

What is the general consensus - is this a NowTV problem or a Virgin Media problem? I am more inclined to believe it is a NowTV problem - perhaps the content servers are faulty or over loaded, or the network peering between NowTV and Virgin is a bottleneck (in which case they are probably arguing over who pays to upgrade the bandwidth).

I've done the re-install the Now TV app stuff and checked all the other troubleshooting but frankly I don't see how any of that should make any difference. The change from Vodafone to Virgin and the problem immediately appearing cannot be a co-incidence or related to anything like that.

thanks

14 REPLIES 14

newapollo
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

Hi JSR1,

Have you tried the advice in the following nowtv.com thread  ?

Option 1

Uninstall and App

  1. Go to TV / Video and select the NOW TV app.
  2. Press Options on your DualShock 4 (Controller) then select Delete.

 Reinstall the App

  1. Go to TV / Video.
  2. On the NOW TV app press X .

Also Try Deleting The Data

  1. Go to Setting then System Storage Management.
  2. Select Application Saved Data.
  3. Select Saved Data in System Storage.
  4. Highlight NOW TV, press Options on your DualShock 4 (Controller) then select Delete.

Option2 

Try a system rebuild to fix any corrupt files following these steps

  1. Make sure the PS4 is powered off.
  2. Press and hold the Power Button until you hear 2 beeps (one when you first press it and another 7 seconds later).
  3. Connect your DualShock 4 controller via USB then press the PS button.
  4. Select Rebuild Database.
Dave
I don't work for Virgin Media.
I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge.
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Hi - I've seen that thread. I've tried Option 1, no luck. I forgot about Option 2 - I'll try that and reply back. To be honest though, I don't see how any of those can be relevant. It would seem to be highly co-incidental that I changed broadband provider, noticed the problem immediately as a result but actually it wasn't the broadband provider change it was another problem that just so happened at the same time. Either way, will rule it in or out by giving Option 2 a try. thanks

Option 2 didnt work either

So I had a chat with Now TV support. Here's what they told me:

I asked what the PL-0 error code actually means;

Answer:

"This error usually appears when there a change in the IP address or the speed of the internet that's provided by the internet provider on your end."

My router says that it has had the same IP address from Virgin Media for days so it cant be the IP address changing.

I was also told:

"It happen because you have the NOW Boost and the NOW Sports service active on your account which requires an minimum internet speed of 12 MBPS and this is where there should not be any device connected to the same network."

I have 200Mbps from Virgin Media so unless Virgin are throttling or have insufficient bandwidth this should not be case, and it can't be my local home router because it is supporting high bandwidth streams for other providers no problem.

The implication is that my Virgin connection can't sustain a 12Mbps stream for NowTV.

They also got me to use my PS4 on my wifi hotspot from my mobile phone - amazingly this worked - the NowTV stream worked absolutely fine running off my 4G mobile phone wifi hotspot. But when I moved back to Virgin again via Lan cable almost immediately it failed again.

Time to complain to Virgin Media I think, this shouldn't be happenning.

newapollo
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

Hi again JRS1,

A stab in the dark but is the VM hub in modem mode and your local home router connected to the VM hub?

You probably already know this, but If so you need to attach the PS4 to your home router as in modem mode only 1 port works on the VM hub.

 

Dave
I don't work for Virgin Media.
I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge.
Problem solved? Click to mark as a Helpful Answer, or use Kudos to say thanks
The do's and don'ts.
Keep the community welcoming for all. Please read the FAQ's
The Service you do for others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth - Muhammad Ali

Can't think what the issue could be. We're also on VM's 200/20 service with our SH2 in modem mode and using an ASUS AC86U router. We don't get any issues with multiple devices streaming video, audio, working from home, and gaming simultaneously on a daily basis. All using wireless as well.
SH2 modem mode | AC86U router | AC68U node

Hi newapollo - modem mode is being used correctly. My home router is plugged into port 1 on the SH3, and all my devices are behind my home router.

thanks mjpartyboy .... I wonder whether it is contention/congestion in either Virgin's peering links to NowTV or in the Virgin access network in my area. If it was the latter then Prime, Netflix, YouTube etc must be a lot better at managing the drops in bandwidth whereas perhaps because NowTV sky sports stream is live it doesn't tolerate such drops in bandwidth etc. 

I am using a TP Link ER605 and it is working perfectly for everything else, I can't see why it would be problematic just for NowTV sky sports streams.

cje85
Trouble shooter

Just a thought.. what DNS server are you using? 1.1.1.1 doesn't always work properly with CDN's like Akamai (used by Now TV), but Google DNS or VM's own server should be fine.

Could you do a tracert to skysportsmainevent-go-hls.ak-cdn.skydvn.com to get an idea of how the traffic is being routed.