Skip to content Buffering and stutter: what to change, in order
Five checks that find the cause in a few minutes, starting with the one that is right most often.
Buffering has one honest test behind it: does it happen on everything, or on one thing? Work down this list and stop when the answer changes.
1. One channel, or all of them?
Play three channels from different categories. If only one stutters, that source is struggling and nothing in the app will fix it. Try a twin of the same channel elsewhere in your list.
2. Wired or wireless?
Plug the box into the router with a cable if you can. If you cannot, use the 5 GHz band and keep the box in sight of the router. Wifi through two walls is the single most common cause of evening buffering.
3. Only at certain hours?
Stutter that appears every night and clears in the morning is congestion, either on your connection or on your service’s servers. Test the same channel at a quiet hour to confirm it.
4. Give the player more head start
Settings, then Playback, then Buffer Size. Balanced survives short hiccups, Smoothest stays further behind live and keeps going on a weak connection. See Choose a buffer size that stops stuttering.
5. Lower the quality ceiling
Settings, then Playback, then the quality preference for the connection you use. A 4K stream on a playlist that cannot sustain it will always stutter, however big the buffer.
Check every device in the house. If another TV and a phone buffer on the same channel at the same moment, the app is not the variable. That is the playlist, the router or the service.
Related reading: why buffering often only happens at night.
