During prime time, Xfinity VOD goes to the dogs. Even a standard def program hesitates every few seconds from about 8pm to 10pm most nights (so I don't even try anymore).
Since my TiVo Bolt has hundreds of GB free, it ought to be able to read ahead and build a bigger buffer so that doesn't happen. Even if it can't do so in real-time, if I pause playback, it should then be able to get well ahead so when I hit play again it will run smoothly.
Sadly, it doesn't. I paused for several minutes and then resumed playback; within 30 seconds it was stumbling again. VOD is unwatchable in that condition. I bet TiVo's programmers are clever enough to detect data underflows and then try to prefetch more data, especially while paused. Please add such smarts to the next Bolt software update.
The tricky part will be convincing Comcast to allow a big enough buffer of their precious content that it can become watchable.
Since my TiVo Bolt has hundreds of GB free, it ought to be able to read ahead and build a bigger buffer so that doesn't happen. Even if it can't do so in real-time, if I pause playback, it should then be able to get well ahead so when I hit play again it will run smoothly.
Sadly, it doesn't. I paused for several minutes and then resumed playback; within 30 seconds it was stumbling again. VOD is unwatchable in that condition. I bet TiVo's programmers are clever enough to detect data underflows and then try to prefetch more data, especially while paused. Please add such smarts to the next Bolt software update.
The tricky part will be convincing Comcast to allow a big enough buffer of their precious content that it can become watchable.