[Q] Galaxy Note 8, 4.3 and Hulu problems?

Chivette said:

(Sorry, title should say 4.4.2, not 4.3. Brain not working today)

I updated my Galaxy Note 8 (GT-N5100) when the Android 4.4.2 update became available. It seems Hulu+ broke in the process. It now has extremely choppy playback, regardless of high, med or low quality. CS at Hulu has tried just about everything on their end to fix it for me, but nothing is working.
Advertisements of course load and play without a hitch, but as soon as the program starts the framerate drops.

Has anyone else noticed this? What was your fix (if you found one)?

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Another reason I am waiting for developers to catch up... most likely they are moving on to Lolipop or Tizan since the market will be needing support for newer OS structures.

You should be sending feedback to Hulu about this, as they keep track of things, or try facebook and rant.

Hulu problems

I also had HULU problems after installing CIVATO's 4.4.2 rom. Frame rate is very low. Changing the quality has no affect. No other video playback issues including Netflix.

I contacted HULU support but they don't support rooted devices. They suggested re-installing which did nothing.

mach281 said:

I also had HULU problems after installing CIVATO's 4.4.2 rom. Frame rate is very low. Changing the quality has no affect. No other video playback issues including Netflix.

I contacted HULU support but they don't support rooted devices. They suggested re-installing which did nothing.

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Are you using any kind of ad blocking? Hulu+ doesn't like to run without its ads.

ramjet73

ramjet73 said:

Are you using any kind of ad blocking? Hulu+ doesn't like to run without its ads.

ramjet73

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I have Minmin Xposed blocking ads and still get great playback with both Hulu and Netflix. Though last December Hulu had a lot of buffering and choppy playback. As each update has gotten better and better, the latest one seems best over all.

You may try Second Screen 1.4.4... right now 1.4.5 does not play well with Samsung Touchwiz.

It forces 1080p at 30fps on any connection and the display of your device. You won't be able to use your launcher in landscape mode, as it moves the icons too far to get at all of them. But once you start the app you get full screen without any issues. I cant get 720p to work properly, but I don't need it anyway.

ramjet73 said:

Are you using any kind of ad blocking? Hulu+ doesn't like to run without its ads.

ramjet73

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I do have AdBlock Plus installed. But disabling it has no effect on Hulu playback.

---------- Post added at 10:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:51 AM ----------

gooberdude said:

I have Minmin Xposed blocking ads and still get great playback with both Hulu and Netflix. Though last December Hulu had a lot of buffering and choppy playback. As each update has gotten better and better, the latest one seems best over all.

You may try Second Screen 1.4.4... right now 1.4.5 does not play well with Samsung Touchwiz.

It forces 1080p at 30fps on any connection and the display of your device. You won't be able to use your launcher in landscape mode, as it moves the icons too far to get at all of them. But once you start the app you get full screen without any issues. I cant get 720p to work properly, but I don't need it anyway.

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Sorry, I can't find anything called Second Screen. Do you possibly have a link? I also see you have 4.2.2 in your signature. Are you running that or 4.4.2? I had no issues using 4.2.2. Thanks!

mach281 said:

I do have AdBlock Plus installed. But disabling it has no effect on Hulu playback.

---------- Post added at 10:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:51 AM ----------





Sorry, I can't find anything called Second Screen. Do you possibly have a link? I also see you have 4.2.2 in your signature. Are you running that or 4.4.2? I had no issues using 4.2.2. Thanks!

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I am on 4.2.2 but it will override and push HD both on screen and through connected displays.

here is the free version to test with... https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farmerbb.secondscreen.free

I am using 1.4.4 version of the paid app which is no longer available. the latest does not play well with touchwiz.

mach281 said:

I do have AdBlock Plus installed. But disabling it has no effect on Hulu playback.

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Adblock Plus shouldn't be a problem since it only hooks into the browser.

I'm using Adaware, which blocks ads by modifying the hosts file, and if I don't disable it Hulu+ dies when it gets to the ads.

ramjet73

gooberdude said:

I am on 4.2.2 but it will override and push HD both on screen and through connected displays.

here is the free version to test with... https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farmerbb.secondscreen.free

I am using 1.4.4 version of the paid app which is no longer available. the latest does not play well with touchwiz.

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Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, on 4.4.2 SecondScreen crashes the device stopping the com.android.systemui immediately on reboot (I think that was the process I saw). I, therefore, had to uninstall it.

I've pm'd Civato who may be able to shed some light on this issue. I believe that I had Hulu working fine under his 4.2.2 rom.

mach281 said:

I've pm'd Civato who may be able to shed some light on this issue. I believe that I had Hulu working fine under his 4.2.2 rom.

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I think @civato may still be on vacation since I haven't seen him post in a while.

When Europeans go on holiday they don't fool around with short ones.

ramjet73

Update: I installed civato's 1.9 rom (released 8-4 with kernel 5.4) and tested Hulu again. I still have very low frame rates that make it unusable. In addition, a new "sputtering" motion is affecting all apps during scrolling. Someone suggested installing the old kernel 5.1 which I shall try since clear all caches did not help.

Still hoping to hear from civato on this.

mach281 said:

Update: I installed civato's 1.9 rom (released 8-4 with kernel 5.4) and tested Hulu again. I still have very low frame rates that make it unusable. In addition, a new "sputtering" motion is affecting all apps during scrolling. Someone suggested installing the old kernel 5.1 which I shall try since clear all caches did not help.

Still hoping to hear from civato on this.

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I just tried Hulu+ again on my N5110 and it works fine with FlexNote 1.9 without pauses or stuttering as long as I disable AdAway.

It might be a problem with your router or ISP (some are known to degrade service level for streaming sites) but I doubt that there's anything civato can do about it. Have you tried it with WiFi at another location that has a strong signal and high speed Internet connection?

ramjet73

ramjet73 said:

I just tried Hulu+ again on my N5110 and it works fine with FlexNote 1.9 without pauses or stuttering as long as I disable AdAway.

It might be a problem with your router or ISP (some are known to degrade service level for streaming sites) but I doubt that there's anything civato can do about it. Have you tried it with WiFi at another location that has a strong signal and high speed Internet connection?

ramjet73

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Hmmm. I don't have AdAway installed. No issues with router or ISP - Hulu streams fine on my Mac and using Chromecast on the same broadband network. I'll keep searching for a solution. It's not significant enough for me to go back to 4.2.2.

Incidentally, the sputtered (i.e. jerky) scrolling of FlexNote 1.9 that I was experiencing is improved and smoother after re-installing civato's SphereKat 5.1 kernel. While better it is still not as smooth as I remember with FN 1.8 or the 4.2.2 ROM.

Thanks ramjet73!

mach281 said:

Incidentally, the sputtered (i.e. jerky) scrolling of FlexNote 1.9 that I was experiencing is improved and smoother after re-installing civato's SphereKat 5.1 kernel. While better it is still not as smooth as I remember with FN 1.8 or the 4.2.2 ROM.

Thanks ramjet73!

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Hmmm...

It sounds like you might want to try a clean flash of 1.9 if you haven't done that already. I believe the wipe option for that is "prepare for new ROM" in Philz Touch and "factory reset" in TWRP.

ramjet73

ramjet73 said:

Hmmm...

It sounds like you might want to try a clean flash of 1.9 if you haven't done that already. I believe the wipe option for that is "prepare for new ROM" in Philz Touch and "factory reset" in TWRP.

ramjet73

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Took your advice, ramjet. Over the weekend I did a clean install of 1.9. Unfortunately nothing made Hulu play better. Their commercials do seem to work fine though.

I did come to a definitive conclusion about the visual sputtering that some other users also mentioned in the developer's forum. After going back and forth several times between civato's 5.1 kernel and his FlexNote's built-in 5.4 kernel, I have verified that the sputtering was indeed introduced with the kernel update. It is most visible when I slowly drag a widget back-and-forth across the screen. Some users may less attuned to it because, frankly, it is rather subtle but it is there. So I am staying with 5.1 for the time being.

Thanks.

mach281 said:

Took your advice, ramjet. Over the weekend I did a clean install of 1.9. Unfortunately nothing made Hulu play better. Their commercials do seem to work fine though.

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There's a new version of Hulu+ in the Play Store today (2.15.0.201802). Maybe that will work better for you.

Also, @civato has released 2.0 of the FlexNote ROM with a new kernel.

ramjet73

ramjet73 said:

There's a new version of Hulu+ in the Play Store today (2.15.0.201802). Maybe that will work better for you.

Also, @civato has released 2.0 of the FlexNote ROM with a new kernel.

ramjet73

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Hey, ramjet. Just want to document my latest findings here in case anyone else (or the OP) has these issues. I upgraded to the FlexNote 2.0 ROM and the latest Hulu app. The result was no change for Hulu playback and the OS sputtering returned. I downgraded the kernel to civato's 5.1 and the sputtering went away for the most part.

Last week I decided to do a little more experimentation. I installed two AOSP derived ROMs, first Dirty Unicorns then CM, both of which are based on Android 4.4.4. Dirty Unicorns was the more feature filled but was missing some things that I needed.

The results were a little surprising to me. The responsiveness of the OS greatly improved from the standard ROM - everything is faster, even without overclocking. The sputtering is completely absent. Some apps still observe much scrolling stutters such as the NYTimes app but this seems to be app related rather than attributable to the OS. In fact, the typical stutters I have always observed are almost entirely gone - everything is smoother.

Oh yeah, Hulu works perfectly now. I can only conclude that 4.4.2 ultimately caused the Hulu problem.

Summary: I will remain on CM for the time being. Overall it is a more pleasant experience. I do miss a few Samsung derived apps such as S-note and MultiWindow, but not terribly so. There are S-note alternatives. I always used an alternative launcher anyway. If I had a larger tablet the MW feature would be more important but it is not so much with the Note 8. Besides I have always found MW to be rather flaky - apps I added to the available list somehow always disappeared. The last time I used it it sent the device into a boot loop which started this latest quest for a better tablet experience.