[Q] Sony Xperia Tablet Z - poor streaming video quality

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iosandroid

Member
Jul 30, 2012
21
4
I bought a Sony XTZ couple weeks ago. I love everything about this tablet, until I watched a movie on Netflix on it. It is borderline blurry compared to streaming the same title on Windows 8 or iPad. So I thought it's just a Netflix thing, until last night I played a movie from Google Play. It looked absolutely horrible, SD quality. It is not my internet connection speed as I get 100/30Mbps here.

I Googled this subject and found no information about this. Am I seeing things or is there something wrong with my Sony XTZ?
 

iosandroid

Member
Jul 30, 2012
21
4
I bought a Sony XTZ couple weeks ago. I love everything about this tablet, until I watched a movie on Netflix on it. It is borderline blurry compared to streaming the same title on Windows 8 or iPad. So I thought it's just a Netflix thing, until last night I played a movie from Google Play. It looked absolutely horrible, SD quality. It is not my internet connection speed as I get 100/30Mbps here.

I Googled this subject and found no information about this. Am I seeing things or is there something wrong with my Sony XTZ?

So I did some more reading, apparently Sony didn't pay for licensing for HD playback on the XTZ :confused::silly: I've read that even Sony's own video services do not offer HD playback on the XTZ. Wow, just wow. I really love this tablet but this is a deal breaker.

I have 4 more days to request a return on this. I was trying to get it to update to the latest 10.4.1.b.0.101 but it's not available yet. I will give it 3 more days to see if the update hits, and see if it enables HD playback. If not I have to return it which will be unfortunate and very disappointing.
 

jesusitox12

Member
Jul 7, 2012
41
1
Hermosillo
Please tell me this is not true ..

So I did some more reading, apparently Sony didn't pay for licensing for HD playback on the XTZ :confused::silly: I've read that even Sony's own video services do not offer HD playback on the XTZ. Wow, just wow. I really love this tablet but this is a deal breaker.

I have 4 more days to request a return on this. I was trying to get it to update to the latest 10.4.1.b.0.101 but it's not available yet. I will give it 3 more days to see if the update hits, and see if it enables HD playback. If not I have to return it which will be unfortunate and very disappointing.

Please tell me this is not true DAMMN im about to buy this tablet ..( not waiting for the z2 because the tablet is on 350$ deal so yeah..)
i love watching netflix :) and i when i see this .. well no, just no i have like 24 hours before the deals end .. someone tell me that i can watch hd content on it .. is it netflix only or all hd playback?
 

iosandroid

Member
Jul 30, 2012
21
4
Please tell me this is not true DAMMN im about to buy this tablet ..( not waiting for the z2 because the tablet is on 350$ deal so yeah..)
i love watching netflix :) and i when i see this .. well no, just no i have like 24 hours before the deals end .. someone tell me that i can watch hd content on it .. is it netflix only or all hd playback?

Yes, all streaming HD services. Very disappointing as I loved everything about this tablet. I really wanted it to work, so much so that I called Xperia support even knowing it'd be a waste of time. First thing I was asked was if I can copy the movies to my XTZ to be played.

This appears to affect the entire range of Xperia devices including the flagship Z1 Ultra. I'll link two samples I found here, but I saw the same complaints on other Xperia devices. I've found no complaints about Netflix, but trust me, if you watch the same title on Netflix with any other devices, the quality difference will be clear - it's way sharper even on a 720p device than on the XTZ.

http://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/Xperia-Tablet-Z/VOD-and-HD-Video-Playback/td-p/362656

http://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/Xperi...vice-does-not-support-HD-playback/td-p/417467
 

jesusitox12

Member
Jul 7, 2012
41
1
Hermosillo
Yes, all streaming HD services. Very disappointing as I loved everything about this tablet. I really wanted it to work, so much so that I called Xperia support even knowing it'd be a waste of time. First thing I was asked was if I can copy the movies to my XTZ to be played.
This appears to affect the entire range of Xperia devices including the flagship Z1 Ultra. I'll link two samples I found here, but I saw the same complaints on other Xperia devices. I've found no complaints about Netflix, but trust me, if you watch the same title on Netflix with any other devices, the quality difference will be clear - it's way sharper even on a 720p device than on the XTZ.

http://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/Xperia-Tablet-Z/VOD-and-HD-Video-Playback/td-p/362656

http://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/Xperi...vice-does-not-support-HD-playback/td-p/417467

Well sucks a lot I think I'll wait for the z2 or the next nexus 10
 

iosandroid

Member
Jul 30, 2012
21
4
So I returned the XTZ and bought an LG G Pad 8.3, and find that the LG also has poor Netflix streaming quality, but at least the LG can play HD contents from Google Play which the XTZ would only play SD quality.

Did some more reading on this matter. 1080p Netflix on Android requires Android 4.3 (which the XTZ does in fact have) that has additional DRM API built-in, but it seems the ONLY Android device that can do 1080p streaming is the Nexus 7 2013. One might say on a smallish tablet device 720p vs 1080p shouldn't matter. I probably would've thought so myself if I hadn't been spoiled by the biting sharpness from iPads and Windows 8 devices when watching Netflix. The difference is immediately noticeable.

I've attached some pictures to show the difference in case anyone is interested to see. The difference in person is greater than these pictures show.
 

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dsfdfsdfs

Member
May 8, 2010
38
20
Tampere
Did some more reading on this matter. 1080p Netflix on Android requires Android 4.3 (which the XTZ does in fact have) that has additional DRM API built-in, but it seems the ONLY Android device that can do 1080p streaming is the Nexus 7 2013. One might say on a smallish tablet device 720p vs 1080p shouldn't matter. I probably would've thought so myself if I hadn't been spoiled by the biting sharpness from iPads and Windows 8 devices when watching Netflix. The difference is immediately noticeable.

I'm pretty sure all non-Nexus 7 2013 devices only get 480p, hence the low quality. Netflix help pages also say HD is only supported on "new Nexus 7".
 

iosandroid

Member
Jul 30, 2012
21
4
I'm pretty sure all non-Nexus 7 2013 devices only get 480p, hence the low quality. Netflix help pages also say HD is only supported on "new Nexus 7".

What is the reasoning for this? That's ridiculous.

I kid you not, the regular iPad Mini with the 1024x768 screen and the Dell Windows 8.1 8" 1280x800 tablets look much sharper than the non-Nexus 7 full HD Android tablets I've tried so far. Yes I had a 2013 Nexus 7 previously and Netflix is very sharp on it. This inconsistent experience from Android is a big turn off, although I like the LG G Pad a lot and it is a keeper. I'll just use my other gadgets when I watch Netflix.
 

ngvuanh

Senior Member
Jan 1, 2013
246
23
I don't think there would be much differences in your images above.
Since each tablet you used has different brightness and contrast, so the picture sharpness looks different.
I have attached my photos showing pictures from XTZ and iPad Air. The two are a little out of sync.
Look at detail of Liam's shirt. They are the same on both XTZ and Air.

2usg1vm.jpg


2hqrpnc.jpg
 
Last edited:

dsfdfsdfs

Member
May 8, 2010
38
20
Tampere
What is the reasoning for this? That's ridiculous.

I kid you not, the regular iPad Mini with the 1024x768 screen and the Dell Windows 8.1 8" 1280x800 tablets look much sharper than the non-Nexus 7 full HD Android tablets I've tried so far. Yes I had a 2013 Nexus 7 previously and Netflix is very sharp on it. This inconsistent experience from Android is a big turn off, although I like the LG G Pad a lot and it is a keeper. I'll just use my other gadgets when I watch Netflix.

I believe it is because of DRM mess, i.e. the Widevine DRM interfaces are not implemented properly or something about it is different, etc.

I modified the Netflix APK to enable verbose logging and I looked through the code, and it seems to check specifically for Nexus 7 2013 on Android 4.3 only to enable Widevine DRM mode, otherwise the Widevine mode is disabled (which, I guess, disables HD playback completely). On Android 4.4 there is no separate check for device name, so maybe HD playback could work with Netflix for any 4.4 tablet that implements the Android Widevine DRM interface properly (or it could be it is limited in other places as well)...
And yes, the playback doesn't go above 480p according to the logs on my Tablet Z.

I don't think there would be much differences in your images above.
Since each tablet you used has different brightness and contrast, so the picture sharpness looks different.
I have attached my photos showing pictures from XTZ and iPad Air. The two are a little out of sync.
Look at detail of Liam's shirt. They are the same on both XTZ and Air.

You can't see any quality difference in the pictures because the photo resolution is way too low for that. 480p video has 480 pixels in the vertical direction, and your photos doesn't even have that amount of vertical pixels for each display.

To definitely see what resolution your Netflix is maxing out at, search for "example short" in Netflix and play the "Example Short 23.976" video (in U.S. Netflix). The video shows the current playback bitrate and size in the upper-left corner. For me it maxes out at "1750 kbps, 720x480", which is consistent with what I saw in the APK, and which is not HD.
 
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iosandroid

Member
Jul 30, 2012
21
4
Sorry to bump this old thread, but it seems Netflix has finally let it loose on full HD streaming to other Android devices, at least on both my LG (G Pad 8.3 and G2 phone). I think since two Netflix app updates ago. The difference is immediately noticeable - same biting sharpness I've been used to from iPads and Windows 8.1. I imagine this would be across the board on all Android devices.

I remembered this thread when I searched "LG G Pad Netflix stuttering", which very surprisingly was rectified by rebooting the G Pad.

Edit, seems Netflix has "fixed" it again with the new update. The super sharpness is once again gone. In trying to fix the stuttering issue, I updated the Netflix app to the current release. I'm not seeing things. I've gone nuts since the XTZ in trying to see what's going on with Netflix on Android. I settled on a scene on Skyfall. At 12:21 the conference call speaker (plus M's wrinkles on her face), you'll see the very fine details when on HD, which I saw on the G Pad on the last Netflix app update. It's gone now.

I give up.

Edit 2: I think Netflix is messing around with things on their backend. A couple days ago I started noticing titles actually say "HD" when browsing on the Android app. Now it's gone. I went as far as downloading the .apk for 3.3.3 and 3.4.0, nope HD is gone.

Now I give up.
 
Last edited:

OzDzynes28

New member
Sep 16, 2014
1
0
very poor product, equally poor customer service

I believe it is because of DRM mess, i.e. the Widevine DRM interfaces are not implemented properly or something about it is different, etc.

I modified the Netflix APK to enable verbose logging and I looked through the code, and it seems to check specifically for Nexus 7 2013 on Android 4.3 only to enable Widevine DRM mode, otherwise the Widevine mode is disabled (which, I guess, disables HD playback completely). On Android 4.4 there is no separate check for device name, so maybe HD playback could work with Netflix for any 4.4 tablet that implements the Android Widevine DRM interface properly (or it could be it is limited in other places as well)...
And yes, the playback doesn't go above 480p according to the logs on my Tablet Z.



You can't see any quality difference in the pictures because the photo resolution is way too low for that. 480p video has 480 pixels in the vertical direction, and your photos doesn't even have that amount of vertical pixels for each display.

To definitely see what resolution your Netflix is maxing out at, search for "example short" in Netflix and play the "Example Short 23.976" video (in U.S. Netflix). The video shows the current playback bitrate and size in the upper-left corner. For me it maxes out at "1750 kbps, 720x480", which is consistent with what I saw in the APK, and which is not HD.

I bought this tablet thinking it would be amazing, dust proof, water resistant, slim slick design, SD card etc. It is very poor for the price I paid here in UK £380, live streaming rarely works, it goes off after about 30 seconds. Battery life poor, takes forever charging. Uploading videos is shocking, producing such poor quality videos even from the HD GoPro cameras, it's all blurry. I wish now I had stuck with my original plan of staying with Apple. Waste of money, customer service on Twitter absolutely useless, saying for me to do the same thing "system repair" black black black, why should we have to do this after paying nearly £400 for a tablet. I did do the system repair process and it made absolutely no difference whatsoever. Avoid Sony Xperia at all costs.

Back to Apple for me after my refund. Boom ;)
 

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    So I returned the XTZ and bought an LG G Pad 8.3, and find that the LG also has poor Netflix streaming quality, but at least the LG can play HD contents from Google Play which the XTZ would only play SD quality.

    Did some more reading on this matter. 1080p Netflix on Android requires Android 4.3 (which the XTZ does in fact have) that has additional DRM API built-in, but it seems the ONLY Android device that can do 1080p streaming is the Nexus 7 2013. One might say on a smallish tablet device 720p vs 1080p shouldn't matter. I probably would've thought so myself if I hadn't been spoiled by the biting sharpness from iPads and Windows 8 devices when watching Netflix. The difference is immediately noticeable.

    I've attached some pictures to show the difference in case anyone is interested to see. The difference in person is greater than these pictures show.
    1
    What is the reasoning for this? That's ridiculous.

    I kid you not, the regular iPad Mini with the 1024x768 screen and the Dell Windows 8.1 8" 1280x800 tablets look much sharper than the non-Nexus 7 full HD Android tablets I've tried so far. Yes I had a 2013 Nexus 7 previously and Netflix is very sharp on it. This inconsistent experience from Android is a big turn off, although I like the LG G Pad a lot and it is a keeper. I'll just use my other gadgets when I watch Netflix.

    I believe it is because of DRM mess, i.e. the Widevine DRM interfaces are not implemented properly or something about it is different, etc.

    I modified the Netflix APK to enable verbose logging and I looked through the code, and it seems to check specifically for Nexus 7 2013 on Android 4.3 only to enable Widevine DRM mode, otherwise the Widevine mode is disabled (which, I guess, disables HD playback completely). On Android 4.4 there is no separate check for device name, so maybe HD playback could work with Netflix for any 4.4 tablet that implements the Android Widevine DRM interface properly (or it could be it is limited in other places as well)...
    And yes, the playback doesn't go above 480p according to the logs on my Tablet Z.

    I don't think there would be much differences in your images above.
    Since each tablet you used has different brightness and contrast, so the picture sharpness looks different.
    I have attached my photos showing pictures from XTZ and iPad Air. The two are a little out of sync.
    Look at detail of Liam's shirt. They are the same on both XTZ and Air.

    You can't see any quality difference in the pictures because the photo resolution is way too low for that. 480p video has 480 pixels in the vertical direction, and your photos doesn't even have that amount of vertical pixels for each display.

    To definitely see what resolution your Netflix is maxing out at, search for "example short" in Netflix and play the "Example Short 23.976" video (in U.S. Netflix). The video shows the current playback bitrate and size in the upper-left corner. For me it maxes out at "1750 kbps, 720x480", which is consistent with what I saw in the APK, and which is not HD.