NHL.com performance issues

[SlingBlade]

With the NHL app on my phone through my home wireless I am able to play the games without any performance issues. When I use the same wireless on my laptop using the website the games take a long time to load, and only plays at the lowest quality. The game also stops to buffer every couple of minutes. When advertisements come on they play in full 1080p without skipping a beat. I also have the same performance issue with my main PC that is hard wired in. 

It seems like NHL.com is throttling Rogers customers on their website or they just don't have the necessary servers to keep up with load. It makes no sense that the advertisements play in full 1080p without any issues but when it goes back to the hockey game it chugs along at the lowest quality picture. I had the same performance issues with live games and also previous games. It also isn't my internet connection because my phone and laptop share the exact same wireless connection and the phone runs it flawlessly. Speed tests run around 35mb/s download when it says HD only requires 5mb/s.

*** Edited Labels ***

[Dugi]

I found my experience this evening to be very interesting. I started watching the Leafs/Blues game on NHL Live. Initially, the picture was very good, at least until the stuttering, pausing, and buffering started to kick in. I was watching the game through my laptop and cast to Chromecast. The constant interruptions were very frustrating. Then, low and behold, I noticed the same game was the Yahoo free game of the night. I stopped the NHL Live broadcast and switched to the Yahoo broadcast (also cast to Chromecast) and what do you know? I got a superior picture with no buffering, pausing, or stuttering. How is it that Rogers and the NHL cannot get this right while Yahoo can?  It makes no sense that the so-called experts in providing a TV hockey broadcast can somehow not ever get this right? 

[Ned]

I too have the same issue. I am using the updated NHL app on Apple TV 4. The Apple TV is wired to the modem via Ethernet.  According to various speed tests the bandwidth is huge and more than ample at around 70Mbps!  So, what do I get?  Well, much the same as everyone else here.  All live broadcasts seem to change their resolution at random dropping out of full 1080p into much less quality. Also, many times the video freezes and th audio keeps going.

very upset that this has not been resolved!  This is a lot of money spent on the subscription and it is very poor video quality. 

Some direction here here beyond the typical troubleshooting steps of rebooting and all that is needed,even since my bandwidth is far more than what is needed.

NHL is no doubt a money making product for Rogers however if the video quality issues are not fixed, then I suspect that customers will not renew the subscriptions and find games elsewhere where quality seems to be reported as far superior,

[unichi]

I’m watching it right now, and I’ve just about had it with the choppy feed! I have tested my internet speed at 135 mb and I can stream on any of the free sights from England, but nhl.com is choppy and I won’t tolerate this much longer , not to mention them playing the same commercial 5 straight times non stop to drive you up the wall , what century do we live in that we can’t stream from a legitimate sight with out having to put up with this!

[Dugi]

@unichi

As I have said almost a million times, if I had to pay for this lousy service, it would have have been cancelled long before this year. Since my 2-year deal with Game Centre Live included expires next fall, there is not a chance that I will have this pathetic service for the 2018-19 NHL season.

[byrogie]

Same issues for me on my new Apple TV. Supposed to be 1080p. Cable is much better at 1080i. Works fine on iphone, awful on pc and chromecast.

[Simmerr]

Ever since I purchased the full season package, whenever I watch a game it randomly skips back 15-30 seconds. This happens multiple times during a live game feed which I stream at home. I have even upgraded my internet to fibre and this still happens, which is getting pretty frustrating. Can this problem be resolved?

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @Simmerr

Thank you for joining and posting your concern in the Community. It's surely not a pleasant experience when a game skips randomly for a few seconds. We can surely diagnose the issue for you, is the skipping happening on all the devices?

Please provide more details about the devices and whether you are streaming on a wired Internet connection or using a WiFi connection etc. More details can help us isolate the issue. 

Thanks,

RogersMoin

[Simmerr]

Hey RogersMoin,

For sure. I watch the games through the app I downloaded on my PS4 and I stream via Wifi. My router is within 10 feet.

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @Simmerr

Thank you for the information about the device and the type of connection. I tried replicating the issue you have described, however, I was not successful. 

Have you noticed the skipping on any other device? Does your PS4 supports 5 GHz band for WiFi? If you can switch to the 5 GHz network it can help alleviate the skipping as there is a minimal interference on the 5 GHz band. 

Since the PS4 is close to your router, I suggest trying the Ethernet connection if the PS4 doesn't support the

5 GHz.

Cheers,

RogersMoin

[Goleafsgo1]

Nearly everytime I use my rogerscentre live to watch a game it appears very choppy or “laggy”. I’ve never really got used to it but also have never complained until now. Any advice so that I may watch the playoffs smoothly would be appreciated. Thank you

[Bryan77]

Same issue as the one people complaining over 2 years ago I guess there is no fix for it glad I don’t pay for it

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @Goleafsgo1 and @Bryan77

Welcome to the Rogers Community Forums! Thank you for posting your concerns in the Community. Any performance issues can be unpleasant. 

We can definitely troubleshoot the issue, please provide more details like type of Internet connection, devices, live games or replays etc. 

Thanks,

RogersMoin

[gruc]

When I watch NHL Live hockey game on windows 7, 8.1 or 10 using a Chrome browser, I see the picture snap forward about 5 frames every 20 seconds or so. This has been happening for the last 3 years while watching NHL Live. Because we're paying for the service this year (due to NHL Live not being included in the Roger's Share Everything Plan for the 2018/2019 season), I studied up on the problem and did some testing for about 8 hours. I came to the conclusion (like some others have found) that the flash player for Chrome is the problem. Even though some posts say that Chrome on Windows is the best option, this was not true for me. I installed Firefox on Windows 7 and installed the latest Adobe Flash Player when asked to do so while navigating through https://nhllive.rogers.com. The picture was not snapping forward 5 frames every 20 seconds or so (problem solved). Chrome installs an adobe flash player 31 PPAPI whereas firefox installs an adobe flash player 31 NPAPI. The key is firefox installs NPAPI instead of PPAPI. NPAPI is less secure and that is why I believe Chrome does not support it but the picture snaps every 20 seconds or so. Seeing that Roger's is a trust worth entity I will risk using firefox and the NPAPI flash player while watching NHL Live because it is easier on the eyes and seems to work better for me.

The bottom line is that I was trying to use a different adobe flash player with a different API and by using firefox, it installed the NPAPI version instead of the PPAPI version. 

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @gruc.

Welcome to the Rogers Community Forums! 🙂

I appreciate posting the issue you were experiencing and also thank you for posting the fix. It's certainly helpful to any member in the Community with the similar concern. 

I have always used Chrome on Windows 7 and Windows 10 and didn't experience the issue of skipping frames. It seems like it's not affecting all Chrome users; I'll certainly pass on your experience and fix to the support teams for the review. 

Thank you once again for your participation in the Community and for your help in keeping the community a pleasant place to be.

Cheers,

RogersMoin 

[gruc]

I appreciate the feedback. I like Chrome and would like to have NHL Live working smoothly on Windows 7, 8.1 or Windows 10. Two questions to others using Chrome and Windows 7, 8.1 or 10...

Does anyone else have a picture that skips frames (jerky) every 20 seconds or so? 

Does anyone else have a picture that does not skips frames (jerky) every 20 seconds or so? 

The feedback could be help to Roger's (and the Community) in seeing how many other people are affected (or not affected) by this possible problem.

[funkydmunky]

Yes I have this issue. Always have. Does it regardless of the resolution setting so it is not a bandwidth issue but a streaming issue. I have done thorough testing of many browsers. Chrome, Chromium, Opera, Fire Fox, Brave, and more and always updating and trying different versions of Flash. Always a consistent hiccup every 14-20 seconds. Just enough to loose immersion ya know.

Tested Win 7/10. And on at least three machines. Never been an issue of bandwidth just bad software.

[funkydmunky]

After leaving my previous post yesterday, I figured I would re-visit the issue. At the beginning of the 2018 hockey season, as every year, I test various browsers to see which is optimal. I had also upgraded internet speed. I still had the 10-20 second stutter as stated.

Today I decided to re-test. I am glad to report that the latest updated release of Firefox browser is not displaying any stutters! This is a first for me since the first season of Rogers NHL, when it was a comes and goes issue.

The games still randomly drop off, where the video freezes permanently and the time line erases. The only solution is to close the browser, reload the game and manually move the time-line forward to where you were. Refreshing the browser will cause the game to continue at some future point often spoiling the score ruining the game. But that is another issue LoL!

For now the stutter is fixed!

[gruc]

funkydmunky glad to hear of your success with the stuttering screen.

As for the game drop off and freezing problems, I do not have that problem yet.

Thanks for the heads up. 

[Guymandude]

I travel a lot with 2 Windows 10 laptops and my phone. Through all various networks I've connected to, the phone always streams well. Though I've never been able to get through a game on Chrome or Edge without freezes, switches of resolution, and/or the game randomly going back to the beginning of the feed.
I recently tried the SeaMonkey browser. It will stream a game trouble free for me. It eventually becomes unstable and needs to be restarted, but this is usually after 2 or 3 games. I'm very happy to now have this option.
Now I'm back home, having just watched a painfully choppy game on my Apple TV, with many freezes on my 150mbps connection. I'll be connecting my laptop with SeaMonkey next game.
As others have said, we don't have these issues with other streaming services. Why Roger's, why? These issues have been around for quite a while.

[RogersMaude]

Good evening @Guymandude,

Welcome to the Rogers Community!

Thank you for your post. We appreciate you took the time to provide us with your feedback.

Could you please explain the troubleshooting steps you have gone through so far?

We thank you for sharing your opinion with us. We value it greatly.

RogersMaude

[Guymandude]

Hello Maude.

I've tried just about everything. Issues on Apple TV app, 2 different Apple computers using Safari and Chrome to access NHL.com, and on my Asus laptop, using Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and now Seamonkey as well with NHL.com. I've been on many different internet connections, both wired and wifi. Even issues on 300Mbps connection wited. Doesn't seem to make a difference what software or OS, or what internet connection. Had troubles in Manitoba, British Columbia, and now in Montreal. I'm now watching my games from streams put up by others. These work fine.