Apple TV vs LG OLED: Which Buffers Better?

[gnomeisland]

We are stuck with Spectrum at the house and our throughput really drops off in the evening. In theory we’ve got 100mb/s and the AES is hardwired to the TV and the Apple TV (3rd gen.). We’ve started watching almost everything with the LG (OLED 55C8) apps for the Dolby and 4K but there’s this strange buffering. A program stops with an error but then quickly restarts when reloaded.

To me it seems as if the LG isn’t buffering enough and failing when the connection blips. There seem to many here who are familiar with both the LG and the Apple TV 4k. Does the Apple TV buffer more? Am I off base here?

 

[Audit13]

This happens with a wired connection too?

 

[gnomeisland]

This happens with a wired connection too?

Yup.

 

[Audit13]

Yup.

My bad, I see that you already tried with an ethernet cable.

Unfortunately, I can't say whether the Apple TV 4K buffers more than the LG but, when using the Netflix app to stream 4k via my LG C7P, I notice that the resolution will progressively drop as the internet speed drops but it never stops playing.

When you stream from Netflix, hit the info button on the remote to see the stream rate. When I do this, I can see the picture drop from 2160p all the way to 480p without buffering.

 

[gnomeisland]

My bad, I see that you already tried with an ethernet cable.

Unfortunately, I can't say whether the Apple TV 4K buffers more than the LG but, when using the Netflix app to stream 4k via my LG C7P, I notice that the resolution will progressively drop as the internet speed drops but it never stops playing.

When you stream from Netflix, hit the info button on the remote to see the stream rate. When I do this, I can see the picture drop from 2160p all the way to 480p without buffering.

I’m still only on a 3rd gen AppleTV. Sounds like it degrades much better than than the LG app. Just curious does it stay in HDR or Dolby Vision? It looks like I may yet upgrade the Apple TV if it maintains an HDR stream.

 

[Audit13]

I’m still only on a 3rd gen AppleTV. Sounds like it degrades much better than than the LG app. Just curious does it stay in HDR or Dolby Vision? It looks like I may yet upgrade the Apple TV if it maintains an HDR stream.

Although the DV icon will appear when the show starts, it doesn't reappear if the drops to 480 and rises again to 2160p. When it hits 2160p from a lower resolution, it does appear to be in DV or HDR.

I have not experienced buffering on either my TV ot 4k ATV as I have a good connection at 500 Mbps.

 

[Michelasso]

I don't know about the ATV 3rd gen, but I do know that my Bravia TV with Android is usually much slower to go to full resolution (even 1080p) than my ATV 4K. On the latter to reach 4K resolution is actually immediate. Both wired to the same switch, and my internet connection is constant at about 85Mbps. I have seen that my Fire TV Stick sometimes doesn't play immediately at the highest bitrate (1080p). It doesn't matter if Netflix or Amazon Prime Video.

I believe it's a matter of slow CPUs. And the ATV 3 mounts an Apple A5, the same of the iPhone 4S. It has a geekbench around 20 times slower than the A10X, so.. Your LG should have a faster processor.

 

[gnomeisland]

The issue isn't really resolution it is playback issues when the network gets congested. The LG Netflix app got updated and seems to do a bit better—although it also seems to drop resolution more aggressively. When I test material during the day, or when my daughter watches something after school, there are rarely issues.

I think I'm going to wait until the 25th and see what Apple's plans/announcements are and then probably get an Apple TV 4K if it still makes sense. I'd normally wait since it is due for an upgrade but since I don't game much there aren't many updates that would make a difference to me.

 

[imaccooper]

Consider that your trouble may not be internet related. Typically, tv apps are not very well put together and even more noticeable is that almost every tv runs on an underpowered processor. This can cause glitches and what appears to be buffering, but it is just your tv not being able to keep up with the stream. These problems can be amplified when the connection is not as fast.

I had 100 mbps service from spectrum for a couple of years recently and I rarely had buffering trouble even though the network was much slower in the evenings.

 

[gnomeisland]

Consider that your trouble may not be internet related. Typically, tv apps are not very well put together and even more noticeable is that almost every tv runs on an underpowered processor. This can cause glitches and what appears to be buffering, but it is just your tv not being able to keep up with the stream. These problems can be amplified when the connection is not as fast.

I had 100 mbps service from spectrum for a couple of years recently and I rarely had buffering trouble even though the network was much slower in the evenings.

Thanks, it seems the processor itself on the LG TV's is quite powerful but limited storage and an unknown amount of RAM. Regardless it does seem to hiccup more than the ATV3—although many people here and on other forums have no issues with the LG TVs. I think I may pickup an Apple TV 4K this week and test it. I can return it if things don't improve and/or Apple releases updated hardware next week.

 

[shinseiromeo]

Thanks, it seems the processor itself on the LG TV's is quite powerful but limited storage and an unknown amount of RAM. Regardless it does seem to hiccup more than the ATV3—although many people here and on other forums have no issues with the LG TVs. I think I may pickup an Apple TV 4K this week and test it. I can return it if things don't improve and/or Apple releases updated hardware next week.

I can say out of experience that since I got the LG B7 OLED, my ATV4k mostly collects dust. The main reason why is even when comparing apples to apples when it comes to Dolby Vision/Atmos content, the VUDU app built into webOS is miles above and beyond the A/V of the ATV4k. Audio is clear, louder, and LFE is deeper. The absolute kicker for me is more often than not, VUDU/UV movies are UHD yet only HD and basic dolby audio on the ATV4k, so you're watching an inferior version of the movie as well.

The only times I use my ATV4k now are for movie extras, as they have more than VUDU does. And if a movie is iTunes only.

 

[gnomeisland]

I did get an Apple TV 4K. I can't say yet if the buffering has improved. Haven't had time to do much other than take it out of the box and do the bare bones setup. Since all of my purchases are through iTunes I do appreciate that I've suddenly got a lot more UHD titles in my collection.

 

[gnomeisland]

Just a quick follow up after about a month of Apple TV 4K ownership. The buffering seems solved. Overall, while the LG interface is great, the Apple TV is better and faster. Whatever caused the buffering problem the Apple TV seemed to solve it.

 

[Irishman]

I’m still only on a 3rd gen AppleTV. Sounds like it degrades much better than than the LG app. Just curious does it stay in HDR or Dolby Vision? It looks like I may yet upgrade the Apple TV if it maintains an HDR stream.

Are you sure you mean to say 3rd gen ATV? Apple has made several generation changes to the ATV line:

1st Gen - The one with the Hard Drive that you could store content on,
2nd Gen - The 720p streamer
3rd Gen - The 1080p streamer
4th Gen - The thicker 1080p streamer that introduced the App Store
5th Gen - The 4k HDR streamer version of the 4th Gen one

So, if you have anything but the most recent 4k HDR ATV, then yes, it's to be expected for the built-in apps on your ATV to buffer less often than your OLED's built-in 4k HDR apps. It's because your ATV isn't capable of playing anything in 4K or HDR, whereas your LG OLED is, and, because that content takes more bandwidth, that would easily explain why you're noticing your built-in OLED apps buffering more.

That said, which of the built-in apps are you watching 4K content on?

ETA: Ah, never mind. It seems like you solved your problem on your own without needing my help at all. LOL