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iPad iPad Air and Netflix HD streaming?

I'm having the same issue and it's quite annoying. I did a small test where I put my laptop, iPad, and iPhone all in the same room with the same wifi connection, and booted up netflix. Both the laptop and iPhone would start streaming in HD in seconds after buffering, while the iPad would never kick over to HD, even after 15 minutes of streaming. Hopefully this gets worked out soon
 
Newbie

Hi all
I am sitting here, I have the Killing Season on my new Ipad Air and also on my wife's Ipad 3. The quality on the Ipad 3 is HD on the Air the quality is only slightly better than SD
I think we should all call Apple and say if they do not admit there is a problem we will return them
 
thisismetcalf said:
Thank God I found this thread!

I've been scouring the internet trying to figure this out myself. 99.9% of my iPad use is for Netflix. So imagine my suburban-horror when I found out that Netflix wasn't bumping into HD on the Air I just bought. I actually went back to the Apple store that same day and returned it, verifying with the Genius' there that it wasn't going into HD. They gave me a new one, same thing. We checked their Apple Store Air's, same thing. They said that since it fell in with Holiday Shopping guidelines, I could return it to the Store by January (if Netflix or Apple didn't correct the issue by then).

At least I can sleep soundly now knowing it's not just me!

I'm not sure what to make of others demanding that their iPad Air's ARE in HD. I believe they only think it is. For those that have Air's, and believe they have HD in Netflix, have you compared it to any other Apple product that has Retina?

It was CLEARLY night and day different when I had my iPad 3 w/retina playing a movie next to my iPad Air. Like, night and day different.

Anyway, I put a call into Netflix and they are investigating themselves. The tech was not aware of an issue like mine but he elevated the priority on it to get me an answer from a Senior Tech. I imagine I'll just get a response from them that indicates they are aware and working on a fix?

Here's hoping it's soon!
Click to expand...

I agree, there is either a spotty hardware issue or people just don't know what HD is. I just broke down and called Netflix, they tried the usually playbook stuff (reboot, restart netflix, adjust download settings) didn't work. I watch Netflix almost every night and I am tired of this low res ****. I want a fix stat!
 
So I finally called Apple on this issue to hear what they had to say and it is of COURSE NETFLIX, ha! They said I am not the only one having this issue, they are aware of it and the responsibility sits squarely on NETFLIX to get an update for their app out.
 
Called Netflix and they claim not to support hd on iPad air but are working on an update. So I guess we will have to wait. I think some one else said they called and netflix said the same thing. Please stop blaming apple for this. IT'S A NETFLIX ISSUE.
 
That really sucks for those of you with the problem on your Air iPad's. :(

No problems here on my new retina mini, except it will be SD for a few seconds and then immediately go to HD.
 
For what it's worth: Just tested Netflix on home wifi with my new Air and it switched to crystal clear HD after about 15-30 seconds.
 
FlunkedFlank said:
For what it's worth: Just tested Netflix on home wifi with my new Air and it switched to crystal clear HD after about 15-30 seconds.
Click to expand...

I too have had momentary flickers of HD but they only last a few seconds. 99% of the time is looks less than standard definition.

But like I said, I called apple and for 15 minutes I was on hold while the call center investigated it for me. They are aware and it is indeed a Netflix problem.
 
Netflix should put a indicator that shows in what format we're streaming, instead of relying on the image clarity!
 
My ipadAiR streams Netflix in HD, crystal clear at my house in about 10-15 seconds after starting a movie/show. I have AiRport Extreme and TWCable.
 
Just got my iPad Air yesterday.

After reading this thread, I was very interested to see how my Netflix experience would turn out. Last night it seemed to be streaming only in SD. However, when I tried it this AM, for the first few seconds it streamed in SD, but ultimately switched over to HD. So, it seems to be working. I did delete and re install the app, so that might have helped. I am using an new Airport Express router and Comcast is my ISP.
 
I have the same problem. Netflix worked perfectly on my Ipad 3 and the resolution is terrible on my new Ipad air. I called netflix, the guy was clueless. It seems that the Netflix app on the ipad air is the problem. It will be nice to know if they are working on the issue so I can decide if I bring the ipad air back.
Also the amazon instant video works the same on both ipad.
 
I believe this may be rectified. The last few netflix sessions I've done have been perfect. There have been updates to the netflix app fairly recently so I suspect that was it.

I'm good now! :D
 
Any updates to netflix on iPad Air in HD? Just picked up my new air and my iPad 1 (yes ONE!) looks 10x better. Is there a fix? If nit this thing is going back...
 
I heard that Cox and Verizon are slowing down Netflix streams mainly due to $$$$. They both want Netflix to pay more $$$ to them or else. You can thank the recent net neutrality ax that fell. Big money won over us peons. And no one is willing to do anything about it. Sad.
 
baypharm said:
I heard that Cox and Verizon are slowing down Netflix streams mainly due to $$$$. They both want Netflix to pay more $$$ to them or else. You can thank the recent net neutrality ax that fell. Big money won over us peons. And no one is willing to do anything about it. Sad.
Click to expand...

I read this too and thought it may be the issue until I realizes that my iPad 1 amd iPad 4 both have perfect HD streaming in seconds on my FIOS connection yet my iPad Air takes minutes to stream a less than HD signal. Wtf?
 
Here is a picture of my iPad 4 and iPad Air, right next to each other on the same wifi streaming Netflix. Notice the resolution and bitrate on the iPad Air (Top)

 
baypharm said:
I heard that Cox and Verizon are slowing down Netflix streams mainly due to $$$$. They both want Netflix to pay more $$$ to them or else. You can thank the recent net neutrality ax that fell. Big money won over us peons. And no one is willing to do anything about it. Sad.
Click to expand...

/\ This. Cable companies are 100% mafia. It's insane.
 
Comcast and Netflix struck a deal and amazingly after several months of less than HD on Netflix I am getting full HD now. Had to sign back in to Netflix ? First time that happened and voila full HD on my Air.

So wasn't the Air.
Wasn't Apple.
Wasn't my WiFi router.
Wasn't Netflix.
Let's see, who is left? Couldn't have been Comcast, could it? Must be coincidence that day after Comcast gets $ arrangement from Netflix cuz of bandwith usage my problem clears up.

So why the issue with Air? Maybe because they were new to comcast/netflix system? Legacy older devices may have caught some slack on being throttled.
 
Last edited:
I can verify its a comcast issue, or if you have an ISP that deliberately slows down Netflix. I installed a VPN on the ipad and all problems went away. If I disable the VPN the issues come back. So after a lot of trial and error, taking iPads back etc...it ended up being silly and greedy comcast.

I heard that netflix just paid comcast a wad of cash to rectify the issue, so hopefully I can cancel this spendy VPN service soon.

Also, I don't know why it does not do this on older devices. My Xbox one and ps4 can also stream HD and Super HD without issue. My new ipad air and mini 2 need VPNs installed to get HD though. Also, my new 15" MacBook Pro needs VPN to play Netflix HD as well. Go figure!! So random!!
 
daudi81 said:
I can verify its a comcast issue, or if you have an ISP that deliberately slows down Netflix. I installed a VPN on the ipad and all problems went away. If I disable the VPN the issues come back. So after a lot of trial and error, taking iPads back etc...it ended up being silly and greedy comcast.

I heard that netflix just paid comcast a wad of cash to rectify the issue, so hopefully I can cancel this spendy VPN service soon.

Also, I don't know why it does not do this on older devices. My Xbox one and ps4 can also stream HD and Super HD without issue. My new ipad air and mini 2 need VPNs installed to get HD though. Also, my new 15" MacBook Pro needs VPN to play Netflix HD as well. Go figure!! So random!!
Click to expand...

each device probably hits a different netflix gateway and streams through a different backbone network. the comcast/netflix issue was only with traffic going through cogent
 
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