Google Streamer vs. Fire Cube 3rd Generation

Channels Android TV
#1

I have a very specific question about these two devices. I just switched to Google Streamer connected by Ethernet, and FF/REW for out of buffer material is considerably faster. Basically instantaneous in that I get a screenshot of the picture for each jump if I hit FF multiple times.

My question is whether that's due to the faster Ethernet port on the Google Streamer, or is there something different about the Channels DVR app on Android compared to Fire Cube app? When I tried Ethernet on the Fire Cube it was slower than my wifi.

My Channels DVR server is a Windows 11 device, if that matters.

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#2

The 100-Mb is more than enough to stream 4K video yet when it comes to commercial skipping a faster connection will produce a much better experience. Even a good quality WiFi connection can be significantly faster and you might find that by using WiFi with the Fire Cube that you will get better commercial skipping. The Fire Cube uses the same Android app as the Google Streamer. Now if you have a configurable ethernet switch or have an old 100-Mb ethernet switch around connect your Google streamer at 100-Mb and you will see how much better the commercial skipping is on the faster link. At 100-Mb the link is the bottleneck while at 1-Gb the disk will be the bottelneck.

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#3

I'm not talking about ordinary streaming, I know what that requires. I'm talking about restarting the video when you FF/REW outside the buffer zone. That takes considerable time--1 to 3 seconds on the Fire Cube, but is practically instantaneous on the Google Streamer with it's faster Ethernet. Note I said on the Fire Cube this response time was slower with the 100-Mb eithernet than with my wifi, which is faster.

If it is the same Channels DVR app, then that reduces the difference down to the speed of the Ethernet. But I was asking because not every android app is available on the Google Streamer, so I thought it might be different on the Google Play Store than on what I assume is the Amazon Store with the Fire Cube.

I suppose what I could try is hooking up the Google Streamer to my wifi. That would narrow it down to hardware or network connection.

#4

If you have good WiFi, it may not slow the commercial skipping down or only slightly. When you change, do a speedtest to your DVR using the Channels App. In my experience, at about 300 Mb/Sec commercial skipping is about instant and good WiFi can deliver this speed and faster.

#5

I don't really have a good way of testing my device to device network speed (as opposed to Internet speed), but it's a mesh system. But connecting the Google Streamer to a remote node/pod via Ethernet gets me 750 Mbps in an Internet speed test, which is more than I could ever get for Internet speeds with any device on my wifi network connected via wifi. Presumably my device to device Ethernet network speeds exceed that 750 Internet speed via Ethernet, so it's probably at least 2x as fast as the Fire Cube via wifi, and 7x as fast if connected via Ethernet.

100 or maybe 300 with the Fire Cube, depending on Ethernet or wifi. I do remember Ethernet was not a good option.
750+ or maybe 300 with the Google Streamer connected via Ethernet or wifi. Still need to test the wifi speed of that device, but it's only Wifi 5 where I believe the FC is 6, but typically would connect only on the 2.4 band.

#6
### Morris Altman [email protected] 6:17 PM (8 minutes ago)
to Kary

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You can use the channels app to test speed to the server. On the left side menu go to settings. A new menu will come up and on it select support. In support there is test Spyro DVR server.

2.4 GHz is on the slow side. That will probably hold back the commercial skipping speed.

#7

Thank you, that is very helpful regarding that speed test.. And yeah that the Fire Cube would more often be at 2.4 Ghz was annoying given both it and the mesh router were Wifi 6. The two devices were not that far apart, just on different floors, one practically right above the other.

#8

There are a few ways to deal with this depending on your router's capabilities:

  • Create an additional SSID that is for 5-GHz only. Note that you must place that SSID in the same VLAN as it is now without changing the VLAN for the existing SSID
  • Create two separate SSIDs for each band
  • Lock the host to the 5-GHz band
#9

My router won't do that--eero.

But I did just run some tests. 950+ connected to Ethernet and 440 connected to wifi, and that that was a 5 Ghz connection. But 440 was fast enough to have much better FF/REW seek times than the Fire Cube. I'm going to have to put that Fire Cube back and test its speeds. It may be that despite having better paper stats it doesn't perform as well. That's certainly the case with the processor where it's more powerful processor doesn't really show up in app launch times.

BTW, the eero performing slower via wifi is sort of expected with those devices, even though the backhaul distance between the nodes is almost identical to the wifi distance, and those are the only wireless links in the trip. I connect our main commuters to a node through Ethernet for just that reason.

#10

In general mesh is for convenience and that's somewhat true for WiFi. If you can get ethernet connections between your mesh nodes it helps. Tri-Band mesh can perform well yet it's still got it's limits. Access Point based networks are the way to go if you need speed and stability. I'm running a Unifi network and am very happy. It has great diagnostics that help you understand when things are not working correctly.

#11

Per these tests I'm pretty much getting the limits of the Ethernet ports on my various devices, so the wireless backhaul isn't having much of an impact. And the eero connected to the Google Streamer isn't even particularly high end eero--a 6+ not even a Pro. So apparently little need to route Ethernet for this particular application.