Fix a stream that won't play, stutters or drops
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The short answer
When a stream does not start, stutters or breaks off, tap the small hint that Tunvio shows in the player. It opens “What's wrong?”, names the likely cause and lists what you can do. For a stream that plays badly but without a hint, open the settings in the player and choose “Playback problems?”.
Read the hint in the player
The hint appears when a stream shows no picture after about seven seconds, when a reconnect did not help, or as soon as your provider's answer is clear. While Tunvio is still checking, the hint reads “Checking …”.
- Tap the hint. On a TV, move to it with the arrow keys and press OK. The sheet “What's wrong?” opens.
- Read the top line. It names who is probably responsible, for example “Provider”, “Your account”, “Your network”, “This device”, “App” or “Unclear”, with a word such as “possible”, “likely” or “very likely”.
- Under “What you can do”, follow the steps. There are up to three. A step with a button runs right away, for example “Try again” or “Try the other player”.
- Open “Evidence” if you want to see what Tunvio measured.
- If only your provider can help, use “Share” or “Copy” under “Finding for your provider”. The text contains no login details.
The sheet can also offer “Check more closely”. After you tap “Check now”, Tunvio asks another service whether it finds the server. Only the server name, without login details, goes to Cloudflare or Google for this.
What the common findings mean
| Hint | What it means | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| “All connections in use” | Your provider's limit of simultaneous streams is reached. | See the next section. |
| “Login rejected” | The provider does not accept your username or password. | “Check login details”, then your provider. |
| “Access expired” | According to your provider, your access has ended. | Your provider. |
| “Provider refuses” | The provider denies access. | “Test again”, then ask your provider why. |
| “Title removed” | The provider has removed this title. | Your provider. |
| “Too many requests” | Too many requests in a short time. | Wait about a minute, then test again. |
| “Server not responding” | An outage at the provider or in your network. | “Try again” or “Test again”, try later, try another network. |
| “You're offline” | Your device has no connection. | Check Wi-Fi or mobile data. |
| “Wi-Fi needs sign-in” | This Wi-Fi shows a sign-in page first. | Sign in to the Wi-Fi in a browser, then test again. |
| “VPN or filter app in the way” | Many providers refuse VPN addresses. | Switch the VPN off briefly, then test again. |
| “Stream won't open” | The connection works, but this stream does not open. | “Test again”, “Try the other player”. |
| “Device can't play this video” | The video arrives, but your device has no decoder for it. | “Try the other player”, or “Try the other format”. |
Access that expired, a removed title or an outage can only be solved by your provider. Tunvio is a player and has no influence on the streams.
If you see “All connections in use”
Most providers allow only a few streams at the same time. Every playing stream counts, on all your devices, and so does every recording and download in Tunvio.
- Stop playback on your other devices.
- If the sheet says “One of them is used by your own recording or download.”, choose “Open recordings and downloads” and stop one.
- If you just left another stream, wait about a minute and choose “Test again”. The provider may still count the old connection.
- Open “Settings”, “Playback”, “Advanced” and check “Concurrent connections”. Set it to the number your provider allows. If you set it higher, playback fails and recordings stay incomplete. The value is shared by playback, recordings and downloads.
Use “Playback problems?”
Open the playback settings in the player and choose “Playback problems?”.
- Choose what you see: “The picture stays black”, “The picture judders or stutters” or “The stream cuts out or freezes”.
- Tunvio lists what you can try, best first. Depending on your device and the stream, you may see “Try the other player”, “Request the stream differently”, “Load more in advance”, “Measure the playback” or “Match the TV to the stream”. Tap one.
- After the step, Tunvio asks “Better now?”. If not, the list opens again without the steps you already tried.
“Try the other player” restarts the stream and applies to this session only. “Request the stream differently” is for live channels. It asks for the other live format (TS or HLS), because some providers deliver the same channel a second way. “Load more in advance” raises the buffer and restarts the stream; you can change it later under “Buffer size”. “Measure the playback” takes about 40 seconds, during which you cannot operate the player. “Match the TV to the stream” is for Android TV.
If the picture judders
On Android, the standard player can notice a juddering picture and ask “Playback is juddering” with the buttons “Fix it”, “Not now” and “Never ask”. “Fix it” tests the decoder modes while the stream stays open. Press Back to cancel. On Android with the standard player you can also set the mode yourself under “Settings”, “Playback”, “Advanced”, “Video decoding”: “Automatic”, “Hardware – direct”, “Hardware – compatible” or “Software”. For a green or torn picture, try “Hardware – compatible” first, then “Software”. The change applies from the next stream.
If Tunvio says that a video is too demanding for the device, choose a version with a lower resolution if you can.
Channels with several versions
Many playlists list the same channel in several qualities, such as FHD, HD and SD. When one version drops out, Tunvio can switch to another one and tells you, for example “FHD dropped out – now playing HD”. “Back to FHD” returns. The automatic switch is part of Premium; in the app you can see whether it is included in your plan. You can always pick a version yourself with “Variant” in the playback settings. A channel that failed to start several times shows the mark “This channel didn't play recently” in the list.
If it does not work
- The cause stays “Unclear”. Choose “Test again”. If it persists and the sheet offers “Report a problem”, use it, see how to report a problem.
- Your device cannot play the video. On Android you can open the stream in an external player.
- A new playlist does not play at all. Check the details you entered, see how to add an IPTV playlist.