help - I have to make a decision today about returning a Toshiba Thrive 10.1"

robert574

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Nov 14, 2013
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I bought a Toshiba AT100 (Thrive) from a pawn shop last night. It was just coming out for sale. I had looked at it twice and played around with it at the store (no wireless at the time). It's in mint condition with a leather case/cover.

Here's my issue. My reasons for purchasing a tablet were to be able to watch movies from our cable provider (by wireless) and get on the internet.

I can still return it and get my money back, but I have to make the decision today.

I have found that it works fine, but does not stream movies very well. The audio works great, but the video jumps and hangs while it's playing. It does the same even when close to the wireless router. My phone, galaxy note 2, works very well with the video.

Is this a problem with this particular tablet and is there anything I can do to improve it?

I paid $140 for it. I want to stay with at least a 10.1" screen but would be willing to pay a little more for another model that worked better. My phone is jelly bean so I know this system. I would also consider a windows tablet.

What are your thoughts?
 

ram1009

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Jun 28, 2007
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You are likely to have streaming problems on any wireless connection with any computer. I also vote to return the computer as I would NEVER buy used computer equipment of any kind, not even from my Mother. A bargain isn't what you pay it's what you get.
 

robert574

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Nov 14, 2013
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I'm watching an HBO movie on both my phone and the tablet at the same time. The movie on my phone is great, just like the TV. The movie playing the on the Toshiba tablet however is jerky and has frames missing.

It reminds me of the days of dial-up internet connections when there was a problem with band width or trying to play a youtube video on your laptop from a weak wifi signal in a hotel.

I'm going to see if I can install this brighthouse app or something on my laptop to see how it plays. I'll post as soon as I get it running.
 

robert574

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Nov 14, 2013
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Just out of curiosity, what is your reasoning about buying used equipment? I don't think it matters much about our mothers. They always seem to know what we are doing.
 

robert574

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Nov 14, 2013
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Just updated the laptop and have the same movie running on it from wifi. The picture on the laptop looks perfect. It just seems to be the Toshiba tablet that is having problems. I wonder what the issue is.

edit:
For the Toshiba tablet I tried to use the hdmi out to a monitor to see if their was a difference. The monitor works ok from the tablet and has a good picture, but the brighthouse app would not play. It said "hdmi is unsupported".

edit:
I plugged the monitor into my laptop and it works great. No problems with the picture. I did catch myself trying to touch the laptop screen to get the channel listing to come up (didn't work of course).

I'm not sure what to try next. Back to reading. Maybe someone knows this Toshiba Thrive tablet.
 

ram1009

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If you don't already understand the pitfalls of buying anything used you're going to have to find out the hard way, just like the rest of us. Using my Mother as an example was just to let you know how strongly I feel on the issue. I didn't say anything about your Mother.
 

robert574

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Nov 14, 2013
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I'm sorry if you found my comment about mothers in general in bad taste. I didn't mean anything by it other than mothers seem to have a second sense about their children. Really off-topic here.

I do understand about used equipment, that's why I'm making my decision before the end of the day. It doesn't look like this tablet processes the video fast enough for whatever reason. Even as I look at new tablets for sale on the internet, many of them seem to be just like this one. My current searches are for comparisons made by streaming video.

Do you own or know of a 10" tablet that works ok with streaming video? I suppose YouTube would be a good example.

Edit:
Just got off the phone with Bright House. The BHTV app is the only thing you can use on the android. The laptop connects through a browser (both use your wifi connection to view movies). They don't seem to have any history of calls about picture quality, just ones about how to make it work.

When this Toshiba tablet is connected to YouTube, the videos are perfect even in full screen mode.
 

robert574

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Nov 14, 2013
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After some trials, it appears that my phone (Galaxy Note II android 4.1.2) has the ability to buffer while using the BHTV (Brighthouse Bright House TV) app. When it starts to lag, it simply freezes for a few seconds to buffer and then restarts playing at exactly the same spot. The picture itself is great. This is probably the least annoying if there is a streaming problem.

The Toshiba Thrive, running android 4.0.4 running the same BHTV app does not seem to buffer. The picture on the Thrive is perfect also but when playing, it appears to just skip over frames. I've tried all the settings on the Thrive and nothing helps.

I guess the question of buffering is whether it is a hardware or software issue and if anyone knows a fix without "rooting" the tablet.