Fix buffering, stutter and dropouts

Buffering is almost never the box. Test in this order and you will find the cause in a couple of minutes rather than replacing hardware that works.

1. 1Play a different app. If only one app stutters, the problem is that service or your account's stream quality setting.
2. 2Play the same title on a phone on the same Wi-Fi. If the phone stutters too, the network or the internet line is the cause.
3. 3Move the box temporarily next to the router. If it plays cleanly there, it is a signal-strength problem, not a bandwidth one.
4. 4Plug in an Ethernet cable. If a wired connection is clean, stop looking at the box and fix the Wi-Fi.

• Match the display output to your television. Forcing 4K 60Hz on a panel that only accepts 4K 30Hz causes intermittent black frames.
• Turn off any app-level 'auto quality' override you have pinned to the highest setting on a slow line.
• Clear the cache of the offending app in Settings, Apps, then Storage. A corrupted cache survives restarts.
• Check that no other device is running a large download or backup while you watch.