Netflix is heavily laggy since the last update

MassimoV

Never experienced this issue before but since the last update, whenever I open a new tab, my Netflix video starts to stutter badly.
This does not happen on other browsers like Edge or Chrome (tested).
Whenever I close the Netflix tab and then reopen it, it starts to work smoothly again. Refreshing the page, however, does not work at all.

Windows 10 Home
LAN Connection 20 MB

Intel Core I7 4790, 3.60 GHz, 3601 Mhz, 4 Core
AsusTek B85 PRO-GAMER
Geforce GTX 970 Asus Strix
16 GB ram ddr3
Realtek Audio
x64

mib2berlin

@MassimoV
Hi, testing Netflix on:

Vivaldi 3.5.2115.73 (Stable channel) (64-Bit)
Windows 10 Pro 64 20H2
LAN Connection 50 MB
Intel i5 3570K 16 GB RAM
GTX 760 4 GB /Display card
RTX 2060

No lag for me, I can even play a Youtube video in another tab.
Can you check hardware acceleration in Settings > Webpages?

Cheers, mib

MassimoV

I've tried to change that option on and off, doesn't do anything. And I've noticed that it does the same thing with youtube, once I open a new tab while watching a vid, it starts to lag heavily.

MassimoV

Hi again,
I've resolved the issue. It was the animation setting that needed to be turned off ( Use animation).
Thank you.

FBorrmann

Hi MiccimoV,
do you mean animation in window settings?
Doesn't make anything better for me, will try others.

NeatNit

FYI, Netflix has a native Windows 10 app in the microsoft store. It works quite well and is guaranteed to support the best quality your device and monitor can support. Netflix only supports up to 720p on Chrome, and probably the same on Vivaldi.

Edit: to clarify, I have no idea why netflix doesn't support more than 720p on browsers and I think there's probably no good reason. I would still recommend that you resolve the issue with web-based playback (as the issue may affect other things you might not be aware of), but at the end of the day I still recommend you use the app for watching Netflix on Windows-based PCs simply because it offers higher resolutions.

FBorrmann

@Gwen-Dragon : i use Intel HD Graphics 4600 on my company laptop (i7) with original Fujitsu-Drivers and NVidia Quadro K2200 on my private PC with NVIDIA workstation-drivers. A second laptop is a Surface Pro 4 with current MS-Surface-Driverpackage (Intel). A third DELL laptop with older i5-540M and internal Intel graphics. So a wide range of configurations and all having the same problems.
Vivaldi seems to go for a sleep when working some minutes without it. The wake-up via getting focus needs more than 10-15 seconds. When working permantly within the browser, there is only a 10-15 seconds gap, when a new tab must be created.
When this occurs, the cpu in taskmanager doesn't go up significally (2-3% only).
Currently "Hardware-Acceleration" and window animations are set to OFF.

MassimoV

Hi everyone,

@NeatNit I'll try the Netflix app. But the problem is gone, or at least for now. Oh, and it was happening also with youtube not only Netflix.

@FBorrmann Yes, there is only one option "Use animation" and it is in the Appearance tab. If that alone does not work. You can try to watch a vid on youtube called:

"BEST SETTINGS TO MAKE VIVALDI RUN AS SMOOTH AS POSSIBLE * 2020 * ( FIX VIVALDI LAG AND STUTTERING )"

Try some of those tips and see if it helps, it is what I've done [try also the "Smooth scrolling" setting, I think it was one of the options that I've turned off].

@Gwen-Dragon I've tried turning on and off Hardware acceleration multiple times and then restarted browser and pc, but it didn't do anything.
Also, yes, the Nvidia GTX 970 ASUS STRIX is set as primary.

Thank you,

Max

MassimoV

@Gwen-Dragon Thank you for your time.
As I've just said, I can't reproduce my problem because it's no longer there, and as I've said, it was not circumstantial to Netflix but also Youtube and probably any other site that plays videos.
With that said, I will not try to "re-activate" the problem on my browser.
But rest assured that if that will ever going to happen again I will instantly report the bug to the devs.
Love Vivaldi!
Thank you.

FBorrmann

found out the one and only key switch which solved mine problems (most of the time):
Hardware Accelerator must be switched OFF and browser needs a restart (testing without restart has no effect)
any animations don't matter

this is on all my machines with different configurations, workstation with dedicated graphics card inclusive

FBorrmann

@Gwen-Dragon : sorry, after some happy hours it suddenly has come back again and is worse than before; no matter with or without HWA and animations
new Version 3.5.2115.81 has no effect
switching to x64 has no effect too

but:
when focussing vivaldi, often nothing seem to happen (new tab, tab switch and more)
but when defocussing (clicking on the desktop) and than focussing vivaldi again, it does what you want !

very strange =8-(