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JohnZoidberg's Accepted Solutions

Hello @TwinkleStar  It sounds like your WiFi network is more complicated than average. I'm really not a fan of WiFi extenders. They can work well enough for browsing and (buffered) streaming in som... See more...
Hello @TwinkleStar  It sounds like your WiFi network is more complicated than average. I'm really not a fan of WiFi extenders. They can work well enough for browsing and (buffered) streaming in some cases, but Stadia really needs a reliable network, and I worry that an extender isn't actually improving reliability in this case. I also noticed you mentioned using a Bluetooth gamepad. If your WiFi connection is also running at 2.4GHz, it will be competing with that Bluetooth connection, which won't be helping either. I would break things down to the simplest possible setup you can – even if it's only temporarily for testing. For example, if you can move your PC close enough to the WiFi router to get a direct 5GHz connection, see if that resolves the issue. If it does, you know the extender is what is causing problems. If it doesn't solve it, try connecting the PC to the router via Ethernet, which will remove WiFi from the equation entirely. If that solves the problem, you know you have more significant WiFi issues. If it doesn't solve it, you either have a more significant router issue, or a modem/internet connection issue that will need to be investigated. Based on the behavior you are describing, though, I suspect you'll find it's the WiFi, and most likely the extender.
It can be really frustrating to debug an issue like this. But, the fact that your speed tests at the time were consistent suggests it might be an issue deeper inside your ISP's network. On the other ... See more...
It can be really frustrating to debug an issue like this. But, the fact that your speed tests at the time were consistent suggests it might be an issue deeper inside your ISP's network. On the other hand, you also said things got worse when other people's devices got closer to you, which suggests it's a local WiFi-specific problem. That could be any number of things, so let me just suggest a couple things to look at. First, do you have any wireless audio devices? In particular, non-Bluetooth systems like wireless surround sound systems, a sound bar with a wireless subwoofer, or wireless gaming headset. These can all use 5GHz WiFi in a way that interferes with nearby devices. When other people's devices come into the area, it just squeezes the system even harder. Second, are you playing on an Apple device? A mac of some kind (macbook, macbook pro, iMac, mac mini, etc.) or an iPhone or iPad? Apple does some fancy stuff between their devices that uses the WiFi hardware in ways that don't impact buffered streams (like YouTube), but can definitely impact interactive streams like Stadia. Location Services is the big one, but there are also some device-to-device protocols (things like the shared clipboard between devices, etc.) that come into play as well. This may only happen when multiple devices are "awake" and near each other.
Hello @TwinkleStar  Most of the issues you describe are caused by different forms of congestion – basically, one or more links are being asked to carry more data than they have capacity. Wireless i... See more...
Hello @TwinkleStar  Most of the issues you describe are caused by different forms of congestion – basically, one or more links are being asked to carry more data than they have capacity. Wireless interference is another form of congestion. Increasing the traffic load under these conditions exacerbates the problem. Instead, the Stadia "Streamer" component attempts to track the effective available bottleneck link capacity and preemptively reduces the bitrate (by shifting to a lower resolution or just using a lower quality level at the same resolution) when it detects a reduction. In general, this works pretty well, but if the link capacity is changing quickly, the Streamer may not always be able to react in time. This is a classic engineering tradeoff between maximizing quality and minimizing the probability of visible glitches. The Streamer is tuned to perform optimally under "typical" conditions. All of that said, I'm sure it's possible to improve the performance of the Streamer component, and I'm sure Google monitors how often the Streamer runs into trouble that ends up being visible to the user. 
Hello @Jae1982  We're reaching the limits of my understanding here, but it sounds like you're hoping to get an immersive VR experience from Stadia games. That is not possible at this time.
Hello @Jae1982  Here's what I'm having trouble understanding: why do you think you need a laptop or computer for this at all? The article I looked at sure made it sound like you only need the brows... See more...
Hello @Jae1982  Here's what I'm having trouble understanding: why do you think you need a laptop or computer for this at all? The article I looked at sure made it sound like you only need the browser side-loaded onto your Quest. Stadia only needs a browser, since the game is running on Google's machines in the cloud. Give it a try – maybe just launch something like Destiny 2, since it's free to play, just follow this link from Chrome: https://stadia.com/link/XZE7ZdXjsB3BqvHS9 . If that works, then you can either sign up for a one-month trial of Stadia Pro and get access to a bunch of other games to try, or just buy Cyberpunk and play it as much as you want without any subscription (at 1080p resolution).
Hello @Jae1982  Just to be clear up front, I don't have any VR gear, so I can't test any of this myself. But, I did find this article that describes the steps needed to play Stadia games on an Ocul... See more...
Hello @Jae1982  Just to be clear up front, I don't have any VR gear, so I can't test any of this myself. But, I did find this article that describes the steps needed to play Stadia games on an Oculus Quest or Quest 2: https://uploadvr.com/how-to-play-stadia-games-cyberpunk-2077-quest/  It looks like it uses an Android build of the Chromium browser side-loaded directly onto the Oculus Quest 2. Then, you play Stadia from inside that browser. Assuming all of this is correct, I believe the answer to your question about needing a laptop to play on the Quest is "no". However, if it's a PC-attached system like the Rift, it's unclear – I can't find any information about that regarding Stadia. Since Rift requires a VR-capable PC in any case, it may not matter since you'd likely only buy a Rift if you already have a powerful PC to start with. In that case, playing Stadia on that would depend on being able to launch Chrome on that display. I hope this helps. I also suggest doing more research on this before spending any money you can't get back if it turns out not to work as well as you hoped.
Hello @Thelox  Stadia is currently only supported on Chromecast Ultra and has been announced as coming to the Chromecast with Google TV device within the next few months. LG has also announced supp... See more...
Hello @Thelox  Stadia is currently only supported on Chromecast Ultra and has been announced as coming to the Chromecast with Google TV device within the next few months. LG has also announced support for it coming to some of their TVs as well, but I have not heard that any of those are shipping yet. They may also provide an update to some of their existing TVs, but I don't know which models.
Hello @friday13  IP geolocation for servers is not going to be very accurate, especially in the case of Stadia. Google's network architecture is designed to get traffic off of the ISP's network as ... See more...
Hello @friday13  IP geolocation for servers is not going to be very accurate, especially in the case of Stadia. Google's network architecture is designed to get traffic off of the ISP's network as quickly as possible and on to Google's private network to minimize latency. That address space may all appear to be geolocated in the U.S., no matter where the machines are actually physically located. I would focus on diagnosing something like this one step at a time. Start with your local network. Once you're positive it is highly reliable and performing as expected, look at your internet connection, then see if your internet service provider may be having issues with their own network (that's going to be harder to investigate, but some careful speed testing to servers that you are sure aren't inside your ISP's network may be useful). Some ISPs have been known to throttle Stadia traffic in the past, but that's something you'd want to be sure is happening before moving further.
Hello @Abacus_563  1. Yes, you can play the game as long as you have an active Pro subscription, even after it is no longer claimable. 2. Yes, if you unsubscribe from Pro, and later start subscri... See more...
Hello @Abacus_563  1. Yes, you can play the game as long as you have an active Pro subscription, even after it is no longer claimable. 2. Yes, if you unsubscribe from Pro, and later start subscribing again, all of the games you had claimed previously will still be available to play, even if they are no longer claimable.
Hello @Zakko74  Stadia Pro includes a number of games that can be claimed for play while your Stadia Pro membership lasts (either during the first month, or if you continue to pay each month). Doom... See more...
Hello @Zakko74  Stadia Pro includes a number of games that can be claimed for play while your Stadia Pro membership lasts (either during the first month, or if you continue to pay each month). Doom Eternal is not one of those games. However, you can purchase Doom Eternal and play it as much as you want, including after your free month ends, even if you don't continue to pay for Stadia Pro. You'll just lose access to 4K quality and surround sound. I would suggest using the first month to claim all of the available Stadia Pro games and pick some to try out to see how you like the experience, how well it runs on your network, etc. If you like it, then you can feel more confident spending money to purchase any games you want to own and play on Stadia.
I can't explain why your phone is struggling to decode VP9. It may just not have a great implementation of that codec. VP9 uses less data, but is definitely more computationally intensive to decode th... See more...
I can't explain why your phone is struggling to decode VP9. It may just not have a great implementation of that codec. VP9 uses less data, but is definitely more computationally intensive to decode than H.264 is. It's entirely possible no one has formally tested Stadia on that particular phone.
The key technology Stadia requires is support for streaming video over the QUIC protocol. It can carry either H.264 or VP9 over QUIC, depending on what the device supports. It just happens that mobil... See more...
The key technology Stadia requires is support for streaming video over the QUIC protocol. It can carry either H.264 or VP9 over QUIC, depending on what the device supports. It just happens that mobile devices that support QUIC also tend to support VP9, which is a better codec than H.264. So, I'm not sure why anyone would want to use H.264 on a mobile device for Stadia.
Interesting. Ok, so I guess I'd suggest joining the preview program on that CCU then to see if it resolves the issue. If you don't want to remain on the preview channel, you can leave it after it upd... See more...
Interesting. Ok, so I guess I'd suggest joining the preview program on that CCU then to see if it resolves the issue. If you don't want to remain on the preview channel, you can leave it after it updates the firmware once, and the next stable release that comes out should apply.
Hello @Birrael74  That does not appear to be possible at this time. However, it should re-order the games list to reflect which games you place most, pushing the others towards the bottom of the li... See more...
Hello @Birrael74  That does not appear to be possible at this time. However, it should re-order the games list to reflect which games you place most, pushing the others towards the bottom of the list. That said, you could submit feedback to Google through the Stadia app to request this feature – they definitely read that feedback, and I know you're not the only one who would like to see this.
Hello @dankdinotrees  If you're playing via WiFi on a Macbook, make sure you disable location services. It uses the WiFi adapter to scan for nearby WiFi access points every few seconds to determine... See more...
Hello @dankdinotrees  If you're playing via WiFi on a Macbook, make sure you disable location services. It uses the WiFi adapter to scan for nearby WiFi access points every few seconds to determine your current approximate location, and this disrupts the Stadia stream enough to be noticeable. Plenty of people play Stadia on mac hardware just fine, but this is the one change that is most important when trying to play over WiFi. If that doesn't improve things, then it's possible other parts of your network are not managing to provide the stability Stadia needs.
Hello @Jiraiya  There is actually a trick to doing this, but it isn't too convenient. I've done it, though, and it works. It's called Bluestacks: https://www.bluestacks.com/ – an Android emulator t... See more...
Hello @Jiraiya  There is actually a trick to doing this, but it isn't too convenient. I've done it, though, and it works. It's called Bluestacks: https://www.bluestacks.com/ – an Android emulator that runs on Windows or macOS. You can install that, fire it up, install the Stadia app (Android variant) inside, log in to your Stadia account, and then you should be able to buy Stadia games from there using Google Play gift card (you'll need to add that gift card to your Google Play account as well, but if I recall correctly, you can do that from a regular browser – the actual purchase step has to happen from inside Bluestacks). After making your purchase, you can shut down Bluestacks and the game will be available anywhere you play Stadia. This is definitely not awesome, and I'd really like to see Google at least make this possible from a browser (I know they really can't do it from the iOS app, but I can live with that).
Hello @DarklinkFighter  Screenshots are indeed taken from the server, but they are also compressed images, and that compression is a lossy format that will introduce similar artifacts to the video ... See more...
Hello @DarklinkFighter  Screenshots are indeed taken from the server, but they are also compressed images, and that compression is a lossy format that will introduce similar artifacts to the video compression. It looks like they are stored in WebP format (which is the still image version of VP9), but can be converted to JPEG during download for more portability.
Is your CCU connected directly to your router, or through a switch? What brand and model is your router? I ask these questions because I'm only aware of one issue like this that involves connecting a ... See more...
Is your CCU connected directly to your router, or through a switch? What brand and model is your router? I ask these questions because I'm only aware of one issue like this that involves connecting a CCU directly into the LAN port on a Nest WiFi Router. In that case, using an inexpensive (unmanaged) switch in between is the recommended workaround. If it's not a Nest WiFi or not connected directly to it, then I would focus on ensuring the cable is well seated on both ends – sometimes removing it and reseating it a few times can help improve the reliability of that connection.
The Chromecast Ultra uses a micro-USB connector, while the newer Chromecast with Google TV uses the newer USB-C connector. Therefore, the older power adapter with built in Ethernet will not work with... See more...
The Chromecast Ultra uses a micro-USB connector, while the newer Chromecast with Google TV uses the newer USB-C connector. Therefore, the older power adapter with built in Ethernet will not work with the newer CC w/GTV device.
Hello @Heck  This came up in another thread recently. There have been some reports that this was fixed, but if you're still seeing it right now, please report it using the instructions provided by ... See more...
Hello @Heck  This came up in another thread recently. There have been some reports that this was fixed, but if you're still seeing it right now, please report it using the instructions provided by Chris: https://community.stadia.com/t5/Stadia-on-Chromecast/No-5-1-Sound-Kein-5-1-Sound/m-p/46489/highlight/true#M1863