Playback, Interrupted

Last week I took advantage of Comcast's free online viewing of shows from the premium cable channels to watch season two of the HBO series Girls. I think I enjoyed it a bit more than the first season, and I think I have a better understanding of what show creator Lena Dunham is attempting to express.

But man, Comcast's online streaming SUCKS. The video frequently lagged behind the audio, when it did catch up it stuttered, playback would stop for buffering at least three times during each episode (and these are only 30-minute shows), and a couple of times the screen went black while the audio kept playing. It made me think of the old days of dial-up internet access.

Of course it's possible that there were a lot of other people doing what I was doing, and the servers couldn't quite keep up with the demand. But I really hope that people who pay for the premium channels don't have to put up with such poor performance, although I suppose if you are an HBO subscriber you'd just use their site or app and not your cable provider's.