AppleTV 3.0 is a little flaky

[CalMin]

Since installing 3.0, the UI locks up for 30 secs when ever it starts syncing with my Mac. It's really annoying. Also - I've had the thing complete fall over and spontaneously reset to the Apple log.

I know AppleTV is a "hobby" for Apple, but flaky beta software on a consumer device is quite unacceptable.

Anyone else experience this?

[ladysman]

Since installing 3.0, the UI locks up for 30 secs when ever it starts syncing with my Mac. It's really annoying. Also - I've had the thing complete fall over and spontaneously reset to the Apple log.

I know AppleTV is a "hobby" for Apple, but flaky beta software on a consumer device is quite unacceptable.

Anyone else experience this?

I have 2 appleTV's and have had NO such problem. Both have been working 100% since I upgraded THursday morning. But this is on Windows. ;)

[Shoesy]

Havn't had any stalling myself - maybe a network issue?

Have noticed the the new menus flicker a little on occasion, I think maybe as new items are added to the library.

Still on the whole I think it works a lot better from a UI point of view, most stuff you want to watch (recently added shows) just one click away - much better than the old two / three clicks required previously.

[mpshay]

I have had no problems.

[Lycanthrope]

Seemed to be OK after the update to 3.0 and then today I started getting a problem when I added a new movie. The ATV would no longer respond to the remote and went into an endless reboot/run diagnostics cycle. I got around it by taking the "restore to factory" option and reapplied the 3.0

Now it's resynching everything, I'll see how it goes.

Most annoyingly Apple have still not addressed the issue regarding an ethernet connected computer not talking to a wireless Apple TV :mad:

I wish they'd invest a little more in the ATV, I think it's a great device, but too many little flaws for my liking.

[colinmack]

Most annoyingly Apple have still not addressed the issue regarding an ethernet connected computer not talking to a wireless Apple TV :mad:

What problem? I have two wireless Apple TVs talking to an ethernet-connected computer (as I'm sure many people do).

[Chaszmyr]

Most annoyingly Apple have still not addressed the issue regarding an ethernet connected computer not talking to a wireless Apple TV :mad:

I wish they'd invest a little more in the ATV, I think it's a great device, but too many little flaws for my liking.

They talk fine, they just don't talk automatically. You need to manually tell the AppleTV to sync via iTunes. Is this different if the computer is connected wirelessly? I wouldn't know.

[mac&cheesey]

I have had no problems.

^
+1

[OllyW]

What problem? I have two wireless Apple TVs talking to an ethernet-connected computer (as I'm sure many people do).

I don't have a problem with my wireless Apple TV and ethernet connected iMac either.

[joenruschia]

Since installing 3.0, the UI locks up for 30 secs when ever it starts syncing with my Mac. It's really annoying. Also - I've had the thing complete fall over and spontaneously reset to the Apple log.

I know AppleTV is a "hobby" for Apple, but flaky beta software on a consumer device is quite unacceptable.

Anyone else experience this?

I've had problems. I have hdmi issues I think but mainly tonight it wouldn't access any of my files. kept saying not supported format (all of these I've had for a while and have worked find). I am going to downgrade it and reinstall and see what happens.

[pilotError]

This is probably the most stable release in a long while for me.

The last release was soooo slow and laggy (is that a word?) it really got frustrating. This release is fast and smooth.

[joenruschia]

ok. So for some reason the external hard drive that had all my movies dissapeared from my mac and therefore was giving me a lot of troubles. As for the HDMI issues, I did a factory restore and then an update and so far so good.

[jaw04005]

For me, the Apple TV has always been somewhat flakey.

On 3.0,

I get flicker when switching from another source to the Apple TV (HDMI) on my HDTV. The Apple TV first appears, then the screen goes black, then there’s a popping sound and then it reappears ready to go. I take it it’s redoing the HDMI handshake?

I also keep getting the “Volume low. Resetting volume.” bug. It tends to happen after I playback content from the music category and switch to podcasts or movies.

Playing back HD movies is still a chore. Sometimes the Apple TV is slow to respond to fast forward or rewind and accessing the chapter menu on an HD movie usually causes a short pause.

The unit has also reset itself once while playing back a video podcast.

Otherwise, 3.0 has been relatively stable for me.

However, It still doesn’t update dynamically. For example, I have to manually sync in iTunes if I want content that’s been added to iTunes within the last hour or so. What is the timeline for the Apple TV to reload content? Hours? Twice per day?

I guess my tolerance level for the device is somewhat high. So, these minor issues don’t really bother me too much.

Did anyone ever confirm that it was still running 10.4? And what about HTTP streaming?

[joenruschia]

For me, the Apple TV has always been somewhat flakey.

On 3.0,

I get flicker when switching from another source to the Apple TV (HDMI) on my HDTV. The Apple TV first appears, then the screen goes black, then there’s a popping sound and then it reappears ready to go. I take it it’s redoing the HDMI handshake?

I also keep getting the “Volume low. Resetting volume.” bug. It tends to happen after I playback content from the music category and switch to podcasts or movies.

Playing back HD movies is still a chore. Sometimes the Apple TV is slow to respond to fast forward or rewind and accessing the chapter menu on an HD movie usually causes a short pause.

The unit has also reset itself once while playing back a video podcast.

Otherwise, 3.0 has been relatively stable for me.

However, It still doesn’t update dynamically. For example, I have to manually sync in iTunes if I want content that’s been added to iTunes within the last hour or so. What is the timeline for the Apple TV to reload content? Hours? Twice per day?

I guess my tolerance level for the device is somewhat high. So, these minor issues don’t really bother me too much.

Did anyone ever confirm that it was still running 10.4? And what about HTTP streaming?


Let me know if you ever get that flickering figured out. It's driving me nuts. Sometimes I have to reset the appletv.

[jaw04005]

Let me know if you ever get that flickering figured out. It's driving me nuts. Sometimes I have to reset the appletv.

I don’t think it’s the Apple TV itself. I think it’s just how some HDTVs handle HDMI. My PS3 does something similar when I switch to it (although it doesn’t fade to black). I have a Samsung HDTV, and oddly enough naming the Apple TV’s source “PC” (a preselected choice) instead of just regular “Video” improves it somewhat.

[joenruschia]

I don’t think it’s the Apple TV itself. I think it’s just how some HDTVs handle HDMI. My PS3 does something similar when I switch to it (although it doesn’t fade to black).

It's the only device on my system that has such an issue. Regular flickering is acceptable and understood, but this is flickering and then blackness for a while, then the menu will come up then flicker off for a moment and then come on. It's quiet a long process.

[fpnc]

...Most annoyingly Apple have still not addressed the issue regarding an ethernet connected computer not talking to a wireless Apple TV...
No problems on my system with a wired Mac and my Apple TV talking to an Air Port Express running 802.11n at 5GHz.

Also, I've had only one significant problem after two days of extensive use with the new 3.0 firmware (one instance of a reset). I think there is a problem if you have a an old playlist synced to the Apple TV that has internet radio stations within it. I had used that workaround to get internet radio on my Apple TV but that may cause lockups with the new 3.0 firmware if you are using shuffle playback (either that or it's a random problem that's been around for a long time). I fixed it by removing the playlist and now I just use the internet radio menu on the Apple TV.

Only other minor issues:

HD menu options (chapter thumbnails) are a little slow to come up when streaming from my Mac. In one instance they were very slow (maybe ten seconds to show up).

When doing a lot of quick scrolling though the UI there will sometimes (rarely) be a very quick and minor glitch in the scrolling video.

Overall, however, it has been very solid.

[seamer]

I started having the wierd reboot/diagnostic/reboot/main menu->playlist/reboot/diagnostic thing happen to me last night on my first ATV, and then today it started to happen on the second ATV in a different room.

In both cases I had to change the ATV from sync to stream and that has (apparently) fixed the problems. But I'm not willing to stand by that until I watch tv again tonight.

Nothing like this happened until I switched up to 3.0. I was ready to go camp outside the local Apple Store and demand a replacement/refund, nothing like a dead ATV at 3am and can't get to sleep...

[Lumpydog]

I started having the wierd reboot/diagnostic/reboot/main menu->playlist/reboot/diagnostic thing happen to me last night on my first ATV, and then today it started to happen on the second ATV in a different room.

My ATV did this last nigh too - just as I was sitting down with my family to watch a movie. All of the menus showed default thumbnails for music, movies, tv shows, etc. The remote stopped working and then the ATV just suddenly rebooted - when it came back on-line, all of my synched material except my photos was gone. WTF!?

I go to iTunes on my Mac to see what's up and it starts resynching with my ATV - from scratch - all 100+GB of content.

Bottom line - No movie night for the family and an owner who is starting to wonder if this device is worth the hassle. It doesn't "just work".

[Rich1963]

Lumpy dog-

That's interesting, because mine did the exact same thing. Fortunately I stream instead of syncing...

[ladysman]

My ATV did this last nigh too - just as I was sitting down with my family to watch a movie. All of the menus showed default thumbnails for music, movies, tv shows, etc. The remote stopped working and then the ATV just suddenly rebooted - when it came back on-line, all of my synched material except my photos was gone. WTF!?

I go to iTunes on my Mac to see what's up and it starts resynching with my ATV - from scratch - all 100+GB of content.

Bottom line - No movie night for the family and an owner who is starting to wonder if this device is worth the hassle. It doesn't "just work".
Since I posted earlier in this thread, i'll post again as i had the exact problem on 1 of my appleTV's last night. The wireless one to be exact. weird. I haven't looked at apple support forum yet but will.

[jaw04005]

Apparently, 10.6.2 specifically addresses troubles with Apple TV. So if you’re running Snow Leopard — there’s at least some hope.

[ladysman]

Apparently, 10.6.2 specifically addresses troubles with Apple TV. So if you’re running Snow Leopard — there’s at least some hope.

Naw, Windows 7 64 bit ;)

[Gringcorp]

Since I posted earlier in this thread, i'll post again as i had the exact problem on 1 of my appleTV's last night. The wireless one to be exact. weird. I haven't looked at apple support forum yet but will.

Same thing happened to me. Returned from work to find all my music and movies gone from my Apple TV. But not my photos, so not a factory reset. No change to my sync settings in iTunes, and when I open up iTunes, it goes to work happily syncing my 140GB library over a wireless g network, which I dare say will take all weekend. So I'm not mad, my son didn't press some miracle remote combination, and other people are having this too.

[stuarthatto]

All of my movies and music have also disappeared from my ATV, and I don't seem able to coax it into syncing them back again.

Very annoying

[00Diablo]

Whoever created this software should be fired!

This Apple TV 3.0 upgrade is by far the biggest disappointment I've had in my 4 years as an Apple user.

I've had all the problems described in this thread from the get-go. I was left with no choice but to factory restore back to 2.0.

I always hear about what a control-freak and tyrant Steve Jobs is, so it is obvious he is not paying any attention to this device. No way should 3.0 have gone out the door like this.

From the ugly and generic Sony/Boxee style interface, the difficult navigation, to the fact that it quickly rendered my device useless and erased my content - this is not what I'm used to from this company. In fact, I'm wondering if Apple has jumped the shark with this 3.0 disaster.

I've grown quite used to streaming my music library into the main audio system since buying the Apple TV, but I'm frustrated with the growing instability and limitations of this product and am at the point of considering other options. I could care less about the iTunes store, as I rip, needle-drop, or OTA antenna>DVR almost all of my own content.

Getting by for now on 2.0, wish I would've stayed somewhere between 2.1 and 2.4.

[scottness]

So unimpressed.

[Lumpydog]

My ATV did this last nigh too - just as I was sitting down with my family to watch a movie. All of the menus showed default thumbnails for music, movies, tv shows, etc. The remote stopped working and then the ATV just suddenly rebooted - when it came back on-line, all of my synched material except my photos was gone. WTF!?

I go to iTunes on my Mac to see what's up and it starts resynching with my ATV - from scratch - all 100+GB of content.

Bottom line - No movie night for the family and an owner who is starting to wonder if this device is worth the hassle. It doesn't "just work".

Apple owned up to the problem: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3116

Seriously - wtf guys. You could not find this in testing... thanks for the crash and burn job on what should have ben a nice family movie night.

[fpnc]

So, it seems that the disappearing media bug has been addressed in the v3.01 update. I really can't confirm the fix because I never had this problem with v3.0. It's interesting to note, however, that there was a similar bug in a previous 2.X release (or maybe it was associated with a release of the iTunes app). This latter bug (which "bit" me several times) took Apple several months to fix, so this time they seem to be faster to respond (maybe it affected more users).

As far as v3.0 in general, I'm still having pretty good luck. My Apple TV is over two years old so I decided to do a complete factory restore and upgrade since I had been upgrading all along on the same, original installation. Everything seems to work pretty well, could use a little more performance (i.e. "teh snappy") but otherwise it's fine.

[CultHero]

so I was out of the country when this update came out and came here first to see if it was worth it. At this point, I am still on 2.9 (?). Are there any major innovations that make 3.1 worthwhile?

[jajohns8]

One issue I have been having is that, when in Itunes, I used to be able to click on the Apple TV in the devices list and then click on Movies underneath that and see, sort of grayed out, what movies the Apple TV would play. (Sort of let you know what the Apple TV could "see" for streaming.) That was a way that I could tell if the content in Itunes was playable on the Apple TV. Now, as far as I can tell, there is no way to get that list. You only see the grayed out list of synced material. The movies tab in center does not tell you if the Apple TV can play the file.

[phillipjfry]

...

Most annoyingly Apple have still not addressed the issue regarding an ethernet connected computer not talking to a wireless Apple TV :mad:

I wish they'd invest a little more in the ATV, I think it's a great device, but too many little flaws for my liking.

I have looked in to this issue a lot in the past. I have concluded (at least FOR MY CASE) that the issue lies in your ROUTER and it's ability to quickly transfer encrypted wifi data to ethernet and back again.

What happens is that either the AppleTV or the computer (pick which one?) is sending data too fast for the router's ability to decrypt, do a checksum on the data (this is where it fails) and pass along to ethernet (same thing happens in reverse but still I see checksum failure upon sending to AppleTV).

Turning encryption off may help with the router's overhead in decrypting your wifi signal but all in all, I'm seeing the connection to the AppleTV timeout since it's unable to maintain a connection with iTunes/AppleTV due to checksum failure on the router leading to a timed out connection between iTunes/AppleTV. Routers are not made equally which is why you will find some routers perform flawlessly and others...not so much :)

Either connect by ethernet (taking A LOT of overhead off the router) or turn wifi off (I went with the former)

On Topic: I'm still on 2.x since i'm very pleased watching movies through boxee BUT I still miss the ability to rewind said movies which results in Frontrow crashing back to the main menu. :(

[Scott6666]

Very flaky here too. Did a full factory restore and then update. Now content is loading extremely slowly from iTunes. Like 5 mins per song. Even connected via hard wire rather than wireless.

Also goes unresponsive to remote periodically.

[randy98mtu]

I've had more trouble with this release than others as well. When I have music playing and I go back through menus to do something else, the music pauses while each menu loads. it is slower and goes unresponsive more often. I had it flat out reboot on me at least once, just out of the blue. I love my AppleTV and I wanted to buy another one, but I won't if this software is the best they can give us. I'd rather go back to pre-3.0. Is there a way to pick which version to upgrade to?

[zedsdead]

I've had more trouble with this release than others as well. When I have music playing and I go back through menus to do something else, the music pauses while each menu loads. it is slower and goes unresponsive more often. I had it flat out reboot on me at least once, just out of the blue. I love my AppleTV and I wanted to buy another one, but I won't if this software is the best they can give us. I'd rather go back to pre-3.0. Is there a way to pick which version to upgrade to?

It's not just the software. The hardware cannot handle the functions of the software. It is over 3 years old (and it was outdated even then). A new Apple TV NEEDS to come.

[MacBoobsPro]

Whenever I open iTunes it always resyncs the last item I played on the AppleTV be it a movie, TV show or song.

It says I have no photos synced but when I click on the photos button it shows my synced photos. :rolleyes:

The AppleTV shows ALL my iTunes content even when iTunes is not running so I have to remember what is actually available to play i.e. synced to the ATV if not and I click on something not synced the ATV hangs for a few MINUTES and then tells me the item is not available. If its not available don't ******* show it!

When the ATV works its brilliant, simple fact is it rarely works!

I am reluctantly looking for an alternative and if (big if) Apple finally decide to upgrade the AppleTV it will need to REALLY blow me away to win me back, and I mean 42" screen, built in 2TB drive, runs iTunes and controlled by a multitouch remote. No more piss poor set top boxes advertised as separating the TV from the computer when infact they cant function without a computer.

1TB drive would suffice if the above is too 'difficult'. Feck! :mad: At the moment I have a 1TB drive connected to a macbook to stream to the ATV. Both the Drive and the Macbook obviously need to be on if I want the choice of my entire iTunes library. If not I'm limited to less than 40GB of stuff which when it comes to movies is about 10.