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How is Netflix on atv2 working for you??

CrAkD

CrAkD

macrumors 68040
Original poster
I've been watching Nip/Tuck on Netflix for the past week. Its been a pretty big pain. It constantly stops sometimes starts back up with no sound and I have to rewind it to see what I missed. Last night it started stopping every 2 minutes and I got extremely frustrated and decided to switch to watching on my xbox 360. The colors were a little dull on the xbox (could be that my plasma is on game mode by default on the xbox input) but it worked flawlessly after that. If it stopped at all it was once at the beginning of the episode and never stopped again after adjusting. both the xbox and atv2 are on Ethernet to my fios 35/35 Mbps net connection. So now I'm using my xbox instead of the atv. Hopefully apple fixes this problem in an update.

Anyone else having problems with Netflix streaming?
 
CrAkD said:
Anyone else having problems with Netflix streaming?
Click to expand...

I've seen some minor issues like what you describe. We run a Roku box as well, and switch from box to box to see if the behavior is the same - it usually is. It's normally right around prime viewing time - 8-10pm CST.

Not a big deal, as it seems to buffer up and go away quickly. The aTV seems to handle it better than the Roku.
 
For the most part Netflix has been awesome through ATV2 and a Blue-ray player I have. I love to be able to start one in bedroom, and pick up on Plasma TV in living room with ATV2!!!
 
I had a similar experience once a couple of weeks ago. It seemed to be limited to a particular show that I was watching at the time. Maybe there's a limit to the number of concurrent viewers that NetFlix can handle?

I've also occasionally noticed issues connecting to NetFlix, but in most cases they clear up after a few minutes.

Overall, I'm really happy with NetFlix on AppleTV. The interface on the ATV is better than the PS3, but I haven't really noticed any difference in the quality of streaming.
 
The only problem I've had with Netflix is there was one show that every episode played horizontal.. But it wasn't limited to the aTV, it did the same thing on my PS3, worked fine on the PC. Other then that, I love it! So does my family who argued with me that it was unnecessary. Now I can't get them off it.
 
It's worked very well for me. The only problem I had was with the audio on 1 episode of a show I was watching. They must have encoded the episode without a stereo downmix as it was missing the center channel info, specifically it had no dialog. That's a problem with Netflix, not the :apple:TV. I let them know about it and maybe they'll fix it sometime.
 
Netflix works way better than renting from iTunes that's for sure. With Netflix movies start within seconds. With iTunes I get an on screen message saying that the movie will start in 7 hours.

There have been only a few times that Netflix paused while watching, but that probably has something to do with my wireless connection.
 
Netflix streams great

I have never had a problem streaming either HD or SD movies or TV shows on Netflix through my new :apple:TV. I have 5mbps DSL. My gripe is with iTunes movie downloads. They take forever to load and then pause while the buffer fills again. I have given up on iTunes until this issue is addressed or explained to me why I and thousands of others are having this problem. I understand the :apple:TV has an 8GB buffer. That can hold an entire movie! Why would it need to pause to fill the buffer again in the middle of the movie?
 
I have had a few issues with Law & Order SVU in HD pausing and losing audio, but seems to be like others said, right at prime time. I am using 35/35 fios so my net speed isnt an issue. I would guess its an issue with either netflix or ATV2 buffering enough of the show.

I will say that I just got a samsung Blu Ray player that has NetFlix built in also, and the interface for it sucks compaired to the ATV2. On the BR, all I can do is watch what I have saved in my instant queue, but the ATV2, you have full access.
 
The biggest problem I was having with Netflix was an occasional complaint about HDCP compliance.

It'd be fine for days, and then suddenly my big Samsung would not be HDCP compliant. :shrug: No idea what was up with that.

The last firmware update seems to have cured the problem, or at least I have not experienced it since the last update.

As to the quality of the streaming, I usually do just fine using the media server settings on a Netgear 5 GHz sitting very close to the Apple TV 2.

On very rare occasions during high usage periods, the image will visibly degrade but continue playing, and then it'll sharpen up when the stream improves. This has never happened for longer than maybe 45 seconds at a time, and I doubt it would be any better with any other streaming device.
 
EvilC5 said:
I am using 35/35 fios ....
Click to expand...

If it's an ongoing problem, I'd give them a call about it so that they can test your line for consistency. Sometimes you can test very high speed downloads, but it's still not a jitter free stream that would work for highest quality video and audio.

Do you get a grade of "A" at pingtest.net?
 
No major issues. Occasionally some short stopping and problems connecting to Netflix, which resolve either after re-trying or a restart of the aTV2. So far I love it.
 
I don't have an AppleTV to comment, but I do watch Netflix streaming via my BluRay. I notice at prime time whatever I'm watching will start to stop to buffer a lot. I'm not sure how AppleTV handles it, but what I usually do is stop and resume the show I'm watching. When Netflix starts a video on my player, it will check the link speed and when the show finally resumes it is lesser quality but won't buffer any more.

This only happens with HD shows for me.
 
thats what I dont get about the apple tv. when it stops the atv doesnt do anything just waits for it to start again. when it stops on xbox it readjusts the stream to keep it from stopping.
 
gri said:
No major issues. Occasionally some short stopping and problems connecting to Netflix, which resolve either after re-trying or a restart of the aTV2. So far I love it.
Click to expand...

Same here - I even stream trough Strong Vpn and it works pretty good
 
Ugh. I didn't want to read about this issue. The main reason I want to upgrade my ATV1 to an ATV2 is to use Netflix and not have to use my XBox for it.
 
richpjr said:
Ugh. I didn't want to read about this issue. The main reason I want to upgrade my ATV1 to an ATV2 is to use Netflix and not have to use my XBox for it.
Click to expand...

I think most of the posts on this thread are suggesting that the issue is with NetFlix service or ISP Service or simply with network congestion during primetime, not with the AppleTV.

I'm watching NetFlix extensively through AppleTV, and have found it much easier to navigate than the PS3 client (Which I've heard is better than the one on the XBox). I have not noticed a difference in the stream quality between the 2 devices, just that the ATV UI is far better.
 
ive been going back and forth since posting this thread. I def like the apple tv UI better as finding more seasons in a series etc is much easier to do on the atv but I still feel like the xbox handles the stream better during those times the network is congested. where the xbox will lower the quality a little to get it to play rather then continue to stop the ATV2 will just stop. plus Ive only had the audio drop on the ATV2 hasnt dropped at all on the xbox.
 
Does any of you wish that Apple TV would have an option for Netflix to keep showing watched content in Genre ?

Because once you watched a movie ... its gone from Genre ... and only stays in the "Recently watched" section .. until you have watched too many and gets booted off that section also.

Its easy to forget watched movies if they are not in the Genre section ...

Anyone else feels the same ?
Is this problem also on Xbox 360 ?
 
cdavis11 said:
I've seen some minor issues like what you describe. We run a Roku box as well, and switch from box to box to see if the behavior is the same - it usually is. It's normally right around prime viewing time - 8-10pm CST.

Not a big deal, as it seems to buffer up and go away quickly. The aTV seems to handle it better than the Roku.
Click to expand...


I tried watching a movie this past Monday evening while a gizzillion people were online shopping....and I gave up!
 
For us it's been periodically very slow. Clicking on a category can take 10-15 seconds sometimes. Also occasionally the show pauses to buffer. I occasionally use the PS3 version and have found it to be a faster/more reliable experience.
 
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