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Netflix streaming - what a disappointment

richpjr

richpjr

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 9, 2006
3,508
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I got an ATV2 for Christmas and moved the old ATV to my bedroom. One of the things I was excited about was to be able to stream Netflix shows on it. I tried to stream a movie tonight and the ATV first said Netflix wasn't available, I retried and it found the movie in my queue. Started watching and every minute or two it would freeze for about 30 seconds and then resume. I turned on my PS3 and started watching the movie - no pauses whatsover. Switched back to the ATV and it paused every minute or two again. Anyone else having issues with Netflix streaming?
 
From A Buick 8

From A Buick 8

macrumors 68040
Sep 16, 2010
3,114
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Ky Close to CinCinnati
richpjr said:
I got an ATV2 for Christmas and moved the old ATV to my bedroom. One of the things I was excited about was to be able to stream Netflix shows on it. I tried to stream a movie tonight and the ATV first said Netflix wasn't available, I retried and it found the movie in my queue. Started watching and every minute or two it would freeze for about 30 seconds and then resume. I turned on my PS3 and started watching the movie - no pauses whatsover. Switched back to the ATV and it paused every minute or two again. Anyone else having issues with Netflix streaming?
Click to expand...

I have had two of the ATV2 since october and i must say the issues you are having are the exception not the rule. To date my experience has been great. This little box (ATV2) has allowed us to cancel cable, the wife and kids love it and use it everyday.
netflix

What are your settings how is the ATV connected to your router. You might want to try a hard reset on the ATV
 
s15119

s15119

macrumors 68000
Nov 20, 2010
1,856
1,714
I have occasional streaming issues with Netflix, but as others have said they are the exception rather than the rule. I have found that setting my DNS to the goodle DNS 8.8.8.8 helps - others have found not using googles DNS helps - you might want to play with that - I watch Netflix a lot since getting my ATV2 - and 90% of the time it "just works" .
 
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brentsg

macrumors 68040
Oct 15, 2008
3,578
936
No Netflix issues here. It works perfectly (wireless).

I also stream Netflix straight to my iPad and performance is pretty much the same.

It's just a 6Mb/s DSL circuit btw.
 
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S

Surrix

macrumors regular
Jan 7, 2009
237
75
I have similar issues, though not as frequent (not every few minutes, but a few times per show watched). Again, my PS3 also works fine. I use Google DNS.

I've completely reset my ATV2 which did not fix it.
 
N

NicoleRichie

macrumors 6502
Jun 30, 2007
435
1
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148a Safari/6533.18.5)

I have had issues, but I blame my ISP. I was doing speed tests when it happened and the problem appeared to be my ISP not the APTV or PS3.
 
scienide09

scienide09

macrumors 65816
May 5, 2007
1,385
0
Canada
I've had great performance, including two movies back-to-back just last night. I'm on Netflix Canada. My DNS is provided by my cable Internet provider.
 
frunkis54

frunkis54

macrumors 65816
Apr 2, 2009
1,346
0
every once in awhile mine pauses and you see the spinning loading thing. im wired and i have a 15mb download.
 
richpjr

richpjr

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 9, 2006
3,508
2,256
I am using Verizon FIOS with a 35 Mbps upload and download speed so my bandwidth is not the issue.

One difference between the PS3 and the ATV is that the ATV is using wireless N to connect to my Airport Extreme, while the PS3 is wired to a Second Airport Extreme that is part of an extended network. Since both are ultimately connecting wirelessly to the same main Airport Extreme I would not have thought this would be an issue. I will connect the ATV to the second Extreme and see if that makes a difference.
 
d21mike

d21mike

macrumors 68040
Jul 11, 2007
3,320
356
Torrance, CA
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Mine works great. Would like more selections.
 
J

jamespa66

macrumors 6502a
Jul 6, 2007
500
186
Kenosha, WI
Sounds like you have a slow connection. Might want to test the speed of your service you might be having other problems and not realizing it.
 
richpjr

richpjr

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 9, 2006
3,508
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jamespa66 said:
Sounds like you have a slow connection. Might want to test the speed of your service you might be having other problems and not realizing it.
Click to expand...

Just ran a speed test - 42.76 Mbps download and 27.04 Mbps upload - bandwidth isn't an issue.

Again, the PS3 streams flawlessly without a single pause. Watching the same movie over the same ISP gives me frequent pauses on the ATV. I'll try hard wiring it to the extended Extreme and see what it does.
 
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brentsg

macrumors 68040
Oct 15, 2008
3,578
936
There's more to ISP quality than bandwidth. I ditched a much higher bandwidth cable company for my DSL due to issues with latency, which was highly variable due to issues with congestion on their internet drains.

It could also be that the PS3 has some superior buffering at work, which is hiding flaws with your connection.
 
P

Primejimbo

macrumors 68040
Aug 10, 2008
3,295
131
Around
richpjr said:
Just ran a speed test - 42.76 Mbps download and 27.04 Mbps upload - bandwidth isn't an issue.

Again, the PS3 streams flawlessly without a single pause. Watching the same movie over the same ISP gives me frequent pauses on the ATV. I'll try hard wiring it to the extended Extreme and see what it does.
Click to expand...

you have a year Warranty, maybe you just got a bad one.
 
W

willieva

macrumors 6502
Mar 12, 2010
274
0
Netflix pauses on mine, and the sound drops out sometimes as well. It's not the connection. My tv is Netflix enabled and I have it connected to an airport express. No problems with the tv playing Netflix. With th atv using either it's built-in wireless or wired to the same airport express as the tv I get the pausing and sound problems.
 
balamw

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
Is anything else going on on your network that could be eating up the wireless bandwidth? (e.g. local to local traffic). I've had issues when one of my boxes decides to process its Time Machine backup when I'm trying to stream, and also had some issues on Friday and Saturday evenings ~ primetime where the back end might be overloaded.

In general the ATV2 streams Netflix (over wireless) much better than my TiVo HD XL or Samsung BluRay player (both wired).

B
 
M

mdatwood

macrumors 6502a
Mar 14, 2010
917
893
East Coast, USA
My ATV2 is hardwired to my network and I just streamed 4 episodes of Lost without any problems. If hardwired doesn't work I would try exchanging for another one.
 
richpjr

richpjr

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 9, 2006
3,508
2,256
Well, I plugged a network cable into the ATV and now it works without any pauses. I'm not sure why since the extended Airport Extreme is also using wireless N, but if it works I guess I can't complain.
 
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