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How is Netflix on atv2 working for you??
- Thread starter CrAkD
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Couldn't you just add it to your Instant Queue? That's what I do for anything I want to go back to like TV Show seasons.
NF has worked well with my ATV2. Any problems that I have had have been minor and correct themselves in just a couple minutes. It's only recently that I have had any issues at all and I putting them mostly on NF switching from Akamai to L3 for their service provider.
http://www.digitalsociety.org/2010/11/netflix-switching-from-akamai-to-level-3-cdn-services/
http://www.digitalsociety.org/2010/...mai-on-netflix-by-reselling-stolen-bandwidth/
IMHO, Akamai is a much better provider, but L3 won out with a low bid that may end up biting them in the butt. I would prefer NF go back to Akamai for their CDN simply because service seemed better.
http://www.digitalsociety.org/2010/11/netflix-switching-from-akamai-to-level-3-cdn-services/
http://www.digitalsociety.org/2010/...mai-on-netflix-by-reselling-stolen-bandwidth/
IMHO, Akamai is a much better provider, but L3 won out with a low bid that may end up biting them in the butt. I would prefer NF go back to Akamai for their CDN simply because service seemed better.
I wish .... for some odd reason we don't have the Queue option here for Netflix in Canada (for Apple TV).... We also can not look up what films an actor played in ...
Boy how I wish I could just go into the "More" section when selecting a film and then browse by actors that star in the selected film ...
We've had Netflix with our 2G for a couple weeks now and it's working great. No issues this far other than finding time to watch a lot of it.
I've been having problems with sound dropping out and playback pausing for way too long ever since I set it up. I'm running it through a tv that has netflix built in. The tv has never had that problem. I've tried it with the apple tv hooked up via wireless, and wired to an airport express(the same connection as the tv). Something is messed up with the netflix playback on my apple tv.
The last firmware upgrade over the air solved the only issue that I was having, namely an occasional HDCP error with my rather old, huge DLP Samsung.
My experience has been less then thrilling. I purchased one of the new ATV's to replace my old model unit with the only reason being the added netflix capibility. Tested it out for a couple weeks and it worked great so I ended up buying one more to put in the main viewing area. Since around the time of the firmware update both units have been virtually unwatchable - series shows that we were watching weeks earlier fail to load and the few I can get to load stop and start constantly. I gave up last night and went back to watching netflix over the Xbox 
The Xbox works perfectly - HD streams, SD streams, movies, series whatever. I'm hopeful it will get better, but 
's history with the ATV isn't that positive.
There is a pretty lengthy discussion going on over at the Apple support forums and a few have been told by Netflix that the ATV has a separate stream from most other devices. This could be causing some of the issues but would place the blame more on Netflix . . . not sure what to believe.
The Xbox works perfectly - HD streams, SD streams, movies, series whatever. I'm hopeful it will get better, but 's history with the ATV isn't that positive.There is a pretty lengthy discussion going on over at the Apple support forums and a few have been told by Netflix that the ATV has a separate stream from most other devices. This could be causing some of the issues but would place the blame more on Netflix . . . not sure what to believe.
Mine works fine, except when my computer is dling torrents at >1.5MB/s. Then it starts to stutter a bit.
Lately I've been having problems with Netflix on ATV. Don't have issues with the audio, but like the OP it will pause every thirty seconds or so as if it's buffering. No issues with Netflix on my PS3. Both are connected to my router via ethernet cable. Personally, I think this is related to the last ATV update since I don't recall having problems with Netflix initially. Or maybe Netflix uses Flash
I've been dealing with the audio drop out issues and so far I've only had this problem on the ATV. I'm also really annoyed that when you go back one screen it doesn't resume your position ....so if you were scrolling through a bunch of movies and you open a movie...you'll have to start at the top of the list again.
The first week was rough, testing HD content from Netflix (30 Rock, Arrested Development, etc.) resulted in blocky, under-saturated video, which was way worse that what I was used to with X360. Apparently, this was some kind of settings issue between Apple and Netflix because within days this cleared up. I'd say content looks better now on the ATV than the X360. I haven't done a proper side-by-side test but I have done a one and then the other and I think it looks better. We don't currently have surround sound, just two little tv speakers, and I can't tell a difference in sound quality.
We've had the sound dropout issue, it appears to me to occur when the encoding had gone to a lower level (adjusted down for bandwidth reasons, what have you) and then come back up to the previous level (full HD stream, no blockiness, etc). As others have stated rewinding or sometimes even pausing and playing after a second fix this. It appears to be present even in the newest firmware (based on 4.2.1 I believe.) The new firmware also seems to have improved the speed with which streams start, however it doesn't appear to have improved the speed with which I can access Netflix from the main menu and browse Instant Queue, Recently Watched, etc.
A few gripes and bugs, specifically for Netflix: Backing up a menu will always bring you to the top of the list, regardless of where you where, as aced411 mentioned. Sometimes the thumbnails for the Instant Queue and other pages will take a long time to populate even if you've just been browsing them recently. The quality seems to waver quite a bit, and doesn't seem to be as dependent on the local network connection (or at least, your WAN connection) as say, the X360, which presents the audio bug mentioned above. All in all though, the improvements to this interface over the X360 make it better in the long run. I like that you can search and queue from the interface without having to go out to the web on another device, even drilling down to search by actor or director. Apple's update of the Remote app turns any iOS device into a handy keyboard and touch based remote, for this reason it's turned my old first gen phone into a useful device again for the living room. Browsing a full queue (as Netflix seems to automatically add stream-capable movies to your Instant Queue when you add their disc counterparts to your main queue) is much easier in the 'screen full of thumbnails' view of the ATV in comparison to the X360's 'long row of pictures'.
All in all, I'd say I'm happy with the ATV, if even purely as a Netflix streamer.
*note, I haven't tried any other major Netflix stream devices currently on the market like the Roku or Boxee offerings, my comparison is strictly based on the Xbox 360 Netflix app, which requires you to have a paid Gold account in good standing. As I rarely game any more, paying Microsoft upwards of $7 a month for the 'privilege' of streaming content that belonged to someone else when I was already paying Netflix seemed outrageous, hence my purchase of an ATV.
We've had the sound dropout issue, it appears to me to occur when the encoding had gone to a lower level (adjusted down for bandwidth reasons, what have you) and then come back up to the previous level (full HD stream, no blockiness, etc). As others have stated rewinding or sometimes even pausing and playing after a second fix this. It appears to be present even in the newest firmware (based on 4.2.1 I believe.) The new firmware also seems to have improved the speed with which streams start, however it doesn't appear to have improved the speed with which I can access Netflix from the main menu and browse Instant Queue, Recently Watched, etc.
A few gripes and bugs, specifically for Netflix: Backing up a menu will always bring you to the top of the list, regardless of where you where, as aced411 mentioned. Sometimes the thumbnails for the Instant Queue and other pages will take a long time to populate even if you've just been browsing them recently. The quality seems to waver quite a bit, and doesn't seem to be as dependent on the local network connection (or at least, your WAN connection) as say, the X360, which presents the audio bug mentioned above. All in all though, the improvements to this interface over the X360 make it better in the long run. I like that you can search and queue from the interface without having to go out to the web on another device, even drilling down to search by actor or director. Apple's update of the Remote app turns any iOS device into a handy keyboard and touch based remote, for this reason it's turned my old first gen phone into a useful device again for the living room. Browsing a full queue (as Netflix seems to automatically add stream-capable movies to your Instant Queue when you add their disc counterparts to your main queue) is much easier in the 'screen full of thumbnails' view of the ATV in comparison to the X360's 'long row of pictures'.
All in all, I'd say I'm happy with the ATV, if even purely as a Netflix streamer.
*note, I haven't tried any other major Netflix stream devices currently on the market like the Roku or Boxee offerings, my comparison is strictly based on the Xbox 360 Netflix app, which requires you to have a paid Gold account in good standing. As I rarely game any more, paying Microsoft upwards of $7 a month for the 'privilege' of streaming content that belonged to someone else when I was already paying Netflix seemed outrageous, hence my purchase of an ATV.
atv1 vs atv2
have always been happy with atv1, but got atv2 just for the netflix capability. after using the atv2 for one month I much prefer atv1. almost every night with avt2 the movie will pause repeatedly, or lose audio for 10 to 15 seconds or just stop. The lack of a hard drive and the ability to continually stream ahead of what is presently being watched really makes atv2 an inferior product in my mind.
have always been happy with atv1, but got atv2 just for the netflix capability. after using the atv2 for one month I much prefer atv1. almost every night with avt2 the movie will pause repeatedly, or lose audio for 10 to 15 seconds or just stop. The lack of a hard drive and the ability to continually stream ahead of what is presently being watched really makes atv2 an inferior product in my mind.
I posted earlier in the thread about a generally positive result that I had seen. I'd like to amend that post and statement.
My Netflix streaming performance seems to have degraded significantly over the past few weeks. I also run a Roku XR, which I switch to from time to time. The aTV would experience re-buffering pauses which would cause the picture to freeze, audio to stop for a few seconds. Eventually audio and video would come back, but it could take 10-15 seconds at times. This would often result in my family switching to the Roku for Netflix - which would buffer up and play the same program with no pauses or issues of any kind.
My aTV is connected wirelessly to a 5Ghz N network off a dual band airport extreme running the latest firmware (7.5.2). I have perfect performance streaming movies from my mac off my LAN, so I was surprised to see the performance take a dive on the Netflix side.
My ISP is Time Warner (Road Runner Cable), and I normally get between 8 and 10 down, 1 up. That part of the pipe didn't seem to be the issue.
As a test I cabled the aTV to a port of my Extreme - the pauses have (so far) gone away. I've got 90 minutes of testing in so far on the cabled setup. I could easily duplicate the issue on wireless, and so far it seems to have cleared up when cabled.
I'll keep testing.
My Netflix streaming performance seems to have degraded significantly over the past few weeks. I also run a Roku XR, which I switch to from time to time. The aTV would experience re-buffering pauses which would cause the picture to freeze, audio to stop for a few seconds. Eventually audio and video would come back, but it could take 10-15 seconds at times. This would often result in my family switching to the Roku for Netflix - which would buffer up and play the same program with no pauses or issues of any kind.
My aTV is connected wirelessly to a 5Ghz N network off a dual band airport extreme running the latest firmware (7.5.2). I have perfect performance streaming movies from my mac off my LAN, so I was surprised to see the performance take a dive on the Netflix side.
My ISP is Time Warner (Road Runner Cable), and I normally get between 8 and 10 down, 1 up. That part of the pipe didn't seem to be the issue.
As a test I cabled the aTV to a port of my Extreme - the pauses have (so far) gone away. I've got 90 minutes of testing in so far on the cabled setup. I could easily duplicate the issue on wireless, and so far it seems to have cleared up when cabled.
I'll keep testing.
This may be a issue for some. In fact, Comcast is having a dispute with L3 right now about the bandwidth requirements for Netflix. Because of this, I wonder whether Comcast is throttling Netflix traffic. My mother has Comcast as her ISP and Netflix performance on the Apple TV has been very poor over the last few weeks. Netflix HD is almost impossible to watch (pauses followed by very long delays in startup) even though her connection averages around 8Mbps both up and down with peaks above 10Mbps for downloads (using SpeedTest.net). I've tried resetting the modem, router, and Apple TV and nothing seems to help. The Apple TV is also running the latest software. As yet, I'm not ready to blame Comcast or L3 since device/network/router/ISP/server issues can be very difficult to isolate. Frankly, I'm guessing that the Apple TV is the least likely culprit in this bad performance.
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I have been experiencing these exact issues and have the same setup. On my PS3, with the same network connection works flawlessly. I had to stop a move last night b/c it was rebuffering every couple minutes. Resumed on PS3, and no issues. What a dissapointment. I hope they get this fixed.
I had high hopes for the cabled approach, but I experienced a few audio drop outs with the annoying rebuffering pause Saturday and Sunday nights.
Switched over to Roku and things went fine after the program buffered up.
Glad I bought both boxes. aTV has been great for streaming my itunes content, but the roku is (for now) the go-to streaming box for Hulu and Netflix.
A shame, because i'd really like to reduce things down to a single small black box.
For me, I couldn't view ANY movies on Netflix on my ATV2 and it turns out to be an issue with my router. Even if I switched my DNS, as long as I had DNSmasq on my DD-WRT router enabled, I wouldn't be able to play ANY Netflix movies on my any iOS device. As soon as this setting was disabled, everything worked again.