Netflix streaming - what a disappointment

[balamw]

I have DNS set on my TC (both primary and secondary), but do I need to do that on the ATV also, or just set DNS for the same as my router? (10.0.1.1). Also, you can only set DNS on the ATV if you set up manually.

DNS servers are one of the settings delivered automatically by DHCP, so if you have it set on the TC and the TC is also your DHCP server the other devices should inherit those settings.

This is also why you need to set up manually if you want to use DNS settings other than what the DHCP server wants to provide.

The bad news is that 10.0.1.1 is a private IP which implies that your router may be providing cached DNS, most of the time that would be great, but in this case it could potentially be part of the problem.

B

 

[swheeler]

I just tried to watch a Netflix movie on my tv2 - it worked ok and wasn't choppy, but the picture quality was pretty bad. Plugged my MacBook into the TV and got a much better picture. Both were connected wirelessly to a not-that-fast DSL via a new AirPort Extreme.

Any suggestions? Watching off the MacBook works, but the whole reason I got the tv was so I wouldn't have to deal with cable swapping when I want to watch something.

(I'm not looking for suggestions regarding a new ISP - if it works on the Mac it should be able to work on the tv, right?)

Edit: I was using the standard ATT DNS when I first tried this. Tried switching to Google DNS, no noticeable difference.

 

[balamw]

Any suggestions?

Tell Netflix. The version on the Mac was using Silverlight and may have been in HD, while the ATV2 version was probably H.264 and may not have been in HD.

B

 

[blackberrypilot]

I get a hiccup every now and then, but no problems really.

 

[aced411]

On one of them, it got to the point that I couldn't watch at all. I would get a "service not available" error. After doing a restore that issue is gone. Now I'm back to the occasional sound drop out.

 

[mlpsponzischeme]

I'm having frequent issues with Netflix as well. It's not bandwith, DNS, etc. It's Apple TV. I also have issues with streaming movies from my itunes. Some will randomly decide not to work. I reloaded the updated version of iOS and that helped but I still have issues. I'm hoping they improve it's performance. It has a lot of potential. I'm shocked that Apple released it in its current state. But then again, iOS 4.2 is really buggy on my iPhone 4 as well. That kind of tells you how far above Apple is from their competition when people are willing to put up with them because the overall experience is so much better.

 

[aced411]

I'm having frequent issues with Netflix as well. It's not bandwith, DNS, etc. It's Apple TV. I also have issues with streaming movies from my itunes. Some will randomly decide not to work. I reloaded the updated version of iOS and that helped but I still have issues. I'm hoping they improve it's performance. It has a lot of potential. I'm shocked that Apple released it in its current state. But then again, iOS 4.2 is really buggy on my iPhone 4 as well. That kind of tells you how far above Apple is from their competition when people are willing to put up with them because the overall experience is so much better.

To be honest both my ATV's stream from iTunes perfectly. We've watched probably about 40 movies so far, including blu ray conversions. I'm using an Airport Extreme router.

 

[karsten]

I just tried to watch a Netflix movie on my tv2 - it worked ok and wasn't choppy, but the picture quality was pretty bad. Plugged my MacBook into the TV and got a much better picture. Both were connected wirelessly to a not-that-fast DSL via a new AirPort Extreme.

Any suggestions? Watching off the MacBook works, but the whole reason I got the tv was so I wouldn't have to deal with cable swapping when I want to watch something.

(I'm not looking for suggestions regarding a new ISP - if it works on the Mac it should be able to work on the tv, right?)

Edit: I was using the standard ATT DNS when I first tried this. Tried switching to Google DNS, no noticeable difference.

i had a similar experience. just got the atv2 yesterday and wasnt too happy with the picture. i saw somewhere else it could be due to an issue with the resolution of your tv screen, where the atv2 outputs a standard 720p, and the tv resolution may be a 1300x768 so it must upscale the signal to match. depending on the quality of their upscaling it might account for some of the difference from the quality of the macbook. i have that cheap dynex tv so i wouldnt expect their upscaling to be too stellar. not sure if i'm going to keep the atv2.

 

[lord patton]

My exerience: atv2 stuttering and stopping on Netflix content. MacBook, iPhone, and TiVo (all in the same room as the atv2) play Netflix with no problem.

Restarting the atv2 helped last night, but we'll have to see how long that lasts for.

Whether it is Apple or Netflix with the problem we don't know, but clearly the atv2 (or rather, some atv2s) have trouble playing back Netflix when other devices do not.

 

[karsten]

My exerience: atv2 stuttering and stopping on Netflix content. MacBook, iPhone, and TiVo (all in the same room as the atv2) play Netflix with no problem.

Restarting the atv2 helped last night, but we'll have to see how long that lasts for.

Whether it is Apple or Netflix with the problem we don't know, but clearly the atv2 (or rather, some atv2s) have trouble playing back Netflix when other devices do not.

its most likely that they get routed to a different server and that has more routing between you and it so you get a worse connection. the atv itself probably has the horsepower to handle it fine

 

[G42X500macguy]

Is there anything else?

I've streamed Netflix through ATV2 and PS3. I'm wireless airport to airport for both. In both situations I have an occassional re-buffer. Yes, it's a bummer.

I did notice that many times this stutter was due to another mac on the network doing a time machine wireless back-up.

You may want to check this if you're regularly experiencing issues.

 

[maroot]

DNS setting for Netflix and Apple

I have found an interesting development.

I find that when I set my DNS for Goggle (8.8.8.8), I get much better throughput with Netflix that using my ISPs DNS server, but when I set it for my DNS server IP, I get much better throughput from Apple. I make my changes within ATV. My Time Capsule is always set using my ISPs DNS server settings.

I need a happy medium!

 

[tido2012]

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I have Apple TV and whenever I try to watch a movie on Netflix I get a lot of lag. I have AT&T DSL 6mb/s download speeds. When my ATV2 is connected via ethernet to the modem and is the only system online, I still get a lot of lag (every 2 minutes I get 10-20 seconds of buffering time). I have my playstation 3 right next to my ATV2 and is also connected via Ethernet, yet this doesn't get any lag. I would like to watch netflix on ATV2 because I hate having to use the PS3 control to move around netflix. I saw that someone suggested changing to google DNS and someone else recommended taking ATV2 back, is there anyone that did either of these two options and found them to work? I would much rather return the thing and see if that would do the trick instead of switching to google dns only because it would be a lot less time to look up how to switch each computer to google's DNS . Thanks guys, your advice is much appreciated.

 

[dime21]

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?

i have never used an apple tv product, but i regularly use netflix streaming on my ps3. playback is flawless, the experience is indistinguishable from playing a local dvd; resolution is crisp with no artifacts or pixelation, and the controls are quick and responsive. netflix on ps3 is a resounding success.

the fact that ps3 also plays dvd movies (and upscales to 1080p) and blu-ray discs and is a pretty damn good gaming console too makes it a fantastic value imo.

i do have a new mac mini attached to my tv for media file play back. the new slim aluminum mini is brilliant, looks very nice next to my tv, not big a clunky like other htpc's. it also has hdmi output for easy connectivity. mac mini plays all saved media files wonderfully.

i was really sceptical about the new apple tv at just 99 dollars, i knew they had to have cut corners somewhere to deliver it that cheaply.

 

[MikeVarney]

Had problems.. but no more!

When I first got my ATV2, I had the choppy NetFlix issue... but I had found somewhere online the "Google DNS" fix of hard coding 8.8.8.8 as the DNS server in the ATV2, and that solved the issue. More research indicated that the OpenDNS service didn't properly do the load balancing for DNS entries (as neither did some other services) so as a result the first listed IP for NetFlix would get overloaded and thus choppy. I saw that most ISP DNS systems handle the lookups properly; it's only some of the less hi-tech spam/filter services which don't.

 

[MikeVarney]

I would much rather return the thing and see if that would do the trick instead of switching to google dns only because it would be a lot less time to look up how to switch each computer to google's DNS .

Just set your router's static DNS to 8.8.8.8. When your client systems (ATV2 included) DHCP to your router, your router will supply 8.8.8.8 to the clients. No need to change settings on individual devices at all.