Apple TV 4 - Skipping sound and random static screens

[v871305]

Hi Everyone,

I got my new Apple TV a few days ago and have put a few hours on it but some problems make it impossible to watch anything for more than 20 mins - I'll attempt to explain it below.

I wake the ATV from sleep - pick an app and play a video. After about 15-20 mins (without fail, every single time so far) the sound starts skipping a few seconds at a time (the video plays perfectly fine but the sound skips). This keeps happening for another 10 mins or so every few mins.

THEN - after the sound, the video flickers to a black, then static (white and black dots?) screen and back to the video (its quick at first, less than a second), but it gets progressively worse till eventually it just becomes a static screen and the ATV becomes unresponsive. I keep hitting the home button till it refreshes itself.

This has happened with every app I've tried - Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Plex and a DLNA app from the app store (not sure what its called). I thought it might be a network issue but my PS4 plays the same video perfectly fine (both the PS4 and ATV4 are hardwired to the router).

I haven't tried restoring it yet (since I just got it 2 days ago) and its a real pain to get all the logins with the remote (seriously, no iOS keyboard support?? ).

So anyone else run into this issue? OR have any insights into what might be causing this? I hope I didn't get a dud - that would suck :S

Thanks!

 

[s15119]

Hi Everyone,

I got my new Apple TV a few days ago and have put a few hours on it but some problems make it impossible to watch anything for more than 20 mins - I'll attempt to explain it below.

I wake the ATV from sleep - pick an app and play a video. After about 15-20 mins (without fail, every single time so far) the sound starts skipping a few seconds at a time (the video plays perfectly fine but the sound skips). This keeps happening for another 10 mins or so every few mins.

THEN - after the sound, the video flickers to a black, then static (white and black dots?) screen and back to the video (its quick at first, less than a second), but it gets progressively worse till eventually it just becomes a static screen and the ATV becomes unresponsive. I keep hitting the home button till it refreshes itself.

This has happened with every app I've tried - Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Plex and a DLNA app from the app store (not sure what its called). I thought it might be a network issue but my PS4 plays the same video perfectly fine (both the PS4 and ATV4 are hardwired to the router).

I haven't tried restoring it yet (since I just got it 2 days ago) and its a real pain to get all the logins with the remote (seriously, no iOS keyboard support?? ).

So anyone else run into this issue? OR have any insights into what might be causing this? I hope I didn't get a dud - that would suck :S

Thanks!

I was getting the static issue. I tried another HDMI cable and the static issue stopped for me.

 

[v871305]

I was getting the static issue. I tried another HDMI cable and the static issue stopped for me.

Thanks. I'm going to try this today and see how it goes. Does the apple TV have new HDMI tech? I use Amazon basic cables and some that came with the TV - they're all the same unless the new tech in the atv4 needs a new type of HDMI?

Edit - a word

 

[fpnc]

I had almost this exact same problem with a 2nd generation Apple TV except that it happened only about once every week or two (every 20 hours of use?). I solved it by upgrading to a new, 3rd generation Apple TV and the problem never happened again (so, it looks like in my case it was definitely something in the Apple TV -- hardware of software).

 

[v871305]

I had almost this exact same problem with a 2nd generation Apple TV except that it happened only about once every week or two (every 20 hours of use?). I solved it by upgrading to a new, 3rd generation Apple TV and the problem never happened again (so, it looks like in my case it was definitely something in the Apple TV -- hardware of software).

Yeah - still can't figure out what the deal is. Although now, it happens once when I start watching something (about 20 mins in). It refreshes itself and then doesn't do it again until the next time (after a sleep wake cycle). I think I'm going to keep the ATV and see if it gets better with the next software update.

 

[SlippySlope]

Hi Everyone,

I got my new Apple TV a few days ago and have put a few hours on it but some problems make it impossible to watch anything for more than 20 mins - I'll attempt to explain it below.

I wake the ATV from sleep - pick an app and play a video. After about 15-20 mins (without fail, every single time so far) the sound starts skipping a few seconds at a time (the video plays perfectly fine but the sound skips). This keeps happening for another 10 mins or so every few mins.

THEN - after the sound, the video flickers to a black, then static (white and black dots?) screen and back to the video (its quick at first, less than a second), but it gets progressively worse till eventually it just becomes a static screen and the ATV becomes unresponsive. I keep hitting the home button till it refreshes itself.

This has happened with every app I've tried - Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Plex and a DLNA app from the app store (not sure what its called). I thought it might be a network issue but my PS4 plays the same video perfectly fine (both the PS4 and ATV4 are hardwired to the router).

I haven't tried restoring it yet (since I just got it 2 days ago) and its a real pain to get all the logins with the remote (seriously, no iOS keyboard support?? ).

So anyone else run into this issue? OR have any insights into what might be causing this? I hope I didn't get a dud - that would suck :S

Thanks!

I realize that this an old post but I have an ATV 4 gen and I'm experiencing the same sound skipping issue. At first I thought it was a Comcast throttling issue but then I noticed that it appeared to be only on Netflix (not BritBox or Hulu). Then I noticed that it didn't happen on Netflix on my Xfinity 1 box or on my Roku so I concluded that it must be the ATV. My daughter (who's with us for the weekend) tells me that the sameness thing happens with her new ATV 4 (she's on Verizon FiOs) so that furthers the opinion that it's some issue with the ATV.