Apple TV 4K (Gen 1) Laggy remote swipes and black screen

[Boardiesboi]

My Apple TV 4K (2017, Gen 1) is acting up lately (coincidently after the announcement of the new ATV4K 2021):

• Laggy remote - Swiping left and right is super laggy. I swipe right and the ATV doesn’t register it until 0.5-1 second later, resulting in me swiping again and missing the tile I wanted to swipe to.
• A black screen always appears within the first 5 minutes of starting up the ATV and clicking into a show on Netflix or Disney+ etc. I click on a show and the black screen shows up for like 10 seconds before it takes me to the show.
• Some shows on Netflix doesn’t play on the ATV (eg. Shadow of Bones on Netflix) and it would just get stuck on the spinning wheel. The same show plays on my Samsung TV no issues.

I’ve hard reset the ATV, signed in and out of AppleID and tried using a different HDMI cable and nothing has helped.

Any suggestions? I’m so over this ATV and want to buy the new one to replace it - Maybe that’s the intention of Apple? Planned obsolesce?

 

[waw74]

for the laggy remote make sure the aTV isn't too close to other electronics, Mine is stuck behind the TV, and in certain places the response goes to s***, but sliding the aTV a few inches either way tends to clear it up. Especially true for other devices with wi-fi, since wi-fi and bluetooth are in the same frequencies.

Also, you can reboot the remote, hold menu and Vol+ for a few seconds, occasianaly mine will still get a bit slow, this normally fixes it,


The black screen happens when you start a show? every time? or just the first time after reboot?
It sounds like the aTV is switching video signal types, and your TV is adjusting. The long blackout is your TV, the aTV switches quickly, but the TV takes some time, cheaper TVs are usually worse about this. If this is what it is, you should see it anytime you stop or start a video (pausing is not affected), or when the screensaver start/stops if you're paused.
This should only apply if you've got match rate and/or range turned on.

as silly as it sounds, try rebooting your router, might not help, but shouldn't hurt.

have you tried uninstalling Netflix, and re-downloading it?

you can also try a factory reset of the aTV.

 

[Boardiesboi]

for the laggy remote make sure the aTV isn't too close to other electronics, Mine is stuck behind the TV, and in certain places the response goes to s***, but sliding the aTV a few inches either way tends to clear it up. Especially true for other devices with wi-fi, since wi-fi and bluetooth are in the same frequencies.

Also, you can reboot the remote, hold menu and Vol+ for a few seconds, occasianaly mine will still get a bit slow, this normally fixes it,


The black screen happens when you start a show? every time? or just the first time after reboot?
It sounds like the aTV is switching video signal types, and your TV is adjusting. The long blackout is your TV, the aTV switches quickly, but the TV takes some time, cheaper TVs are usually worse about this. If this is what it is, you should see it anytime you stop or start a video (pausing is not affected), or when the screensaver start/stops if you're paused.
This should only apply if you've got match rate and/or range turned on.

as silly as it sounds, try rebooting your router, might not help, but shouldn't hurt.

have you tried uninstalling Netflix, and re-downloading it?

you can also try a factory reset of the aTV.

Thanks for the reply.

The Apple TV is currently sitting just under the TV (wifi enabled) and next to the Samsung One set top box and a HomePod. Will move the ATV away and down into the empty compartment below and see if that makes a difference.

I’m also doing a factory reset right now.

The black screen happens when I turn on the ATV from it being in sleep mode and it only happens once. Not every time I start a new show.

Should I turn off auto matching or whatever that setting is?

 

[-Gonzo-]

This might sound daft but if it’s not already try changing the Chroma to 4:2:0.
My remote was terribly laggy when I had it set to 4:4:4, iPhone remote worked fine but just has issues with the Siri remote.
Changing to 4:2:0 and haven’t had any lag since.

 

[x-man]

I have also noted the lag...

 

[waw74]

even moving it to the other side of the TV base might help, without moving to the lower shelf. especially with all those wifi devices right on top of each other.

Should I turn off auto matching or whatever that setting is?

I would not
having those on give you the best version of whatever file you're playing.

having un-matched frame rate can cause the image to stutter a bit, depending on the combo of file and signal frame rate, it will play some frames twice, which causes the image to appear to pause for a brief moment (most commonly about 6 times a second). You'll really notice this on long smooth motion shots

and with match range turned off, then everything is played in whatever your default setting is. When watching a standard show in HDR mode, the aTV up converts, which can lead to blown out colors, plus a lot of the detail that HDR is known for doesn't exist in that SDR file, and the aTV's algorithm can't create it from nothing.

 

[Boardiesboi]

even moving it to the other side of the TV base might help, without moving to the lower shelf. especially with all those wifi devices right on top of each other.



I would not
having those on give you the best version of whatever file you're playing.

having un-matched frame rate can cause the image to stutter a bit, depending on the combo of file and signal frame rate, it will play some frames twice, which causes the image to appear to pause for a brief moment (most commonly about 6 times a second). You'll really notice this on long smooth motion shots

and with match range turned off, then everything is played in whatever your default setting is. When watching a standard show in HDR mode, the aTV up converts, which can lead to blown out colors, plus a lot of the detail that HDR is known for doesn't exist in that SDR file, and the aTV's algorithm can't create it from nothing.

Thanks for the detailed reply!

I moved it to the lower compartment and the lags in remote swipe seem to have gone.

I’ve turned match frame rate and dynamic contrast on.

What video format should I choose? 4K HDR or 4K SDR?

I’ve read on reddit that it’s better to choose 4K SDR with match frame rate and dynamin contrast on. But I think I prefer the ATV menu and icons in 4K HDR as choosing 4K SDR makes them look dated and the colour balance doesn’t look right.