Apple TV buffering problems

[pja2536]

I have been continuously streaming movies for about five hours with NO BUFFERING.

I'm getting close to saying EoP has solved the problem (close but not positive yet 🤭😁😬

 

[lemonkid]

Can someone explain me what is ment by 'my Apple TV starts buffering'? Because I would think that this is supposed to be. Would it not buffer it would in many cases not be able to give continuous picture and sound. The 'buffer' builds up some extra minutes of pictures ann sound so that in case the connection fails you don't notice.

If your tv gives you an interrupted experience the connection is worse than you might think. Because it could mean that AND the buffered signal has been depleted AND the incoming signal is not able to re-build it.

However I experienced for a while that the picture I was watching played normal, while the sound repeated itself. Just the last 10 to 15 seconds of sound where repeated. Resulting in continuous mismatch of sound and picture. To bring sound and pictures together was possible by stopping the particular app, completely close it and then restarting it.

This only happened with certain apps, but not with Amazon Prime or YouTube or the BBC. With updates these problems were resolved. Probably the apps giving trouble were causing a mismatch between already buffered sound and re-buffered sound. I think something like that could also happen with the picture signal. Depending on the app you are using.

This could mean that besides using Ethernet or not, WiFi or not, Powerline or not, fast ISP (I have 1 Gbps up and 1 Gbps down) or not you can still have a stuttering experience because another factor: bad app design.

 

[pja2536]

Can someone explain me what is ment by 'my Apple TV starts buffering'?

What I mean by buffering is when the video streaming service just stops and the "buffering" wheel continues to spin. Generally, the video stream does not return and the only fix is to restart the ATV and return to the stream.

My ATV was connected via my WiFi network and would stream for about 1 to 2 hours before going into the "buffering" state. Prior to buffering the WiFi download speed (measured on the ATV using the Ookla app) was ≈ 40 Mbps (my Internet connect plan is 50/20 Mbps). After "buffering" is was ≈ 1 Mbps or less.

Doing an Internet search turns up many instances of ATVs having this problem and not just the older HD models like mine; the new 4K model also seems to get this problem.

I've switched to an ethernet connection using EoP. This seems to be providing ≈ 30 Mbps (25-35 which seems odd) with NO "buffering".

My gut tells me that networking is not something the ATV does well. Many folks on this forum will tell you that the ATV is great and has no problems; good luck to them but I (and many others I've discovered) seem to be experiencing something different.

I think the best way of streaming video is to connect your iPad or iPhone directly to your TV via HDMI and Apple's Lightning Digital AV Adapter (see attached). This method provides higher and more reliable WiFi speeds with the drawback of no remote control.

Stay safe,
Peter