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ATV4 dropping frames

B

biscuit

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 17, 2002
33
0
London, UK
Hi,

Got an ATV4 before Christmas, but only really got into using it for video playback in the last two weeks. We've bought GoT series 5 and seem to get dropped frames at least 4 or 5 times an episode.

Any idea what might cause this? It's hooked up via ethernet and I'm sure my connection is fast enough.

Ta,

biscuit
 
4 or 5 frames dropped during an hour-long episode isn't that bad. I think that is par for the course when it comes to streaming. At the moment, streaming is about quantity and not so much quality. If you want unadulterated perfection, BluRay seems to be the way to go.

In my use, sometimes it drops no frames. But sometimes it drops several. Live streaming is particularly prone to dropping some frames. It usually doesn't bother me, I just expect it with streaming and know that for now it is one of the downsides.
 
oneMadRssn said:
4 or 5 frames dropped during an hour-long episode isn't that bad. I think that is par for the course when it comes to streaming. At the moment, streaming is about quantity and not so much quality. If you want unadulterated perfection, BluRay seems to be the way to go.

In my use, sometimes it drops no frames. But sometimes it drops several. Live streaming is particularly prone to dropping some frames. It usually doesn't bother me, I just expect it with streaming and know that for now it is one of the downsides.
Click to expand...

Huh. My setup never drops frames, so I guess I'll stop complaining about it. (It's a PS3 streaming video from Nullriver's MediaLink running on my Mac Pro.) I was going to replace it with an ATV4 because the PS3 displays TV episode titles in a random, insane fashion, but I'll suffer with that rather than watch video that's sub-par.
 
DUCKofD3ATH said:
Huh. My setup never drops frames, so I guess I'll stop complaining about it. (It's a PS3 streaming video from Nullriver's MediaLink running on my Mac Pro.) I was going to replace it with an ATV4 because the PS3 displays TV episode titles in a random, insane fashion, but I'll suffer with that rather than watch video that's sub-par.
Click to expand...

I should have qualified - dropping frames form local streaming is not normal and I would not tolerate that in my setup. I assumed the OP was talking about internet streaming, likely HBOGO or HBONOW due to the GoT comment. With internet streaming, Netflix, HBO, Hulu, whatever, occasional but rare dropped frames are to be expected.
 
biscuit said:
...hooked up via ethernet and I'm sure my connection is fast enough...
Click to expand...
Haven't run into that myself, but I have read that people experiencing speed issues when streaming have resolved them oddly enough by switching to WiFi. Check the Apple Forums, there are many ongoing discussions about it there...
 
I have a pretty fast connection and it is pretty rare for me to have dropped frames (streaming or live). I got more with my FIOS STB in the past with watching Live TV which I have replaced with Cable Cards for Live TV and it is very rare to have any dropped frames even on Live TV. I am using Ethernet on all but 1 of my ATV 4's.
 
oneMadRssn said:
I should have qualified - dropping frames form local streaming is not normal and I would not tolerate that in my setup. I assumed the OP was talking about internet streaming, likely HBOGO or HBONOW due to the GoT comment. With internet streaming, Netflix, HBO, Hulu, whatever, occasional but rare dropped frames are to be expected.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification. I think he was talking about local streaming since he said he'd bought Game of Throne episodes.
 
Thanks all. Apologies I wasn't more specific. GoT was bought from iTunes and is streaming (I believe). I also saw the same thing, though maybe not as bad, in the iPlayer app.

Also, when I say dropped frames I mean the video stutters and is jerky for 2-4 seconds. This happens at least 3 or 4 times per hour.

Seems to me like this should not happen. I don't recall ever seeing this with my TV's built-in apps.

I'll give wifi only a go and check on Apple's forums.

Ta,

biscuit (newbie est. 2002)
 
It is more likely to be a framerate inconsistency between the source material being watched, and the resolution the ATV4 is set to. Blame Apple for not including a 24Hz option I guess. There is also a bug where videos start playing back at the wrong framerate in Netflix, which can be sorted by rebooting the device.
 
Thanks. Might there be a setting on the TV I could change? Any idea what I should look for?

I've unplugged the Ethernet cable and will keep my eyes peeled next time I'm watching. Got the speed test app which reports 35Mbps down.

Other than that I suppose I'll just hope for a software update to fix it. Seems kind of comical that the AppleTV can't play a TV show.
[doublepost=1453411637][/doublepost]OK, so let me correct something. The iPlayer app drops frames constantly. Far worse than iTunes streaming.

This is pretty disappointing.
 
Going wifi only didn't help. From a quick look on Apple's forums it seems this might be a bug, so I suppose I'll just pray for a fix.

Seems like there was a good run of several years where I didn't get bitten by any annoying Apple bugs, but I've run into a few of late :-(
 
Last night we watched the latest episode of The Walking Dead on the ATV and there wasn't a problem with skipping. We did have a problem purchasing the episode, but that's a different story.

We've also been watching Friends, which plays fine. Glad it's working well for these shows but very confused that GoT skipped horribly.

Mostly, I'm just a bit sad that the ATV seems so unreliable.
 
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