ATV4 keeps pausing 5 seconds into play a video

[tirexstorm]

I bought an Apple TV 4 when it first came out. I have had no problems until this weekend. Now videos pause around 5 seconds or so after I start them. This has happened with multiple apps (Netflix, Hulu, UFC, Youtube.) My internet connection is very fast and it doesn't appear to be buffering.

I have tried restarting the ATV and that hasn't helped. Once it pauses, the video will resume for 2 seconds if I hit the play button, but then will pause again. It is currently running tvOS 9.1.1. I am not sure when it updated to 9.1.1 since I have auto-update turned on.

Is this a known issues? Any suggestions for how to fix?

 

[d21mike]

Wifi or Ethernet. Wired is always consistent. But I would get the Speedtest for ATV. Free. Then you will know your speed at the Apple TV when having an issue.

 

[tirexstorm]

Wifi or Ethernet. Wired is always consistent. But I would get the Speedtest for ATV. Free. Then you will know your speed at the Apple TV when having an issue.

It is wired. I did use the Speedtest app. I do not recall the exact results, but it was 50+Mbps. I am also capable of streaming 4k content on my Vizio using some router.

 

[d21mike]

It is wired. I did use the Speedtest app. I do not recall the exact results, but it was 50+Mbps. I am also capable of streaming 4k content on my Vizio using some router.

No idea. You setup is similar to mine. I also have a Vizio 4K (mine is 70") and I have streamed 4K on that from Netflix but felt results were not any better to my Eyes then the same show on 1080P via Apple TV Netflix.
My streaming is pretty flawless. I am on FIOS 75/75.
I do not have much to add except maybe it is a timing problem. Like time of day. I watch a lot of different content on Netflix (not so much lately), Hulu (no commercials) - a lot last few months, HBO Now, Showtime and others without a problem. My son switched from FIOS like me to TWC 200/20 because of cost and should be faster. We did a test connected to my office and my connection was a little faster but my office is also on FIOS so maybe that was it. But normally he has no problem but I think my 75 is probably just as fast in real world applications. I think we would need to stream a bunch of TV's at the same time for maybe he will start to show a difference. Anyway, good luck.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

that really sounds like buffering to me. I know you've tried speed test but maybe a few other troubleshooting attempts, swap to a new/different ethernet cable, try a laptop or some other device that can access the same content on that cable in that location, etc...

 

[nullman]

tirexstorm did you ever figure out your issue? I am having the same problem. The device just started pausing randomly for me during any and all video playback. It's not buffering as there is no spinner and it will not start playing the video again until I press play. When I do, it immediately starts playing again. It even happens with movies I bought from iTunes, which I know are not buffered because I can see the bar is full past the point where it pauses. I am taking mine into the Apple Store on Sunday. It has become unusable for me with the constant "self pausing". My ATV4 is hardwired to my router and I did try swapping Ethernet cables with another device on the same router.

I've had it since launch and it worked flawlessly until a couple weeks ago. I even did a full factory reset tonight to see if it would fix the issue, but unfortunately it didn't help.

One thing that I've noticed, when it does this self-pausing of a video the audio stops first, then a few ms later the video stops, then a few ms later the time bar appears (no spinner) and dims the video. When I manually pause a video these all happen simultaneously.

EDIT: I was doing more testing this morning, it even pauses audio only (like playing music from iCloud). I can see it downloads the whole song in a second or two, but it will randomly pause mid-song. I also hear the volume decrease a few ms before it self-pauses (like a quick fade-out). When I pause manually it instantly stops the music. I think my unit may be having a hardware issue. I guess I'll find out tomorrow at the store, bummer.

 

[waw74]

is it possible the touch surface is getting bumped?

also something i've realized, I'm also on the Time Warner 200/20, the ethernet port on the aTV4 is only 10/100, so I don't get full speed using wired. Although probably the only time that makes a noticeable difference is in the speed test app. as streaming videos will be less than 100

 

[nullman]

It is not my remote getting bumped, but I did wonder if it was some how emitting a pause on its own, until I realized the slight difference in behavior between manually pausing and this self-pausing (where I hear the audio quickly fadeout vs stop instantly). I can actually tell it's going to self-pause just before it does it based on the audio fadeout. I tried watching Vinyl last night on HBO Now and it must have done this 10 times during the 1hr episode. I'd say it happened every 5-10 minutes, but it can happen as soon as 1 min after I unpause it. It seems to happen more often listening to audio only as it can't get though a single song without pausing.

If it was the remote doing this it would also unpause, so I've left it sitting there after self-pausing and it never starts again. I have an appointment at the Apple Store this afternoon, so I'll see what they have to say. One other thing, it seems to have gotten progressively worse over the last few weeks. The first couple times it happened I thought it was my Internet or just some fluke, now it's barely useable.

 

[nullman]

I went to the Apple Store. They exchange the unit it for a new one after I went through the troubleshooting steps I tried. I got home with it, hooked it up and it's doing the same thing within a minute. It paused a song I was playing from iCloud that I know was done downloading. I have no idea what is happening. This new unit had tvOS 9.0, so I now know that it wasn't a software update that caused my issue. I did a restore to factory defaults and a manual setup, which downloaded the latest tvOS (9.1.1) and tried again, same thing. I can't even get through a song before it self-pauses.

One thing that is kind of interesting is when I go into Settings/Remotes and Devices/Bluetooth I sometimes see something listed there titled "HK BTA 10", which is not mine. I looked it up online and see it's a "Harman Kardon BTA 10". I wonder if a neighbor just recently got this and for some reason when it goes in/out of range the Apple TV pauses. Seems like it should not since I've not tried to pair or connect to this device, but really I am out of guesses as to what is going on. It used to work perfectly. I am going to take my Siri remote to work tomorrow and leave it there, just to be sure my remote is not somehow emitting a pause randomly. I'll use my iPhone 6's remote App to control the Apple TV and see what happens.

If anyone has any guesses/suggestions I am all ears.

EDIT: I just noticed if I press pause on the Siri remote the LED on the Apple TV goes dark for a second. So I started a song, and watched the LED. 30s in it paused, but the LED did not flash so I don't think it's my Siri remote either.

 

[kagharaht]

I went to the Apple Store. They exchange the unit it for a new one after I went through the troubleshooting steps I tried. I got home with it, hooked it up and it's doing the same thing within a minute. It paused a song I was playing from iCloud that I know was done downloading. I have no idea what is happening. This new unit had tvOS 9.0, so I now know that it wasn't a software update that caused my issue. I did a restore to factory defaults and a manual setup, which downloaded the latest tvOS (9.1.1) and tried again, same thing. I can't even get through a song before it self-pauses.

One thing that is kind of interesting is when I go into Settings/Remotes and Devices/Bluetooth I sometimes see something listed there titled "HK BTA 10", which is not mine. I looked it up online and see it's a "Harman Kardon BTA 10". I wonder if a neighbor just recently got this and for some reason when it goes in/out of range the Apple TV pauses. Seems like it should not since I've not tried to pair or connect to this device, but really I am out of guesses as to what is going on. It used to work perfectly. I am going to take my Siri remote to work tomorrow and leave it there, just to be sure my remote is not somehow emitting a pause randomly. I'll use my iPhone 6's remote App to control the Apple TV and see what happens.

If anyone has any guesses/suggestions I am all ears.

I've exchanged mine and gave up troubleshooting the same issues over and over again. Just wait if Apple decides to fix the glaring problems with ATV4. If they continue to ignore it, I'm moving on to another streaming device. No more ATV for me after this fiasco.

 

[nullman]

I've exchanged mine and gave up troubleshooting the same issues over and over again. Just wait if Apple decides to fix the glaring problems with ATV4. If they continue to ignore it, I'm moving on to another streaming device. No more ATV for me after this fiasco.

Have you been having this same issue? What baffles me is it worked perfectly for me for months, which is why I was sure it was suddenly some hardware failure, but that doesn't seem to be the case after exchanging it and having the same issue.

EDIT: Oh wow, I turned off AirPlay (which is on by default) in the menus and I'm suddenly no longer getting constant pausing!

 

[kagharaht]

Have you been having this same issue? What baffles me is it worked perfectly for me for months, which is why I was sure it was suddenly some hardware failure, but that doesn't seem to be the case after exchanging it and having the same issue.

EDIT: Oh wow, I turned off AirPlay (which is on by default) in the menus and I'm suddenly no longer getting constant pausing!

It shouldn't matter if on or off. Thats the point of this whole fiasco with quality. You have to constantly do workarounds and turn off stuff to make usable. Not perfectly usable, just usable.