Is my 1st Gen Apple TV4K slowly dying?

[eclipse01]

I"ve had the same setup/HDMI cables for years, all of a sudden i'm getting weird video glitches and errors in apps (mostly Disney+ and DirecTV apps).

Disney will try to play a video and display an error saying there is an "HDCP issue"
Directv will sometimes go pixelated then display and error saying video can't be played.

issues can usually be resolved by restarting the device.

Also, since i'm sure many will say its my HDMI cable, i'm using a Monoprice 4K certified high speed hdmi cable (4K60hz, 18gps)

any ideas?

 

[Juicy Box]

A couple years ago I was having a lot of issues with my first generation Apple TV 4K, These issues eventually got to the point where sometimes it wouldn’t boot and then eventually it just stopped booting altogether.

I couldn’t get it in recovery mode, but I kept on trying over a few days and eventually I got end of recovery mode and factory reset, and it has been running fine ever since.

A sidenote, not sure if this is your issue, but I was consistently getting out of storage messages, and I’m not sure if this was causing it.

Other side note, there is a fan in the Apple TV 4K 1st and 2nd Gen, maybe consider blowing out the insides.

 

[eclipse01]

A couple years ago I was having a lot of issues with my first generation Apple TV 4K, These issues eventually got to the point where sometimes it wouldn’t boot and then eventually it just stopped booting altogether.

I couldn’t get it in recovery mode, but I kept on trying over a few days and eventually I got end of recovery mode and factory reset, and it has been running fine ever since.

A sidenote, not sure if this is your issue, but I was consistently getting out of storage messages, and I’m not sure if this was causing it.

Other side note, there is a fan in the Apple TV 4K 1st and 2nd Gen, maybe consider blowing out the insides.

ok, yeah that is a good idea...I will do that

 

[Shanghaichica]

I"ve had the same setup/HDMI cables for years, all of a sudden i'm getting weird video glitches and errors in apps (mostly Disney+ and DirecTV apps).

Disney will try to play a video and display an error saying there is an "HDCP issue"
Directv will sometimes go pixelated then display and error saying video can't be played.

issues can usually be resolved by restarting the device.

Also, since i'm sure many will say its my HDMI cable, i'm using a Monoprice 4K certified high speed hdmi cable (4K60hz, 18gps)

any ideas?

I got this Disney+ error with my old TV and Apple TV 4K 1st gen. Some time later the last HDMI port stopped working and I had to replace the TV. The same Apple TV is now working perfectly with another TV.

 

[eclipse01]

I got this Disney+ error with my old TV and Apple TV 4K 1st gen. Some time later the last HDMI port stopped working and I had to replace the TV. The same Apple TV is now working perfectly with another TV.

hmmm... interesting, that will be the next thing I try. I blew out the unit pretty well with air and it has not done it in like 5 days...fingers crossed.

 

[OverTheHill]

Hate to say cable, but a lot of times this is the issue. Try the Belkin. It solved my problem after I had a similar problem with rather expensive Audioquest cables. Perplexing to be sure.

 

[Unami]

A sidenote, not sure if this is your issue, but I was consistently getting out of storage messages, and I’m not sure if this was causing it.

Full storage definitely causes problems. I notice games getting slower and laggier or even crashing when the storage approaches its limits (e.g. only a few free GB left, according to some third party app) - imho apple should make the automatic storage management so that nearly full storage won't affect performance. Or give us some insight / management options.

I'd try resetting the TV to factory settings to reclaim some free space. (and blowing out the insides might help as well)

 

[Starfia]

A vague recollection tells me that HDCP – weirdly and unfortunately – is a form of copy protection that sort of has to be built into all participating components. That notion is probably not exactly right, but intuition tells me the problem could just as easily lie with the cable or the TV than with the Apple TV. I'd start by trying another cable if you haven't done.