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Is the ATV 4K remote or did I get a bad one?

Donnation

Donnation

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Original poster
Nov 2, 2014
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Wow this thing is absolutely awful. I upgraded from the 4th generation Apple TV to a Apple TV 4K when we updated our TV. Our 4th generation Apple TV worked flawlessly and the remote worked perfectly. This one is awful. It constantly lags, jumps all over the place, and is generally unusable. Just looking for some feedback from others if their remote works and if I just have a bad one. Thanks!
 
The remote can become "jumpy" and inconsistent if the trackpad surface is dirty. Try cleaning with a VERY slightly damp paper towel while the ATV and the TV are OFF. Dampen it with rubbing alcohol. Afterwards, dry it with a clean paper towel. A lot of grime can accumulate on the pad from dirty fingers. If that doesn't work, take it to the Apple Store - there have been a few lemons in the field - they may replace it.
 
jeepw5 said:
The remote can become "jumpy" and inconsistent if the trackpad surface is dirty. Try cleaning with a VERY slightly damp paper towel while the ATV and the TV are OFF. Dampen it with rubbing alcohol. Afterwards, dry it with a clean paper towel. A lot of grime can accumulate on the pad from dirty fingers. If that doesn't work, take it to the Apple Store - there have been a few lemons in the field - they may replace it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. Its definitely not a dirty trackpad. Its something inherently wrong with this remote. I think I'm going to have to have it looked at. Thanks anyway though.
 
Donnation said:
Thanks for the reply. Its definitely not a dirty trackpad. Its something inherently wrong with this remote. I think I'm going to have to have it looked at. Thanks anyway though.
Click to expand...

I had the same problem, what fixed it for me was buying a decent HDMI cable, I bought the Belkin one from Apple. Might be £30 but it stopped all issues I was having, including the laggy remote. Been a couple of weeks now and never had an issue with remote lag since.
 
Donnation said:
Wow this thing is absolutely awful. I upgraded from the 4th generation Apple TV to a Apple TV 4K when we updated our TV. Our 4th generation Apple TV worked flawlessly and the remote worked perfectly. This one is awful. It constantly lags, jumps all over the place, and is generally unusable. Just looking for some feedback from others if their remote works and if I just have a bad one. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yes agreed. The move from a perfectly fine ATV4 to ATV4k has introduced all sorts of issues. The remote is just one.
 
I had this issue but the one thing that did resolve it was changing the Chroma from 4:4:4 to 4:2:0.
Really don’t know why 4:4:4 caused the remote to be pretty much unresponsive but changing the setting fixed it for me so happy enough.
 
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Have the same problems with the remote but using the apple watch remote works fine.
 
My remote was good to begin with but during the past week it needed charging every other day. Yesterday I had enough and took my 4K ATV back to Curry's. They gave me a brand new unopened box on the spot.
 
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Yeah, it sucks. I immediately bought the old remote which works fine and is just a more sensible remote, period. It’s like Apple forgot this is something that needs to be designed around the reality that it will be used by your hands, in the dark.
 
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my ATV4k remote has just sudenly stopped working, My unit is on the Beta Updates, I thought it ws just depleted but i charged it and it still does not work, anyone else have their go dead
 
Scarpad said:
my ATV4k remote has just sudenly stopped working, My unit is on the Beta Updates, I thought it ws just depleted but i charged it and it still does not work, anyone else have their go dead
Click to expand...

This is one reason I don’t use Betas on your main device, if an issue arises your screwed until it gets rectified.
You could try unpairing remote or factory reset the Apple TV to see if that gets it working again.
 
Figured out the problem I was having. My apple tv is in a closet behind my tv, about 20ft from my chair. The apple tv remote was very inconsistent and would connect and disconnect randomly but the watch worked fine. When I open the closet door the remote works fine. The bluetooth signal on the remote just isn't strong enough. I believe the watch connects over wifi and the the router has a better antenna or stronger signal.

Never had any trouble with the Roku remote, but that''s wifi too.
 
DEFINITELY something seriously wrong with the remote with Apple TV 4K. I tried 3 in the Apple Store, Covent Garden, London in December and all 3 were laggy as hell.
Mines the same. Really don't know what Apple have done to ruin this. It's cheaper on the Apple Store at £59 instead of the old remote at £79, so whether it's cheaper components I don't know. It's just very very 'unApple'.
It needs to be addressed immediately if not soon. It's a disgrace at present - and that's coming from a real ATV FanBoi!
 
BODYBUILDERPAUL said:
DEFINITELY something seriously wrong with the remote with Apple TV 4K. I tried 3 in the Apple Store, Covent Garden, London in December and all 3 were laggy as hell.
Mines the same. Really don't know what Apple have done to ruin this. It's cheaper on the Apple Store at £59 instead of the old remote at £79, so whether it's cheaper components I don't know. It's just very very 'unApple'.
It needs to be addressed immediately if not soon. It's a disgrace at present - and that's coming from a real ATV FanBoi!
Click to expand...

It’s not the remote though, I’ve paired my ATV4 remote which works perfectly to my ATV4K and still had the same issues I was having previously.
Paired the ATV4K remote to ATV4 and that worked perfectly so it must be something with the ATV4K itself that’s causing the issue.
 
so, was coming here to try and find if others have had this issue.. well duh.

So, what does one do? I find SOMETIMES A reboot helps, but doesn't solve the problem. I have tried different HDMI cables but that hasn't helped in my case.

it's so bad, I can't get it to land on the icon I want, and sometimes it won't even launch the icon I want. Part of me was wondering if the ATV4K had been hacked. It's also now on a beta build, but that didn't help.?

Warranty return? Are there good and bad remotes?
 
I've had the same issue - the thing i've found works consistently is unpairing and repairing the remote (menu + volume up) after it pairs up again it works like it's supposed to.
 
Donnation said:
Wow this thing is absolutely awful. I upgraded from the 4th generation Apple TV to a Apple TV 4K when we updated our TV. Our 4th generation Apple TV worked flawlessly and the remote worked perfectly. This one is awful. It constantly lags, jumps all over the place, and is generally unusable. Just looking for some feedback from others if their remote works and if I just have a bad one. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Apple doesn't sell the 4th gen. remote anymore, so yours stuck with the 4k remote... I had to get a replacement remote for my 4th gen, and the only option was the 4K remote.

Funny, Apple has two sections on the store accessories, one 4thGen, and the other for 4K, but BOTH sections have the same remote. (I look for the white circle round the MENU key)
 
If it wasn't for the volume control, I probably wouldn't even bother with the new remote. The old silver one is better for normal usage. But the volume control is so useful when watching a movie.
 
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tivoboy said:
so, was coming here to try and find if others have had this issue.. well duh.

So, what does one do? I find SOMETIMES A reboot helps, but doesn't solve the problem. I have tried different HDMI cables but that hasn't helped in my case.

it's so bad, I can't get it to land on the icon I want, and sometimes it won't even launch the icon I want. Part of me was wondering if the ATV4K had been hacked. It's also now on a beta build, but that didn't help.?

Warranty return? Are there good and bad remotes?
Click to expand...

My remote was equally troublesome and towards the end, needed charging every other day. Since I got a replacement unit 2 months ago, I haven't had to charge it.

Don't waste time or sweat over it. Return it.
 
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-Gonzo- said:
I had this issue but the one thing that did resolve it was changing the Chroma from 4:4:4 to 4:2:0.
Really don’t know why 4:4:4 caused the remote to be pretty much unresponsive but changing the setting fixed it for me so happy enough.
Click to expand...

This worked for me as well. I just moved to a new house and had to switch from a 6 ft HDMI cable to a (very expensive) 33 ft HDMI cable that runs through a conduit in the wall. Started having way more remote lag until I changed Chroma from 4:4:4 to 4:2:0. I noticed on various forums that some people fixed the issue by buying a different HDMI cable. That wasn’t really an option for me because 30+ ft HDMI cables that support 4K HDR reliably are few and far between, and the one I got is supposedly the best.

I read that it’s possible for HDMI cables to put out interference in the 2.4 GHz spectrum, which is the same spectrum Bluetooth uses. I suspect when you are maxing out the bandwidth of HDMI 2.0 (4K60 4:4:4 is very close to the 18 Gbps cap), there is a large amount of interference being put out. While some cables are better at shielding this interference than others, I suspect a flaw in the design of the Apple TV 4K makes its Bluetooth radio especially susceptible to this interference. Maybe they put the Bluetooth chip too near the HDMI port in the device or something. Or maybe they just need to switch to a Wi-Fi remote. Probably the only reason the old Apple TV didn’t have this problem is because it was pushing much less data over the HDMI port, which created less interference to mess with the Bluetooth remote signal.
 
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For those with apple tv remote issues I would suggest trying a repair of the remote to the box.

  1. Point your remote three inches away from your Apple TV. Then press and hold your remote's Menu and Volume Up buttons for five seconds. If asked, place your remote on top of Apple TV to complete pairing.
You may have interference or some other odd situation.

I have two apple tv 4k's and one apple tv 4 and have no issues with any of the remotes. I prefer the white ring because I can feel it in the dark and orient the remote accordingly, but otherwise have seen no differences in the two.
 
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gtg465x said:
This worked for me as well. I just moved to a new house and had to switch from a 6 ft HDMI cable to a (very expensive) 33 ft HDMI cable that runs through a conduit in the wall. Started having way more remote lag until I changed Chroma from 4:4:4 to 4:2:0. I noticed on various forums that some people fixed the issue by buying a different HDMI cable. That wasn’t really an option for me because 30+ ft HDMI cables that support 4K HDR reliably are few and far between, and the one I got is supposedly the best.

I read that it’s possible for HDMI cables to put out interference in the 2.4 GHz spectrum, which is the same spectrum Bluetooth uses. I suspect when you are maxing out the bandwidth of HDMI 2.0 (4K60 4:4:4 is very close to the 18 Gbps cap), there is a large amount of interference being put out. While some cables are better at shielding this interference than others, I suspect a flaw in the design of the Apple TV 4K makes its Bluetooth radio especially susceptible to this interference. Maybe they put the Bluetooth chip too near the HDMI port in the device or something. Or maybe they just need to switch to a Wi-Fi remote. Probably the only reason the old Apple TV didn’t have this problem is because it was pushing much less data over the HDMI port, which created less interference to mess with the Bluetooth remote signal.
Click to expand...

Thanks that’s quite some useful information which could very well explain what the issue is for me.
 
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