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

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!
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I have 2 x Apple TV 4Ks and 2 x 4th gen. ATVs. Both of the 4th gen. ATV remotes have worked perfectly since day 1.

Of the 2 ATV 4Ks - one is connected to a 4K HDR Sony TV (2016 XBR 65") and the other is connected to a 55" Panasonic 1080p TV. The only situation in which I've had remote issues like you describe (which I've experienced exactly as you describe) is the one connected to the 4K Sony.

Specifically, I've had to do the following to get normal/acceptable performance out of the remote:

Move the ATV to be FARTHER AWAY from other electronic devices inside the same TV console cabinet (for me: 6th gen Airport Extreme base station, Sony BluRay player, cable modem, and UPS backup for the ATV and Cable modem | Bose SoundTouch 300 soundbar on top of the media cabinet).


I've read other people have had improved results by upgrading their HDMI cable and/or using Chroma 4:2:0 instead of 4:4:2. For me, it seemed to be some sort of Bluetooth frequency interference that was resolved by having more distance between the ATV and the other devices in the same media console/cabinet.

FWIW I am using a new Amazon branded high speed 15 ft. HDMI cable and Chroma 4:2:0 (I can't go shorter HDMI because the cables are hidden running through the wall). I also have tested with the ATV iPhone app and Apple Watch (series 2) and both of those have consistently worked w/no problems.

Based on my experience, I think this is a Bluetooth interference issue specific to the ATV 4K when pushing a 4:4:2 4K signal. On the Panasonic 1080p with the other ATV 4K - I have NEVER ONCE had remote issues.

Good luck - interested to hear what resolves the issue for you.
 
Update. After having improved the remote responsiveness with my Apple TV 4K and 33 ft HDMI cable by changing from Chroma 4:4:4 to 4:2:0, I then mounted the Apple TV behind my TV and switched to the 6 ft Belkin HDMI cable sold at the Apple Store, which many have said fixes remote lag, but now my lag is actually worse, even with Chroma at 4:2:0. I think it’s because the Bluetooth signal is having a tough time reaching my Apple TV mounted behind my TV. I think the Bluetooth radio in the Apple TV and / or remote frankly just sucks and is easily affected by multiple types of interference or even objects in between the remote and Apple TV. Kind of a bummer because I have a very clean setup with just my TV mounted on the wall and nothing else, so my options for a low lag remote is only to break my clean setup and have the Apple TV sticking out from behind the TV I guess since the Apple TV didn’t play all that well with my 33 ft HDMI cable running through my wall either.

Edit: This seems to support my hypothesis: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8079528
 
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Mine was super laggy as well. I had googled something, and it suggested turning off the microphone in settings. That sped up the scrolling significantly to the point I don't notice a lag on a regular basis.

Edit: But this is pretty ridiculous that we need to essentially hack the options to get the scrolling to work smoothly.
 
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...


Excellent explanation. It’s strange that the certifications for cables, etc., either aren’t followed or enforced. Shielding shouldn’t be an option you get with some cables and not with others. People complain when Apple forces you to use their cables, sometimes rightly, but when 3rd party manufacturers get sloppy and things stop working, it just adds legitimacy to Apple-branded-only cable debates.

It also seems like there could be a foot long female to male connector (with excellent shielding) that could act as a buffer for crappy cables or long cables (like yours) that can’t be replaced.
 
Another update. After encountering even worse remote lag when I mounted the Apple TV behind my TV, I had to try something else. I ended up flipping the Apple TV over so the top is away from the wall (I had originally mounted with the top towards the wall) and I also moved the Apple TV about a foot closer to the edge of the TV, so it’s only a few inches from the edge of the TV now, but still behind. Not sure which of those two changes helped, maybe both, but the remote seems to be functioning normally now.

It’s funny that Apple first touted the Bluetooth / Siri remote as an improvement over the old IR remote because it didn’t require line of sight, when in actuality, the Bluetooth radios are so weak that it still requires near line of sight and well shielded cables to keep remote lag down. More of a sidegrade really. I hope Apple improves this in the next Apple TV.
 
Does anyone like the location of the volume buttons on the wrong side of the remote? Any tech reason why they went against all history to relocate them?

The remote works well - about six months in.
 
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