Netflix now serving low bitrate, crappy video stream when ATV is outputting 720p

[zorinlynx]

I noticed this last weekend, and confirmed it this weekend.

I sometimes use my ATV4 with a 720p projector. Before, I'd get a flawless video stream from Netflix regardless of whether the ATV was outputting 720p or 1080p. Now when the ATV4 is outputting 720p, I get a low bitrate stream full of blocking artifacts. Ugh.

I solved it for the moment by forcing the ATV4 to output 1080p60, but my projector's downscaler doesn't produce as high quality an image as when fed a native 720p signal. Granted, it's better than the ugly low bit rate stream, but I'd much rather just feed the projector native 720p.

Anyone know of possible workarounds for this?

 

[Michelasso]

I solved it for the moment by forcing the ATV4 to output 1080p60, but my projector's downscaler doesn't produce as high quality an image as when fed a native 720p signal. Granted, it's better than the ugly low bit rate stream, but I'd much rather just feed the projector native 720p.

That's bizarre because downscaling a higher resolution image is an antialiasing technique (Supersampling). The image when streaming at 1080p with a 720p display should actually look better than a 720p stream. Not to mention that it also has a higher bitrate.

Still be aware that Netflix uses a dynamic bitrate. It may start low and then raise to the max bitrate (for that resolution) in some cases even after a minute, depending on many factors (but mostly network and CPU speed). Maybe try to reboot the ATV and the router.