I have encountered a strange issue when using Netflix on my Apple TV, and I'm wondering if anyone else has come across something similar. My wife and I have watched a few episodes of "Black Mirror" and each time the picture is somewhat jumpy, if that makes sense. Anytime there is movement or the camera pans away this occurs and it is very distracting. I have tested multiple other shows/movies and this doesn't happen. To make things even stranger, it seems that this issue only happens with British shows. I tested multiple BBC shows, as well as Netflix shows such as Black Mirror and The Fall and this issue occurs on all of them. If I stream them on my phone, iPad or fire stick, however, it works fine. I have spoken with a couple friends who do not have this issue with black mirror on their Apple TV. Anyone else experience something like this, or have any ideas as to why this is happening? Thanks in advance.
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Netflix Picture Issue
- Thread starter Mos Jeff
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All the Black Mirror episodes stream flawlessly on my ATV4. Wipe your ATV and set it up as new, if the issue remains -- contact AppleCare tech support. You could also reverse this and contact AppleCare tech support first, but they'll just tell you to set your ATV up as 'new' while you're on the call, or, instruct you to contact Netflix support. Good luck!!!
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All the Black Mirror episodes stream flawlessly on my ATV4. Wipe your ATV and set it up as new, if the issue remains -- contact AppleCare tech support. You could also reverse this and contact AppleCare tech support first, but they'll just tell you to set your ATV up as 'new' while you're on the call, or, instruct you to contact Netflix support. Good luck!!!
I was considering doing that, just don't have much hope it will resolve the issue being that mostly everything else on Netflix streams perfectly fine (minus black mirror and other BBC shows) and other apps such as hbo go also have no issues. I've actually never had any streaming issues on Netflix until starting black mirror and I've had my ATV4 for about a year. Thanks for the response.
Is there a Speedtest app for ATV? Just ran it on my iPad and its 29.69. I can confirm that my network solidly supports Netflix because I've been using it to watch multiple other shows/movies for quite some time, not to mention it streams flawlessly on my other devices. It's just a handful of shows that do not stream properly.
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Speedtest on ATV is 29.76
Before you wipe your ATV clean, uninstall Netflix, reboot and reinstall.
Do you have iussues with any other Netflix streams?
Do you have iussues with any other Netflix streams?
Already tried this last night. Like I said in the original post, strangely enough the only other streams I have issues with seem to be British, such as The Fall and all BBC shows. My wife seemed to notice this coincidence when both Black Mirror and The Fall were not streaming properly. So I googled British shows on Netflix and tested them all, and they all had this issue. Everything else works perfectly fine.
Is the Apple TV directly connected to your TV, or is it routed via a receiver or other equipment? What kind of a TV is it? Do you have another TV that you can connect it to directly to see if you get the same thing?
Does the issue reproduced streaming to your computer, assuming it supports the same resolution as your TV?
Have you tried changing cables? HDMI normally fails catastrophically so you know it, but ...
Does the issue reproduced streaming to your computer, assuming it supports the same resolution as your TV?
Have you tried changing cables? HDMI normally fails catastrophically so you know it, but ...
Assuming that you're in the US, and the issue affects only British shows, I'd suggest that what you're seeing as stuttering is the extra interpolated frames added to take 25p content to 30p. Try turning any smooth motion compensation crap off on your TV too. That can exacerbate it.
Not noticeable to a lot of people, but it bugs me!
Not noticeable to a lot of people, but it bugs me!
This is essentially what I was going to write, but you have the correct answer. It bugs me when people immediately jump to resetting hardware as the solution.
It's really complicated.
US content and TVs are 60Hz. UK content is 50Hz. The ATV4 in the USA is typically outputting 60Hz because that's what they expect the content to be and what they expect the TV to want.
So for content that isn't 60Hz like movies (24Hz) or UK content (25Hz and 50Hz), somewhere they have to repeat extra frames (or change the speed so there are no extra frames, but that's really rare these days). This can be done in a lot of places, and it is inconsistent: the source itself (the Netflix video files on their servers), the application (Netflix app), the hardware (ATV4), or the TV itself.
I don't see how turning off any frame interpolation/smoothing effect would fix this, but I guess it doesn't hurt to try.
What frustrates me is that I have a TV perfectly capable of 50Hz input and playback but somewhere else in the chain the 50Hz content is already forced to 60Hz, so I have the judder anyway.
US content and TVs are 60Hz. UK content is 50Hz. The ATV4 in the USA is typically outputting 60Hz because that's what they expect the content to be and what they expect the TV to want.
So for content that isn't 60Hz like movies (24Hz) or UK content (25Hz and 50Hz), somewhere they have to repeat extra frames (or change the speed so there are no extra frames, but that's really rare these days). This can be done in a lot of places, and it is inconsistent: the source itself (the Netflix video files on their servers), the application (Netflix app), the hardware (ATV4), or the TV itself.
I don't see how turning off any frame interpolation/smoothing effect would fix this, but I guess it doesn't hurt to try.
What frustrates me is that I have a TV perfectly capable of 50Hz input and playback but somewhere else in the chain the 50Hz content is already forced to 60Hz, so I have the judder anyway.
Using U.S. Netflix on my AT4 I haven't seen any issues watching 2 seasons of The Fall on my U.S. TV. I would assume shows which are created overseas would be converted by Netflix to a format which is compatible for televisions in the local market, wherever that may be.
That conversion is actually the problem. How you fit 50 frames into 60 frames? You repeat 10 of the frames, but not the other 40. Obviously the result will be uneven and not smooth.
A lot of people don't notice the problem, so assume there is no problem. Others are very sensitive to it.
Personally, I usually don't notice unless the scene has a very smooth panning, where the judder becomes very apparent. The easiest content to spot judder is a BBC show like Doctor Who with very consistent panning such as the credit roll.
Been traveling and haven't been able to check up on responses or mess with anything else on my ATV since my original post. If this were the case, though, then why does it stream fine on my fire stick? I really can't see how someone wouldn't notice this as it is very distracting. It's almost as if there's a lag whenever the camera moves. At this point I will have to just defer to my fire stick for black mirror viewing. Thanks for your response!
On my TV under Settings -> Audio and Video -> Resolution I can set the output to 1080p 50Hz or 60Hz. If your television accepts 50Hz input try setting this to 50Hz and see if the problem is still there.