Netflix Picture Issue

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!!!

 

What does speedtest on your AppleTV when this happens? Can you confirm that you're network solidly supports Netflix?

 

Before you wipe your ATV clean, uninstall Netflix, reboot and reinstall.

Do you have iussues with any other Netflix streams?

 

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 ...

 

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!

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.