New Apple TV Owner isn't thrilled

[2010mini]

It all depends on the video setting you're using. I'm on a 2Mbps cable connection and I never have any problems. But I use the 480p setting with iTunes and the low-quality setting on my Netflix account.

I should mention that I'm talking about Netflix Canada, which had to add a third, lower-quality setting because a lot of Canadians either don't have access to high speed connections or have decent enough speeds with very low monthly data caps. I'm on a 35GB monthly cap myself. That's not a typo.

Playback Settings

• High (best video quality, up to 3 GB per hour for HD, 7 GB per hour for Ultra HD)
• Medium (standard video quality, up to 0.7 GB per hour)
• Low (basic video quality, up to 0.3 GB per hour)

And before anyone says that 0.3GB per hour is useless, keep in mind that not everyone has a 30"+ screen. I'm using my Apple TV with a 23" widescreen computer monitor. The only time I really see compression artifacts is when there's ocean waves, trees moving in the wind, that kind of thing. And even then it's not that obvious.

Wow.

With those speeds it sounds like you live in a undeveloped third world nation. I thought Canada had better broadband access than that.

 

[26139]

Huh?

Wow.

With those speeds it sounds like you live in a undeveloped third world nation. I thought Canada had better broadband access than that.

It's expensive to bury cables across large regions of land, which is why the U.S. lags behind many other countries in ISP speed.

I'm betting much of the U.S., particularly rural, is in the same boat.

 

[b0fh666]

tv usually works just fine, but there is something that makes me want to throw it off the window : if i start to stream a movie from my computer (located far away from the damn tv, @ back house) and the tv set is off it craps out saying some idiocy about 'HDCP' (whatever that is).

then i need to go to my room where it is, turn on the tv, restart the apple tv, go back to the back house, restart the stream, go back to my room watch it.

retarded POS.

 

[fivetoedbear]

I'm having consistently bad luck with my Apple TV.

An example: Family is coming over, so I rent a movie from iTunes. Apple TV takes forever to load it, we need to back up a bit because somebody was out of the room, look at the spinner for a while, and then it announces that it's unable to play the video at this time.

Reboot the Apple TV, the router, and the cable modem, and still, after long waits for the spinner, it refuses to play. I don't understand why Netflix or Amazon can show things instantly, but Apple has to be Authorizing... for several minutes.

Eventually, since five people are wanting to eat their pizza and watch a movie, I rent the movie from Amazon and play it with my Roku, which of course works perfectly.

I've had the problems repeatedly since I bought the Apple TV last summer. I don't think it's my ISP or my 50 mbit cable service, since I can watch Netflix or Amazon on other boxes just fine. And there are other problems, sometimes the remote app won't work, or it can't play my iTunes Match music.

So yeah, I think the Apple TV is sometimes flaky for some people. It's been such a disappointment that I just buy all my TV/movie media from Amazon, which plays nicely on my Roku or even my smart tv, and on my iPad.

 

[2010mini]

It's expensive to bury cables across large regions of land, which is why the U.S. lags behind many other countries in ISP speed.

I'm betting much of the U.S., particularly rural, is in the same boat.

Where i live cable are on poles. And yes it is quite expensive to build out broadband....but i am surprised that Canada isn't investing more into building out its broadband. God knows you aren't wasting $500+ billion on your military each year. So you should have some extra money to throw around. 😛

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I'm having consistently bad luck with my Apple TV.

An example: Family is coming over, so I rent a movie from iTunes. Apple TV takes forever to load it, we need to back up a bit because somebody was out of the room, look at the spinner for a while, and then it announces that it's unable to play the video at this time.

Reboot the Apple TV, the router, and the cable modem, and still, after long waits for the spinner, it refuses to play. I don't understand why Netflix or Amazon can show things instantly, but Apple has to be Authorizing... for several minutes.

Eventually, since five people are wanting to eat their pizza and watch a movie, I rent the movie from Amazon and play it with my Roku, which of course works perfectly.

I've had the problems repeatedly since I bought the Apple TV last summer. I don't think it's my ISP or my 50 mbit cable service, since I can watch Netflix or Amazon on other boxes just fine. And there are other problems, sometimes the remote app won't work, or it can't play my iTunes Match music.

So yeah, I think the Apple TV is sometimes flaky for some people. It's been such a disappointment that I just buy all my TV/movie media from Amazon, which plays nicely on my Roku or even my smart tv, and on my iPad.

It could be your Apple TV. Or it could be other factors.

-Is it new? if so, return it and get another one.
-if not new, what version iOS is it running?
-You didn't state if you are using wifi or LAN

 

[BarkingGhost]

All I can say is that when I want to watch a movie I have it on Blu-ray.

BTW, I own multiple ATV, but that is another story. As for ATV3 issues in streaming content ... I've had issues all during 2014 with Apple Trailers app on ATV3. I do not think this was Apple's fault, but rather the relationship and abuse by service providers that stand between the customer (me) and the content provider (Apple).

Do I believe that my ISP is targeting competitive content providers? Hell yes! I can watch the same exact movie trailer on YouTube without any issues but I cannot on Apple Trailers app. This is using the same home network, same ISP, but just different target content provider.

 

[JWKessler]

So, wouldn't a fairer title for your thread be "user of poor ISP isn't thrilled"?

I'm discussing the overall experience, which includes both the Apple TV bit and the internet connection. The best box in the world is pretty useless unless you have a reliable connection and it's hard to tell if you have a suitable connection until you buy the hardware and try to use it.

Maybe Apple should put out an app that one could run on a Mac or PC that would thoroughly evaluate your internet service and offer advice before making a purchase. I'd also have liked it better if the Apple TV would have offered a bit of information on my network connection when I ran the test.

I also wish Apple would be a bit more forthcoming about broadband requirements for satisfactory service. Their specs are quite devoid of useful info other then you need a broadband connection.

That aside, today (Saturday) the system has been running flawlessly. I wonder if I was seeing a traffic problem during the week or some temporary glitch.

 

[Thekarens]

Just looked up my ISP (TDS) on DSL reports. Most of the reviews are pretty old, going back 5 years or so, but none of them were particularly positive. In fact most report much worse performance than I'm seeing.



It seems to me that until links to the outside world are up to it, streaming media is not going to fly as anything other then a toy to tinker with.

I don't use an Apple TV, instead I use a Roku and ditched cable a couple years ago. I have had a problem so fat and all my media is streamed. I don't use a DVD or CD player.

 

[JWKessler]

Have you unplugged your modem for a minute and let it reboot? That will help from time to time or call your ISP and request that they do it through their system. Perhaps upgrading your service will eliminate the lag.

Actually, Friday night my internet pretty much died totally. I power cycled the modem and it came back giving me a blinding 0.64 Mbps speed. Later in the evening it was back to normal or maybe even a bit better than normal.

Saturday my ATV was working flawlessly for the most part.

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This is a 100% true statement. Using an Apple TV with a relatively slow broadband connection is an extremely frustrating experience.

If you are unable to sustain speeds above 10 Mbps consistently you are going to always be fighting with buffering and related performance issues.

If at all possible I would suggest trying the device on a faster connection to rule out the possibility anything is wrong with the unit itself.

Good info. My connection normally runs a bit over 11 Mbps but can bobble around a bit. I'm unwilling to cough up still more loot for a faster connection, even if one was offered in my rural area.

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Understood. In that case the only viable option (if you want to continue to use an Apple TV) is to download the movies/videos to your computer in advance and when they are fully downloaded stream them over your home network to the Apple TV. Obviously, this eliminates most of the convenience that goes along with the device.

While DSL is still the only option for some users the technology is really fading fast in terms of its viability to keep up with the needs of today's users and streaming video. For web and email its usually fine and anything beyond that is a stretch and can be pretty frustrating.

I switched from Cable to DSL a few years ago due to the poor reliability of my cable service (frequent outages) and TDS kept pestering me with offers of better service for less money. It has served me well up till now as a connection for my computers and iPads.

The local Cable company offers a 15 Mbps service for about $10/month more. If I can't get DSL to work I may go back to them.

One valid complaint I can make with Apple is that it seems to be impossible to find a recommendation for a minimum broadband speed. I looked and looked and finally decided the only way to find out was to test it.

I like the idea of renting movies vs buying them, otherwise the idea of downloading them onto my Mac from the iTunes store would nicely solve the problem.

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It all depends on the video setting you're using. I'm on a 2Mbps cable connection and I never have any problems. But I use the 480p setting with iTunes and the low-quality setting on my Netflix account.

I'm using my ATV in a home theater with a projector (720p) and a 104" screen. It's HD or nothing for me.

 

[JWKessler]

Thanks for all the advice and stories

I'd just like to take a moment to thank everyone who responded to my tales of woe and intrigue. The advice was very helpful and the reports of other users helps me unravel my own situation. I'll be trying out your ideas where ever practical.

 

[Yvan256]

Wow.

With those speeds it sounds like you live in a undeveloped third world nation. I thought Canada had better broadband access than that.

The monthly quotas are all too real with some ISPs, however keep in mind I have the slowest possible connection available to keep the monthly cost down. They don't even offer 2Mbps anymore, I think the lowest is now 5Mbps or even 8Mbps.

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You watch 480p with artifacts on a 23" widescreen monitor?

Yikes, the capable resolution of that screen is likely far above 1080p.

That would drive me NUTS.

Well, I think it's 480p. I'm not sure, the Netflix setting only talks about the average data required per hour. It could be 720p, I don't know.

As for my 23" LCD, why would it be "likely far above 1080p"? Most of the LCDs are 1920x1080 these days unless you choose a high-end, costly monitor.

 

[26139]

The monthly quotas are all too real with some ISPs, however keep in mind I have the slowest possible connection available to keep the monthly cost down. They don't even offer 2Mbps anymore, I think the lowest is now 5Mbps or even 8Mbps.

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Well, I think it's 480p. I'm not sure, the Netflix setting only talks about the average data required per hour. It could be 720p, I don't know.

As for my 23" LCD, why would it be "likely far above 1080p"? Most of the LCDs are 1920x1080 these days unless you choose a high-end, costly monitor.

Huh, every 20" or above computer monitor I've ever had are at least 1080p, have been for years.

I guess we buy/use different kinds of monitors.

 

[Yvan256]

Huh, every 20" or above computer monitor I've ever had are at least 1080p, have been for years.

I guess we buy/use different kinds of monitors.

Here's a list of monitors that are available in stores right now. In the sub-200$ monitors, there's about half that are 1920x1080 but the other half are only 1600x900.

And there's a difference between "1080p" and "far above 1080p" which implies something beyond 1920x1080.

 

[26139]

Duuuuuuuuude

Here's a list of monitors that are available in stores right now. In the sub-200$ monitors, there's about half that are 1920x1080 but the other half are only 1600x900.

And there's a difference between "1080p" and "far above 1080p" which implies something beyond 1920x1080.

Great. I don't buy sub-$200 monitors. Let it go, man.

 

[nclangeek]

10Mpbs is fine for streaming

I have a work from home job, I have 3 computers online at all times and can still stream Netflix or Hulu fine direct to TV, computer or ATV.

10mpbs DSL is all I can get here - I'm on the list for faster.

Anyway, I read all these posts about 10mpbs being an issue and I've not encountered that problem.

Network is: Centurylink 10mps DSL, centurylink dsl router, airport express.

 

[oneshotpro]

I occasionally get the "This movie will be viewable in 20 hrs etc" but usually only takes 5-10 minutes before playing and then it's fine. I assume its apples network/or cable throttling streaming....

 

[JWKessler]

tv usually works just fine, but there is something that makes me want to throw it off the window : if i start to stream a movie from my computer (located far away from the damn tv, @ back house) and the tv set is off it craps out saying some idiocy about 'HDCP' (whatever that is).

then i need to go to my room where it is, turn on the tv, restart the apple tv, go back to the back house, restart the stream, go back to my room watch it.

retarded POS.

It's a content protection system that occasionally falsely detects a violation. I'm a subscriber to Dish Network and even though I've never seen it, folks on the Dish discussion boards sometimes report getting HDCP errors. Copy protection systems have historically been a pain for end users.

http://www.digital-cp.com/

 

[naples98]

What are you using for a DNS server? I know OpenDNS has caused performance issues for Apple TV users. Even if you don't use OpenDNS, the default DNS servers provided by your ISP can still cause problems.

How does OpenDNS or other DNS servers cause performance issues with Apple TV?

 

[b0fh666]

It's a content protection system that occasionally falsely detects a violation. I'm a subscriber to Dish Network and even though I've never seen it, folks on the Dish discussion boards sometimes report getting HDCP errors. Copy protection systems have historically been a pain for end users.

http://www.digital-cp.com/

haha so ironic... last time i got this was trying to stream a torrent'd movie.

effective, it seems... 😛

 

[From A Buick 8]

I used to spit and curse at my ISP weekly, if not daily, with unreliable speeds, dropouts, disconnections etc. All of it went away when I gave up on all the £15 routers they given me over the years and paid for an Airport Extreme. Expensive maybe, but I've had to reboot it about once in two years (aside from firmware updates). Apple TV is far from 100% reliable, but since the router switch I don't recall ever having a problem streaming a movie (we watch something on Netflix weekly, and get an iTunes rental about monthly). Our connection on speed tests is usually around 13-18Mbps.

I have wanted to go with an Airport Extreme, I need more than 3 lan ports though. I use a Netgear router and my ISP is 10 Mps. We used to have 20 Mps but the price went up so I moved to 10, I can say that we notice some issues (more spinning beach balls and sometimes low quality Netflix streaming) but overall it has not been to bad.

 

[CFreymarc]

I keep seeing how people are getting rid of cable or satellite service and moving to a Roku or ATV type device, but so far I'm not buying it. It seems as if this technology isn't quite ready yet.

The problem is not Apple TV but your DSL line. Either boost it up to a 20 or 30 Mps inbound or get another service such as a cable modem or fiber link.

I've know of real estate deals breaking due to poor performance of the local ISPs and what service can get to the house. At times, the real estate agent will say anything about digital services to close the deal.

 

[Sgtarky]

I have a work from home job, I have 3 computers online at all times and can still stream Netflix or Hulu fine direct to TV, computer or ATV.

10mpbs DSL is all I can get here - I'm on the list for faster.

Anyway, I read all these posts about 10mpbs being an issue and I've not encountered that problem.

Network is: Centurylink 10mps DSL, centurylink dsl router, airport express.

I have a 10mb cable connection, 801.11ac router I rarely have dropouts on appletv.I mostly use it for netflix never any drop outs there. and sometimes I have another device streaming from netflix. Now I did get some drop outs from ABCnow app, but I think it was ABC issue not appletv

 

[unplugme71]

Been using ATV3 since it was released. No problems streaming on cable or fiber. I'd recommend at least 5Mb/s connection.

 

[brentsg]

My mom has no issues with Apple TV or VUDU and I think she has basic 5Mb/s cable. You just need consistent performance and no ISP shenanigans.

 

[JWKessler]

Maybe I was too quick to judge?

Since my disappointing experience with my new Apple TV and my flaky ISP, things seem to have settled down. Lately my speed is consistently hitting 10 to 12 Mbps and the few times I've had a chance to test my streaming it seems to be working well. I think my ISP had some temporary problems that were unfortunately timed to the arrival of my new toy.

I'm going to try to rent a movie tomorrow and see how that goes.

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I have wanted to go with an Airport Extreme, I need more than 3 lan ports though. I use a Netgear router and my ISP is 10 Mps. We used to have 20 Mps but the price went up so I moved to 10, I can say that we notice some issues (more spinning beach balls and sometimes low quality Netflix streaming) but overall it has not been to bad.

Ethernet switches are pretty cheap and reliable. You plug one into one of the LAN ports on your router and it gives you four ports (or more if you chose a bigger unit) out. I have a couple of them plus an old Belkin WiFi router that I use as a WiFi access port in another part of the house and as a third ethernet switch.