TWalkerPolk

Q: Apple TV HD Rental Streaming Problem

I wanted to create this topic to ask if others are running into the same issues I am with streaming rented HD movies. I go to play the rented HD movie and am transferred to a screen that says "Loading...." for about a minute or two. Then, that message is replaced with one that says "Ready to play in [xxx] minutes"...with horribly long times listed (my movie was rented last night, and as of this evening, it shows "Ready to play in 232 minutes").

This seems like a MAJOR flaw with the Apple TV. I have no problem viewing YouTube, HD Netflix movies, HD trailers, etc. I have even been able to watch an HD TV show rental within about 5 mins of selecting it. Seems like there may be a major flaw in the streaming process for HD Movie rentals over the Apple TV.

If you haven't tested this yet (or if you have no issues), please post what is happening with your HD movie rentals.

TWP

Note: I have rebooted everything, used my Airport Express with the ethernet cord directly into the Apple TV, over wiFi, adjusted the distance between my router and the Apple TV. Nothing has worked.

Dell Laptop m1330, Windows 7

Posted on Oct 8, 2010 9:05 PM

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Q: Apple TV HD Rental Streaming Problem

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  • by vazandrew,

    vazandrew vazandrew Feb 17, 2011 5:05 PM in response to Airsculpture
    Level 6 (19,115 points)
    Apple TV
    Feb 17, 2011 5:05 PM in response to Airsculpture
    The digital copy is in SD vs streaming a high-definition film. If you have a slow connection you can't expect to instantly start watching HD. Now there are other factors, but that is one of the first things to look at.
  • by Lone VVolf,

    Lone VVolf Lone VVolf Feb 17, 2011 9:38 PM in response to Airsculpture
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Feb 17, 2011 9:38 PM in response to Airsculpture
    Sorry, but my post wasn't completely clear. Although changing ISPs solved this for me, I do NOT believe that the problem was my Internet connection. This problem is most CERTAINLY in the Apple TV. I rather believe that the Apple TV did not perform well on my DSL connection due some incompatibility or bad implementation of networking on the Apple TV. The fact that this was solved by switching providers is almost a side effect of the new connection, though it was my intent in switching.

    Exactly your point - if I rent an HD TV show (there are many free ones to test with), it takes the Apple TV longer to start playing, than the entire length of the clip. If I rent the exact same free show on iTunes, it plays instantly.

    This really seems to be a big problem, which Apple will never admit to, even if it (hopefully) gets fixed in a software update.
  • by tgibbs,

    tgibbs tgibbs Feb 18, 2011 7:30 AM in response to Lone VVolf
    Level 1 (70 points)
    Feb 18, 2011 7:30 AM in response to Lone VVolf
    Lone VVolf wrote:
    Sorry, but my post wasn't completely clear. Although changing ISPs solved this for me, I do NOT believe that the problem was my Internet connection. This problem is most CERTAINLY in the Apple TV. I rather believe that the Apple TV did not perform well on my DSL connection due some incompatibility or bad implementation of networking on the Apple TV. The fact that this was solved by switching providers is almost a side effect of the new connection, though it was my intent in switching.



    One problem that others have reported is that some network hardware has a software bug that misidentifies legitimate AppleTV network traffic as an attempt to break into your network, and tries to block it.
  • by Airsculpture,

    Airsculpture Airsculpture Feb 18, 2011 7:47 AM in response to vazandrew
    Level 4 (1,416 points)
    iTunes
    Feb 18, 2011 7:47 AM in response to vazandrew
    "The digital copy is in SD vs streaming a high-definition film. If you have a slow connection you can't expect to instantly start watching HD. Now there are other factors, but that is one of the first things to look at."

    The SD / HD is immaterial, you should be just looking at data size which is why I quoted the sizes. If it's 5 times as big, it should be 5 times the length of time to download/start streaming which would be about 30 minutes, not over 3 hours.
  • by vazandrew,

    vazandrew vazandrew Feb 18, 2011 8:49 AM in response to Airsculpture
    Level 6 (19,115 points)
    Apple TV
    Feb 18, 2011 8:49 AM in response to Airsculpture
    Ok. If you want to narrow down the problem then more information is required. Speed is the first thing but like I said there are other factors, so maybe that's what's coming into play for you.

    HD movies do download within 30-40 minutes for me (start after 5 seconds)
  • by jclorden,

    jclorden jclorden Feb 18, 2011 10:33 AM in response to vazandrew
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 18, 2011 10:33 AM in response to vazandrew
    At least in my case I believe the problem is with the content provider.

    A few days ago I rented Social Network and got the "Ready to Play in 27 hours" message. Per my iPhone speedtest the network was working at around 5Mbs.

    I bit the bullet and instantly rented another movie (@$4.99), A-Team, which started to play instantly... I bounced back to Social Network and got the 27 hours - back to A-Team, instant.

    Then I rented an Episod of Glee got a "Ready to play in 5 hours" message. Instantly rented another TV show - started right up.... again toggled back and fourth and 1 worked and the other didn't.

    Based on this (Costly) experiment I am convinced my apple TV works fine and my network runs fine, but certain rentals are just not moving at the same speed as others (sorry, not a tech guy so my lingo is likely off).

    The sad thing is that I called apple care, they listened to my problem, put me on hold to research, then disconnected me (twice).... That's crummy service at it's worst!

    Note that the movies that will not load obviously still get billed... If you are going to charge for a service it better work EVERY TIME!
  • by vazandrew,

    vazandrew vazandrew Feb 18, 2011 10:40 AM in response to jclorden
    Level 6 (19,115 points)
    Apple TV
    Feb 18, 2011 10:40 AM in response to jclorden
    5mbps is the minimum required for HD material, and there could be other things at play. You would need to do some more troubleshooting to rule out other possibilities.
  • by jclorden,

    jclorden jclorden Feb 18, 2011 10:55 AM in response to vazandrew
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 18, 2011 10:55 AM in response to vazandrew
    OK, two shows of equal file size, attempted to download nearly simultaneously from iTunes on the same network over the same internet connections with the same apple TV - TWICE...

    If it could be something else other than the source I would love to know your theories, I was pretty comfortable that I had all the variables on my side pretty much controlled. Again I'm not a tech guy, so more than happy to here specifics of what might be in play... I've been trouble shooting this for weeks including sending the ATV back to Apple to have it checked out.

    Message was edited by: jclorden
  • by vazandrew,

    vazandrew vazandrew Feb 18, 2011 10:58 AM in response to jclorden
    Level 6 (19,115 points)
    Apple TV
    Feb 18, 2011 10:58 AM in response to jclorden
    First of all, I wouldn't recommend loading more than one title at a time. Are you certain 5mbps is consistent, are you on wifi or ethernet, have you played with DNS settings at all, where is the ATV placed etc.
  • by jclorden,

    jclorden jclorden Feb 18, 2011 11:08 AM in response to vazandrew
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 18, 2011 11:08 AM in response to vazandrew
    Titles were not loading at the same time. Went to itundes menu and stopped downloading one title then started downloading the other.

    5mbps speed was consistent enough to get the second HD movie fired up in a matter of seconds to play without a slow down for the entire movie (including times when I stopped the download in the itunes menu to go back to the first movie to see if it would start loading properly, before coming back and having the second movie fire right back up)

    I am on WiFi N with a brand new airport extreme.

    Did not touch DNS settings, an Apple tech walked me through instalation of ATV when they sent my box back after they looked at it.

    Placed on a wooden book shelf away from other electronic equiment.

    Sorry, not trying to be rude, I have just been trying for weeks to get this to work properly and have become very frustrated. I would return this thing since it's been such a pain in the butt accept for the fact that I really love it when it works properly.

    Message was edited by: jclorden

    Message was edited by: jclorden
  • by vazandrew,

    vazandrew vazandrew Feb 18, 2011 11:11 AM in response to jclorden
    Level 6 (19,115 points)
    Apple TV
    Feb 18, 2011 11:11 AM in response to jclorden
    Ok good. Now in regards to speed consistency, you would actually have to verify that. Because 5 is the minimum, if it goes below that there will no doubt be issues.

    What band are you using on the router?
  • by jclorden,

    jclorden jclorden Feb 18, 2011 11:11 AM in response to vazandrew
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 18, 2011 11:11 AM in response to vazandrew
    5 ghz wireless N
  • by vazandrew,

    vazandrew vazandrew Feb 18, 2011 11:16 AM in response to jclorden
    Level 6 (19,115 points)
    Apple TV
    Feb 18, 2011 11:16 AM in response to jclorden
    Just out of curiosity have you tried connecting with ethernet? That would no doubt rule out any wifi issues.
  • by jclorden,

    jclorden jclorden Feb 18, 2011 11:29 AM in response to vazandrew
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 18, 2011 11:29 AM in response to vazandrew
    Just do to the distance from the router no, but I plan on trying... still don't understand how one movie would stream and the other would take 20+ hours when going back and fourth on the same wireless...

    20+ hours would mean speeds slower then old school 56k modems!
  • by vazandrew,

    vazandrew vazandrew Feb 18, 2011 11:53 AM in response to jclorden
    Level 6 (19,115 points)
    Apple TV
    Feb 18, 2011 11:53 AM in response to jclorden
    I understand, now it could even be ISP throttling coming into the mix, because more of them are starting to do so.

    Hopefully there is a solution in here somewhere.
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