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 Pawcio,

    Pawcio Pawcio Feb 22, 2011 8:37 AM in response to TWalkerPolk
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 22, 2011 8:37 AM in response to TWalkerPolk
    I had the exact same issue on numerous occasion. They've told me that minimum speeds to stream their rentals is 6mbs/s. I did SPEEDTEST.NET and my result was 5.13mbs/s. The APPLE TECH guys told me that it should be ok but obviously it wasn't. I am currently on the fastest DSL package available from ATT, which stinks because I would love to upgrade if that would have solved the problem. Additionally, I am on G wireless network and thinking of upgrading to N, that may resolve some of the problem but don't want to dishout $$$ just to upgrade my entire home network.

    Additionally the APPLE TECH told me that I could set up my apple TV to download on in SD format and not in HD. So I tried it and it worked. I was able to watch the movie instantly.

    For refund of your unwatched rented movies see this site... http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/ and fill out the email with your request.
  • by tgibbs,

    tgibbs tgibbs Feb 22, 2011 8:58 AM in response to Pawcio
    Level 1 (70 points)
    Feb 22, 2011 8:58 AM in response to Pawcio
    These days, wireless N routers can be had pretty cheaply. Check prices online. Ideally, get one that will broadcast on the 5GHz band, which is less susceptible to interference.
  • by tbharber,

    tbharber tbharber Feb 25, 2011 7:52 PM in response to TWalkerPolk
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Feb 25, 2011 7:52 PM in response to TWalkerPolk
    So I will throw my two cents in on this issue as well since I ran into it today. First off let me say I have rented a bunch of movies and this is the first one I have had with this issue. I tried everything including rebooting modem, router, computers, apple tv several times. No matter how many times I tried it kept telling me I had to wait 3-4 hours to start my movie. Also important to note I have 6mbps down DSL which has no other issues.

    In the end I ended up changing my DNS server from 4.2.2.2 (which is what I used for quite some time) to 8.8.4.4 (Google DNS). As soon as I changed the DNS the movie started immediately like it should.

    I do not think the issue is specific to one DNS server but defiantly some kind of issues with DNS servers in general. In closing it appears if you run into the problem to try several DNS servers until you hit one that works.
  • by tjstroker,

    tjstroker tjstroker Feb 26, 2011 5:24 PM in response to TWalkerPolk
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 26, 2011 5:24 PM in response to TWalkerPolk
    I too have streaming issues with this device. Both from Apple Rented movies and Netflix.

    However, I also have a PS3 and stream the Netflix from the same network to the PS3 just fine.

    I also have a 7x7mbps wireless Point to Point Ethernet, burst capable to 20mpbs, and my speed tests are completely normal. It's an AppleTV issue for sure.

    Message was edited by: tjstroker
  • by CanadaBeach,

    CanadaBeach CanadaBeach Feb 26, 2011 6:06 PM in response to TWalkerPolk
    Level 1 (5 points)
    iCloud
    Feb 26, 2011 6:06 PM in response to TWalkerPolk
    I'm experiencing the same issue. If you consider the length of this discussion thread and the number of people who are experiencing problems, it's hard to believe that there's not an Apple factor in this. After checking signal strength, doing speed tests, second guessing everything on my end, I'm inclined to believe that Apple has an issue with their streaming service.

    Watched a movie with no problems. Four hours later tried to stream another movie and got the "Loading .... 15 hour wait" scenario. Frustrating and annoying.
  • by SmileK,

    SmileK SmileK Feb 27, 2011 6:13 AM in response to CanadaBeach
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 27, 2011 6:13 AM in response to CanadaBeach
    I'm having the same problem in the UK. Bought my first rental on 18th Feb as I was recovering after surgery at home. 18 hrs to download so no chance of watching that day. Came back to eve 25th and ready to play. Watched about 40mins then stopped. Started to watch again 26th from beginning again as my son was home. Again watched less than an hour and planned to finish today. However, gone in to resume and now being told ready to watch in 2 hrs. From memory the White bar was about 80% along but today was not showing at all. I thought the whole point was that the film would download and be ready and waiting especially if you'd started to watch.
    At the moment I'm lost as to how this is supposed to work. I'm going to run out of my 48hr watching window this evening and not convinced the film will be there.
    Also, don't understand why I can't start to watch whilst streaming in the background.
    You tube etc works fine as does streaming from my pc. Seems like the whole download thing is completely flawed

    Any tricks and tips would be appreciated
  • by mkral,

    mkral mkral Feb 27, 2011 6:21 AM in response to SmileK
    Level 2 (220 points)
    Feb 27, 2011 6:21 AM in response to SmileK
    I know that many people are offering reasons/advice why it is not the apple tv, but some other external factor (the wireless connection, the internet connection, etc) but it IS the Apple TV, at least in some cases. I can download the same video to any other device in my house (mac/ apple TV 1st edition/ iphone/ ipad) & it works great. All of them are using the same internet connection & the same wireless router). The ONLY variable is the Apple TV, so that has to be the problem.

    The issue does seem to be something that's being worked on by Apple. At least in my case, the buffering problems seem to have gone down somewhat. I still get them now & then, but not with the frequency that we did before. I don't know if they are just getting better at streaming, or if it had anything to do with the network connection test that we ran. (It's available over under the settings tab-I'd definitely recommend running it once or twice if you are having these problems. At a minimum, it should help over the longer term to even out the streaming issues).

    Also for those with ipads/ipods that can stream to the apple tv (I THINK anything running IOS 4 or greater), I've found that renting on my ipad & streaming it to the Apple TV provides the same experience without the massive delays.
  • by tgibbs,

    tgibbs tgibbs Feb 27, 2011 11:47 AM in response to mkral
    Level 1 (70 points)
    Feb 27, 2011 11:47 AM in response to mkral
    I wouldn't assume that different devices are getting content from the same source. Apple contracts with content delivery networks to stream content to you from a very large number of servers. It wouldn't be surprising if different devices were talking to different servers, even if the content is the same.
  • by mkral,

    mkral mkral Feb 27, 2011 1:49 PM in response to tgibbs
    Level 2 (220 points)
    Feb 27, 2011 1:49 PM in response to tgibbs
    While I find it highly unlikely that all of Apple's streaming services work flawlessly, except for the one that they stream to the Apple TV with, and that this has been going on for months with no resolution, the result is still that the problem is on Apple's end. Either the Apple TV itself is flawed in some way, or the method that they have chosen to stream video tot he apple TV is flawed. In either situation, the flaw is with Apple or their partners. The point of my post was that I have covered every possible permutation of my home network and all of my other devices work perfectly. The ONLY one that does not is the Apple TV, using the exact same setup as my Mac, iphone, ipad and Apple TV 1. Whether or not the problem is with the device or the streaming method, the problem is on Apple's end.
  • by xtrailer,

    xtrailer xtrailer Feb 27, 2011 3:17 PM in response to mkral
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Feb 27, 2011 3:17 PM in response to mkral
    Since buying the Apple TV2 I have watched 4 HD movies:
    1st: Red - Used ISP's DNS, several pauses and loading issues.
    2nd: +It's Kind of a Funny Story+ - Used Google DNS. Smooth streaming, no pauses.
    3rd: +(my wife watched something)+ - Google DNS. Terrible streaming and pauses. Took an hour of loading the movie before watching it.
    4th: Unstoppable - Switched back to my ISP's DNS. Watched immediately, no issues. Buffer bar was twice as long as the play progress bar.

    Rogers is my ISP, and I thought the initial problems were due to their throttling (they received a warning from the CRTC for doing so just last week). Now here's the funny thing...

    Rogers now features SpeedBoost (http://www.rogers.com/web/content/speedboostonsb). It detects available bandwidth and automatically increases download and streaming speeds. I pay for a 25 Mbps service, but could usually get 6-15 Mbps (varied wildly). Several tests today have given 33 and 44 Mbps.

    After hearing about this service I switched back to my ISP's DNS. As we watch more HD movies I'll see if we continue to have issues.
  • by sqmoya,

    sqmoya sqmoya Feb 27, 2011 4:20 PM in response to TWalkerPolk
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 27, 2011 4:20 PM in response to TWalkerPolk
    I'm experiencing the same problem, thought it was because I was out of the USA but it's good to know it's a general Apple TV problem. Hope they solve it soon, since I've lost money in movies I haven't been able to see! anyone has had experience in getting Appl respond for movies that haven't been able to see? I've already written for costumer service support but haven't received response.
  • by thcore,

    thcore thcore Feb 27, 2011 5:42 PM in response to TWalkerPolk
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 27, 2011 5:42 PM in response to TWalkerPolk
    Having all the same issues, ready to take it back to Apple, all other streaming applications and devices work great.....except renting movies from iTunes on APTV2. Anyone have any help to offer?
  • by mkral,

    mkral mkral Feb 27, 2011 6:05 PM in response to sqmoya
    Level 2 (220 points)
    Feb 27, 2011 6:05 PM in response to sqmoya
    I've had lots of success by using the "report a problem' link next to the movie title on the receipt that itunes emails you. Just briefly explain what happened & (at least in my case), Apple reps post a credit to my account for the cost of the movie.
  • by jsavage21,

    jsavage21 jsavage21 Feb 28, 2011 8:37 PM in response to TWalkerPolk
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 28, 2011 8:37 PM in response to TWalkerPolk
    Just chiming in to express my frustration with streaming movies. Our internet connection is good, thoroughly checked all possible problems. We rented the Social Network and Fearless this weekend and both said it would be at least 2hours before we could watch. We waited till the next day and one played and then we started Fearless and got half way through and it stopped and said it would be 2 hours and 45 minutes before it resumed.
    Unfortunately we don't have a lot of time with two small kids and work and frustrated that we pay for something that we can't watch. At this point I don't think the Apple tv is a good option for renting movies. Hopefully Apple will fix it so we get a good user experience.
  • by CraigMac,

    CraigMac CraigMac Mar 3, 2011 7:08 AM in response to TWalkerPolk
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 3, 2011 7:08 AM in response to TWalkerPolk
    I'm having the same issue. I tried renting 3 episodes of glee. All are 41-44 minutes, and take an hour to play.

    This makes me want to return the Apple TV and get a Roku box. Like everyone else, everything else plays instantly so it's not my wi-fi or internet speed. The interesting part, if you rent through the computer or iPhone and watch, it works as advertised. For me it's JUST the Apple TV.

    Seeing how many people are having this issue, I might just be returning it to Best Buy, especially since there is no more restocking fee.
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