Hm.. .I guess I could try hard-wiring the Apple TV and see if that solves my problem.
My Apple TV used to run wonderfully but like others, at some point it just stopped being reliable. Some video applications like HBO GO will very infrequently just crash and bring the Apple TV with it.
But by far, the most annoying, because it now happens consistently is that video podcast playback is only doable ONCE for most video podcasts.
I can watch one video podcast (such as an episode of a show from twit.tv). When I then watch as second episodes, the Apple TV clearly doesn't pre-fetch and download the content ahead anymore. (as you see on the playback bar)... and soon enough starts to hang up in various ways.. either pausing, or video playing but audio stopping, then coming back a minute later.
I can solve this every time by rebooting the Apple TV with the remote (pulling the power plug is just too difficult given where I've stashed it). I can then again play ONE video podcast (where it will spool/fetch content will in advance for playback).. then next such podcast and we are back to no fetching in quantity and hangups..
Very frustrating. The only thing being reset is the Apple TV. So ifs entirely a problem within the Apple TV software (podcast streaming or the underlying OS features). If I could hack the device to automatically reboot after any playback ends I'd do that. To suggest its the user environment isn't very helpful - it may well be that its some condition of how the network traffic is delivered to the Apple TV that the Apple TV software doesn't handle cleanly and it could be something that only happens to a few folks but that doesn't mean its not a bug in the Apple TV software.
We don't set up our world to mimic Apples development environment, their product must work in the real world. A car owner isn't expected to pave their roads to meet the specifications of the car maker, the car maker is expected to design and build a car that drives well on the roads in the market they serve.