Apple TV taking a long time to download an iTunes Store movie rental

Yep, I'm having the same problem on my Apple TV. It's not always like this but tonight the family wanted to watch a movie and 30 minutes downloading later it still says 11 hours to go. When you want to watch a movie, you really want to watch it within a few minutes of renting it, otherwise you might as well go to the video store and rent it from there.

Well, for the record.. I have the same problem. Bummer. It is Apple for sure. I have very fast Fiber-Optic internet, and used to download HD movies and be ready to watch almost instantly..... now for some reason it is taking hours to download...and is sporadic on that too.. From 2 hours to much more...

Apple!...... yoooohoooo!...... you need to fix this!..... I love Apple TV, but the slow DL is a killer. I bought one as an Xmas gift, and now I feel like I should not have... these are Windows people and this is their first Apple product.... uh-oh...

Now, I just plan ahead and choose movies early. But, who likes to plan ahead! ? Ugh.

I got an Apple TV for Christmas, but didn't hook it up for a while, so now it's too late to return it. Movies are taking 8-16 hours to download and it's just ridiculous. The person who gave it to me feels so bad they bought a junk gift. My internet speed isn't the issue here, and I can download movies from Netflix in a matter of minutes (through my X-Box 360 that is on a wired connection in a bedroom).

I tried taking the Apple TV and putting it physically next to the router and running it on an ethernet connection, just in case the issue was my wireless, but the ethernet connection took even longer. So incredibly frustrating and the folks at the Apple store can offer no help except to say that it's too late to return it... So I'm scrolling the forums looking for a solution. Doesn't seem to be one... 😟

I've had my apple tv for at least a year and a half and the download time has gotten ridiculously slow. I used to have no problem: rent a movie and it would be ready to watch within just a few minutes. And this included HD. Now, it's taking at the minimum an hour and a maximum of 16 hours. Are you kidding me? My faith in this product is fast waning -- I'm considering trashing it. I wish Apple would step up and address this issue.

I'm also having the same experience. Two years ago I downloaded movies to iTunes in a matter of minutes. Yesterday we decided to rent a movie, started the download, then realized it was taking forever. My internet is Comcast and while not the fastest, this is ridiculous! Apple TV is a great product but this problem is it's Achilles heal! C'mon Apple, fix this!

Add me to the list of persons highly unimpressed by the reduction of (what I see) as the Apple TV's one saving grace - almost instant start of rentals - to simply being no better than the rest. Why bother with apple tv if that doesn't work? Apple have a few weeks to sort this out or my Apple TV is going to eBay to be put out of its misery. Judging by the dates of these posts, it happened to us all at the same time. Boo!

First time posting!

I'm so frustrated, I just felt I had to add something to this discussion. I bought my Apple TV last year. I couldn't stop telling people how happy I was to own one. I convinced a few of my friends to buy this product. I've turned them into Mac fans. Well now they're angry and I am too. It pains me to rent a movie with the Apple TV. I actually went back into a video store the other day to rent a Blu Ray.

I've tried everything from factory restore to updating the software. Nothing is working. I even went out and bought a new one thinking mine was busted. Nope, that didn't work. I took that sameapple TV to work, plugged it in and voila! Fast downloads resumed.

I was listening to NPR and heard a story about how cable internet service providers are targeting apple TV's by slowing them down -- something like that. Has anyone heard anything like that? I'm not sure if Apple is the problem here.

It does not matter. My brand new ATV took 15 hours to download a movie! I am so ****** at Apple. Tried using a hard-wired download to iTunes, same thing....it took forever. So much for romance.... I'm going to have to switch to 36 hr Cialis if this keeps up (no pun intended)!

You know, what really makes me mad is the fact that I figured out the answer to your question, as I had the same problem myself - and fixed it - but I can't figure out the answer to my question - which has lead me to this discussion board.

So here's how you fix your situation -
1. Go over to "Settings" you'll notice that your apple TV is all filled up - no more space, or if there is space, there is not enough for a movie. So the reason why AppleTV takes so darn long to load the movie is because it streaming it to the computer you have open to iTunes and it's saving it across your home network onto that computer. And only when the file is completely downloaded thee will you be able to play it.

2. So what I did to allow my movie rental to come down immediately, is I deleted Pinapple Express - bad movie anyway - and then Space balls downloaded right away.
But I don't recommend you do that - like buy movies and delete them, but that's how I solved this issue!!

grosner-

I would agree with your solution IF my AppleTV were full. This was the first movie I downloaded so space was not an issue. I have concluded that you cannot download a 3GB movie quickly when your ISP runs at 5 to 6MB per minute. Factor in the wireless connection to the AppleTV and you get 8 to 10 hrs! I don't see an Apple fix for this.

This ***** Apple! I have aapl stock and I'm starting to question having it. Fix this problem please!

I recently purchase apple tv and i cannot download content at all. my apple tv is connected to the internet (you tube works just fine, as does access to list of itunes content), but i cannot view trailers or download any movies or tv shows, or the download is just so slow it doesnt make sense to keep apple tv. called apple and they blame my router fire wall (except i disabled the firewall and it still doesnt work). any ideas?

my ATV is working fine again too... did apple fix something?

not for me, just tried downloading an hd movie now and its taking over 2 hours, time to get rid of this POS