I have a relatively new Apple TV 4K that randomly has the video freeze while the audio continues while watching a movie using iTunes. This happens towards the beginning of a movie. Any fixes?
Apple TV 4K, tvOS 12
I’ve got an update on this issue. I think it’s a power load issue affecting my modem which is impacting my Apple TV differently than my other devices.
I’ve tried Ethernet (direct to router) as well as powerline (which had a good signal) and the problem continues. Now it mostly freezes altogether, not just the video.
However, while trying out the powerline adapter, I noticed that the failure coincided with my house’s AC unit cutting on. I assumed it was affecting the powerline specific functions, so I switched back to WiFi. Last night, it was working fine over WiFi (watching MLB.tv), then the air cut on and my connection froze. I switched back to powerline and it started streaming again. Later AC is off, it cuts back on, and the feed drops again. I then switched back to WiFi and logged into my router from my laptop and pulled up the performance chart. I made the air cut on. This time, the connection didn’t drop altogether, but the game feed got blurry, skipped, then jumped back a few seconds and started going again. The bandwidth charts for both WAN and LAN flatlined for just a couple seconds on my router screen.
So I think the load required to start the AC is making the modem basically hiccup briefly. And while the rest of my devices just lag and reconnect without me noticing, something about the Apple TV makes it think it’s completely lost connection if the hiccup is long enough. It then takes some action from me or just waiting for a little bit to make it try to reconnect.
I’m going to move my modem to another room (on another breaker) and see if that doesn’t help. I also may try a battery backup. I had a device (plasma TV, IIRC) several years ago that would cut out during power fluctuations and the battery backup fixed that problem.
For those who know more than me about this stuff, does this sound plausible? Should the battery backup help?
So Apple got back with me and told me there was a general fix to movie servers and asked me to try again. Still the same issue. I had my younger brother sign into my account and try some of the offending movies through the TV app and he encounters the same exact issue. He’s states away on a different ISP. I think we have all done enough sleuthing to accurately point the finger at the TV app being the culprit. It’s been buggy since it came out. Some of the movie icons are in different languages or for different movies altogether, just things like that.
[Edited by Moderator]
No worries. Starting the movies from the Movie App seems to work every time. Downloading a copy and home sharing also works 100% but that again locks you out of 4K streaming and who has the storage space for 100s of movies?
What's the most irritating about this problem is that problems like this are becoming more and more common with Apple lately. In the past Apple is where you went when you wanted things to just work...now their products need as much hand holding as their competitors.
After doing extended testing, it seems to me that the isssues seem to occur with some movie titles and not others.
I am in contact with Apple support and it seems they are taking this seriously.
Starting the movie from the iTunes movie app seems to make it work with no issues.
I have yet seen it with Fast and Furious 6 & 7 (which are both encoded in HD) but not with Fast & Furious 8 (4K). Some HD movies work fine.
I don't have any issues and I have the same setup, however I have a Google Mesh Network at home that ensures I have a strong signal throughout my house. If you are not familiar with Mesh network technology this may be something to look into. As users add more and more Internet devices (phones, TVs, Apple TVs, computers, tablets,etc and now home appliances like lights, thermostats etc.) this adds more and more of a burden on a network that was fine 3-4 years ago.
I found this out as we have:
Each of these devices take up bandwidth so it was critical that I have a strong signal throughout the house, the Mesh network solved that problem.
Same issue. I opened a ticket with Apple Support this evening. Issue happens only on iTunes movies and at 18 minutes every time after starting a movie. Support had me let the movie play an additional 10 minutes after the video freeze, press the bottom 2 buttons on the remote for 6 seconds which starts a diagnostics app and I was able to export the results to iCloud and upload it to Apple Support. The tech I worked with, who the ticket was escalated to, had not heard of the issue. I referenced the posts here. Hopefully engineering will come up with a fix.
I was able to verify only The AppleTV app freezes, even after AppleTV 4K update was applied, but movie plays fine in iTunes Movie app. Ticket is still open and being worked by engineers at Apple. I was also able to submit an additional diagnostics file to be reviewed.
There was nothing wrong with my cable or it’s connections. The Apple TV has a wired connection to the router not wi-fi. The problem started after the TV app was updated. It seems pretty clear that it is a bug in the new app.
same issue after most recent update. 4K AppleTv. No other changes. Video freezes and audio continues. Exiting the tv show and jumping back in fixes for a while. Only happening with Apple Content so not Prime, Netflix, Hulu etc.
So with today's major update the issue finally seems to be fixed. I've watched a few of the offending movies, through the TV app for roughly 30 mins and no issues.
Just goes to show you if you have an issue bring it to Apples attention.....and they'll ignore you and fix it if and when they get around to it....
Hi Maulrx,
Yes you have a similar symptom, please create your own thread if resetting your Apple TV does not work.
I’m having The same problem that I’ve read many users are having. To say that only a few of us are having an issue is ridiculous. Perhaps it’s just that not many people are reporting it ..but they should. My problem is exactly the same. Video freezes about 18 to 20 minutes into a program while audio continues. I have updated my Apple TV. I have reset my network. I have Closed everything and multitasking. I have a high-quality HDMI connection and tweeked the video settings. I have done everything that I can find suggested on this forum and others and the one thing that I can find from anyone that is truly consistent is that this problem happened after an update. iTunes app plays fine. Netflix plays fine. Hulu plays fine. Amazon prime plays fine. I love my Apple products but they need to get their **** together and start working out some bugs. I’m two updates in to this problem and it’s STILL is still an issue. To compound matters in order to circumvent this issue, resorting to the iTunes app is fine as long as it doesn’t have a problem playing the content which it often does. If someone from Apple support tells me to log in and out one more time I’m going to scream nasty things in their ear .
Well it didn't work for one. Workarounds are never 100%. Second, when you turn off Quick Start it disables streaming in 4K; it says that right under the option.
It's called an Apple TV 4K.
The only thing to do is wait until next Tuesday and see if the new version of TVOS fixes the app or not. Apple is unlikely to admit there is an issue in the first place.
This is happening to me as well with Disney titles only for some reason. The video stops after 18 mins exactly but the audio continues. The Apple TV 4K is wired to my router like it has been for the last 2 years or so. Nothing in the set up has changed; cables, internet speed, tv nothing.
Just another day in Apple land....
I’m having the same issue as Steve.888. I’ve had the Apple TV 4K for several months with no issues. This problem only started in the past few weeks after an update. My signal strength is fine. Other devices on my network work fine. I’ve done a factory reset, etc. But the problem persists. Video freezes; audio continues.
Thanks l. I’ll do some more diagnostics. I just think it’s odd that this only recently became an issue after an update and that when I go online I find other users that are having the exact same issue (even to the minute per other posts) which began at the same time. That tells me that it’s more likely related to the device and update, though perhaps the update has somehow created an issue with my ATV’s network performance that I have to fix locally now.
Apple TV video freezes but audio continues
