Netflix streaming quality on AppleTV is worse than streaming via my browser

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Netflix streaming quality on AppleTV is worse than streaming via my browser

Hi, The streaming quality of Netflix is worse when I watch it via the Apple TV app versus watching the same content on my Smart TV (Sony) app. This isn't 100% reproducible, but it seems to happen every Friday or Saturday evening (peak times I'm guessing). My internet speed is not the bottleneck. We verified this with a speed test (fast.com, powered by Netflix) while experiencing the quality issues. The speeds are consistently above 75Mbps. Also we get high quality playback if we switch over to our laptop or use the Smart TV Netflix application running directly on the TV.

There seems to be something different about streaming Netflix via Apple TV versus streaming it via other platforms (e.g. browser).

Obviously we can just skip Apple TV and watch Netflix via the Smart TV app, but it eliminates any convenience of the Apple TV when one of the primary streaming services doesn't work well.

Have others experienced this?

Posted on Mar 20, 2021 4:50 AM

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Answer 1

Urquhart1244

Level 10

147,626 points

Mar 20, 2021 5:20 AM in response to vxcohaagen

What is your model Apple TV? Identify your Apple TV model - Apple Support

When both your smart TV and Apple TV box connect through Wi-Fi, then it could be that their reception differs because they are in (slightly) different spots that may experience (slightly) different interference. Verify that the Apple TV box has good internet connectivity for other apps, including Speedtest on the Apple TV box itself, right when this happens, as interference doesn’t have to be constant over time.

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Answer 2

vxcohaagen Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 22, 2021 3:44 PM in response to Urquhart1244

Hi, Thanks for your suggestions. I have an Apple TV HD.

The TV, Apple TV, and wireless router are all sitting on the same shelf in my TV room. I used the Speedtest app to verify the tests on the Apple TV. It was slightly lower than my results from fast.com (50+ Mbps), but still more than sufficient.

I performed a reset + update, and will reply back to this thread if I experience any more problems.

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Netflix streaming quality on AppleTV is worse than streaming via my browser

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