How can I stop Apple TV from buffering?

Did it! Added 10Mb to my '7 years no buffering 50 Mb account' I'll post my, now, 60Mbps ISP Service result.

All I can surmise is: Tech Advances

in Equipment, Cabling, ISP NIDS,

FTTC, plus more Data needed for

recent years Streaming apps finally

reached a Streaming Bandwidth Threshold. Seven Years of reliable

50Mbps delivery didn't do the job

anymore.

Still, Apple TV Streaming, Apple TV plus, PBS, Paramount Plus, and Prime costs me less than Cable TV and my ISP requirement to use TiVo units which were a additional cost.

I hope these discussions are useful

to other 'Streamers' experiencing

buffering.

Thanks for the useful guidance!

I posted this last week and as of today 10/16/23 still no fix and nothing from Apple.

Hello, I was having the same issue with my Samsung tv and was able to talk with someone in chat about it 2 weeks ago, they told me their senior advisors are aware of the issue and were working on a solution. I had been able to watch movies since last year until 2 weeks ago when I would continually get the buffering wheel and then the message that said," Video not available". I talked with tech support yesterday and they told me that the senior advisors said the Apple Tv+ app is not working on Samsung, Roku and Brava Tv's. Looking at some of the other chats in the community it looks like there's a bigger problem with the Apple app.

It's not a bandwith issue.

I'm Alerting those of Us using a 'CoAxial Cable Signal' from a 'ISP

Company CoAxial Service Box', On

or In Our Home.

Check Your 'CoAxial Service Box' to

'Confirm a BOND TO EARTH GROUND-WIRE(typically Copper but

Stranded Copper or Steel may be used according to National Electrical

Code) is in place and FIRMLY BONDED TO EARTH GROUND!

Earth Ground may be a Buried Copper or Steel Water Supply Pipe, or a Galvanized Steel Rod driven into the earth to NEC required depth.

Our ISP, Power Company, LandLine

Phone Company, AND Satellite TV Company, place the 'Earth Ground, from Their Service Entry to

one of those 'Pipe, Galvanized Stake, or other NEC approved 'Earth Ground' devices.

Remember TV Antennas atop our Roof, or Tower mount? Earth Ground

Bare Copper Wire(No Smaller in Diameter than Number-6 Wire) was

always in place for Electrical Safety.

People mounted TV Antenna in their

Attic too which were NEC Required

to be Bonded to Earth Ground for

Safety AND Reliable 'Atmospheric

TV Signal'.

IF EARTH GROUND IS DAMAGED OR

MISSING, A TV ANTENNA, or ISP ENTRY BOX is a Electrical Hazard AND must be corrected for Safety and 'Proper Signal Delivery'.

Such 'Missing or Damaged Earth Ground' may, as well, Diminish BandWidth delivery to 'Our In Home

Connected Devices'.

After almost Six Months of Signal

Buffering in My Home, THIS BROKEN

EARTH GROUND IS LIKELY AT FAULT because CoAxial Cable at the ISP Box, AND Inside My Home, uses

the Earth Ground as a Electrical Signal Reference.

I picked the wrong time to get my ISP to Dispatch a Technician to replace my Severed Ground Bond

though. It's been 6-Days, still NO

FIX. Last Service Rep did send my

Repair Request UP TO THE SERVICE

MANAGER though. I expect that's a

Person in my Town; I can see Their

'Local Network Distribution Building

NODE' across the two Farm Fields behind my Home.

Check your EARTH BOND if All Other

Measures Fail to Fix 'Loss of Signal

Buffering'!

Good Troubleshooting to You!

ChipDale

Thanks for your discussion! Flow Charting is my method to find a method which works. As all other

Chart Steps failed, I examined my

Network Interconnect Box on Back Wall of my Home. THAT's when I realized: My A/C Outdoor Unit was

replaced in late May and my BandWidth buffering began around

that time. There it was! The 'Earth Ground Copper Wire Cable' was severed near the A/C unit!

NOW-to get it fixed! My ISP Local NODE is 3/4mile across two Farm Fields behind my Home. At least a

ISP 'did visit my home when I was

away' but apparently had incorrect

Repair Info from my call to Customer

Support. His Note on my front door

says: 'I found no cables on the ground'. So I've been ReScheduled

3-times but, still, NO SHOW over a

Week later. I know how to do the job

myself, but it's illegal for me to do

anything with ISP Equipment except

Troubleshoot their Network Interface

Device next to the TV.

I offer this advice to those dealing

with 'buffering issues': Whomever delivers your Service, look at their

'EARTH GROUND WIRE' connection.

Yes Earth Ground DOES isolate Lightning Strikes; it also Can Degrade BandWidth if that Ground Wire is Missing or Damaged because

it's Part of The CoAxial Circuit.

ChipDale

I just solved my similar problem! Do you have an older AppleTV and a 4K TV?

I decided to see if upgrading to an Apple TV 4K would take care of the issue(I’m old enough to remember when that was an issue with computers!)

It worked like a charm!!

Could it be a bandwidth issue but on Apples side. Like I've experienced buffering issue with content that seems to be be the popular kind. Like Invasion, Foundation, etc. For example if I watch Foundation a day after it's released date or a few hours the buffering is much more constant than if I wait a few days. As everyone here, buffering issues. Router is a few feet away. No other issues with other streamers. They are a smaller stream service in comparison so perhaps their servers get clogged up which leads to buffering issues. Just throwing an idea out there.

Phil 0124 - since Apple TV plus was

ADDED TO THE APPLE TV OPERATING SYSTEM SEVERAL MONTHS AGO, THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF APPLE TV USER

COMPLAINTS OF BUFFERING on this Community Discussions site.

I've changed my Apple TV Settings,

Klein Tested , both, my HDMI, and

ethernet Cables, Router and TV ports AND switched cables from original port(s). My ISP finds no

trouble on their FTTC. However,

two of my neighbors, served from the same FTTC Pedestal as me, also complain buffering has become normal and ISP WILL NOT SEND

TECH TO TROUBLESHOOT FROM

THEIR TOWN NODE WE CAN SEE,

ACROSS OPEN FIELDS, a half mile

from our homes.

Buffering Complaints have posted to

'discussions.apple.com' for over four

months, exchanging possible fixes

like:

• Pay for More Bandwidth,
• Change 4K Video back to SDR,
• offload data from all apps except the app you're watching,
• turn off all settings you aren't using

ALL THREE OF We Neighbors USE ONE TV AT A TIME. Yes, the TV's are 4K and We have made all those setting changes.

It's my belief, for My service, that my

Apple TV Model A2843 (128 GB),

tvOS 17.0(21J354), Resolution 2160p UHD-60Hz HDR10 4:2:2 suffers Buffering

because Apple is constantly updating Apple TV plus programing

data in the Apple TV OS.

I'll add another 10-Mbps bandwidth

to see what happens since, neither,

Apple nor ISP will respond to this,

now 5 months buffering concern.

There are many ****** off Apple TV users; just search for 'Apple TV Buffering'.

I, just now, got a 'Start Apple TV Diagnostics' banner message in

the General 'About' menu, but when I clicked the message it disappeared.

My Apple 2.4 & 5Ghz Router is

always on 5Ghz. I Shut Down my

ISP-NID, Apple TV unit, Router & UHD TV, re-start each in the same

sequence. Then Buffering, sometimes doesn't bug me the rest of my viewing day.

I had a excellent conversation with

a Apple Service Rep a few days ago. He and I have much the same Electronics education and Field Experience so we touched on Every Likely Fault about buffering. He agreed to send our 'long conversation' to Apple

Engineering as a Customer Complaint about Apple TV plus,

possibly, eating Bandwidth and

causing Apple TV Buffering due to

Apple TV plus programming updates

Ya' got any other ideas for buffering

investigation?

Thanks for listening!

I suppose I need to get the App and try that.

I discovered, during my setup of AppleTV 4K, the cable wiring can make a heck of a difference. While trying 3 different connection options, my system was buffering and stuttering along with audio problems. The stream would pulse as high as 400 Mbps.

Once I got the correct configuration, the pulse now goes up to 40 Mbps and the picture and audio are stable. I know folks using the App can't suffer from connection issues but maybe something else like that, is interfering. You might also try watching something from iTunes to see how your system handles that.

I will ask you, since this forum is in regard to the AppleTV device, and not the AppleTV app, which one are you talking about?

I can suggest one thing, if you are using an AVR, that you need remove the power from the AVR so as to let it reboot. If you are using the App on a smart TV, it may be the same situation.

If you have a 50 Mbps internet connection or less, I might expect your situation to be normal.

I'm another one having this same issue, and for all you people jumping up and down about bandwidth. That is not the problem at my house. Like everyone else I can stream every other service with no issue. Bandwidth at home is not the problem.

I have a theory on what the problem is, and its not directly the App, but most likely the infrastructure streaming the content. Last night we sat down to watch an episode of Constellation and it was virtually unwatchable due to the buffering. Once we finished I went to Amazon Prime and it streamed fine, I then tried another show on Apple TV+ (Documentary called Home) and it played perfectly without buffering.

I'm not sure if certain content is streamed from different locations, or the infrastructure isn't able to handle enough streams for certain shows, but it certainly feels like the problem is not App, but something else in the way shows are being streamed. Please fix it Apple.

I’m beyond tech savvy. I build PCs, ect. It’s either the update or I need to reset the device and reinstall the OS or it’s simply wearing out. It’s 8 yrs old.

I am also having the same issue on multiple devices. The past couple of weeks, Apple+ buffers every 7-10 seconds.

I am using the app on an Nvidia Shield device; actually multiple of them. My internet speed is 70 Mpbs and it is rock steady, which is more than enough for streaming HD content. Ping is 43 ms.

I also have no issues with any of my other services (Disney, Hulu, Max, Paramount+, Peacock, YouTube), just Apple+.

Also tried it with and without a VPN on (in case my ISP was throttling Apple for some reason). Didn't make a difference.

Powered down and rebooted my devices. No improvement.

The service just appears to have gone to crap...

A few weeks ago, Apple basically told me to unplug everything, wait and try again… they were supposed to call me back but did not. At the time after unplugging things were fine, then we’ve not been watching tv so much, but coincidentally in past two days Apple TV + is having buffering problems, again, and again all other platforms are fine. 😡

Shoya23 - I'm with 'all' of you who are experiencing Apple TV Buffering

since Apple incorporated Apple TV plus in the Apple TV Streaming unit.

I turn off every Apple TV setting I can AND OffLoad all other apps to be sure they don't contribute as Bandwidth Vampires while keeping one app active. Some of my Home

efforts have 'reduced occurrence' of

buffering; bit it still happens.

I believe Apple's inclusion of their

'Apple TV plus' in the Apple TV Operating System has 'gummed up'

the Apple TV device streaming

bandwidth.

My 50mbps ISP Service has delivered outstanding connectivity

for 8 years, now over their FTTC connection.

I'm a retired Communications Tech.

I've verified my Home Network cabling and Ethernet Ports with my Klein Test kit. I've had my ISP Remote test their NIC unit twice.

Unless Apple, at least, responds to

our buffering concerns I believe our

only choice is to buy our service

elsewhere.

One thing I can remember with Netflix, some time ago, they were having problems with some access points coming into a specific area. If your ISP might be having such a problem with the AppleTV, you might check with them.

Do you have any way to monitor your bandwidth while streaming a video?