Apple TV app buffering on Roku fixed by disabling Backdrops

I have Apple TV on my TCL Roku smartTV.

A couple months ago, it started buffering everything I watched. I could not get two minutes in to a show without multiple stops to buffer.

I have the TV hardwired with 1.5Gb service and nothing like this happens with any of the other services.

It was to the point, I gave up trying to watch anything.

Roku said it was an Apple issue, Apple engineers are looking into it. I have been in a month long conversation with the service team, and they have logs and my videos of it happening, and they still have not resolved it.

I decided to try again. Turn on Drops of God, and it buffers, and buffers, so no change.

I had a thought: this issue coincided with turning on Roku Backdrops, or that is the only thing that I thought may have changed around the time.

Disabled the Backdrops, went back to Drops of God, and it's a miracle! No more buffering.

Of course, that's not enough to know for sure that Backdrops is the culprit, so I re-enabled Backdrops, and went back to Apple... black screen. Not even loading the App.

Had to go back to Home. Try Apple again... logo came up, and I get my selections. The previews are playing.

Back to the show ... and buffering... the little spinning flower thing. 30 seconds, 1 minute, and back to show.

Starts playing and buffering, over and over. 4-5 seconds of playing then buffer... half a minute, a minute. Not watchable.

Go back and disable Backdrops, head back to Appke TV, no wait time to load, and Drops of Wine? Plays immediately without any buffering.

All this time, all the back and forth with Apple engineers and secret remote codes to find reporting and diagnostic tools, sending videos of it happening, phone calls, emails, and it was Backdrops being enabled.

Hope this helps others who are having the buffering issues.

Why these two are connected, I have no idea.