Netflix Problems

craigmag143 wrote:
From speedtest.net I get 20 down and 40 up on average.

The reason I don't suspect my ISP is that Netflix streams great to my iMac (20mbs) and laptop (7mbs), but not to my Apple TV. Maybe Netflix sends a different type of information to the Apple TV?

In conversations with my ISP they've stated that Netflix is a large percentage of their traffic and they take extra care to make sure there are no problems.

tadcrawfordmv wrote:
I agree with detroitsongbird's findings. About 10-14 days ago, I worked with Apple Care tech support to make the very same changes on my Airport Extreme. Ever since I have had no problems whatsoever viewing Netflix SD and HD movies.

This came on the heals of some very hard work with Comcast, which included removing noise they found in our cabling (TV, Internet, Phone) as well as replacing our cable modem.

Note: I have not upgraded to the latest the ATV firmware. I'm still at 4.2.

That said, I'm still not ready to breath freely.

Like many of you, I don't understand why we are not hearing directly from Apple.

I'm in the same boat as many of you. Had the Apple TV 2 for four months and in general, it works great and I really enjoy it. The problem is Netflix. In the evening it pauses a lot. Today I called in to report the issue. I've already performed all of their troubleshooting steps along with some others to no avail:

- Restarted the device (pull power plug)

- Restored the device

- Use hardwired connection (no wi-fi)

- Changed my DNS settings to 4.4.4.4 and 8.8.8.8

- Validated speed during problem is running between 6 and 8mbs (we're on the 12mbs plan)

- Durning problem times on Apple TV, I've unpluged the ethernet cable from the ATV and plugged into a laptop and watch an hour or more of Netflix without any pausing - I've done this at least 3 or 4 different times. Upon plugging back into the Apple TV, Netflix pauses...

- Turned off DNSmasq on the router

- Set the ATV to a static route on the router rather than dynamic

- Have never had the issue with iTunes rentals or streaming from my desktop

- Never had the issues as perssistant with any other netflix device in our house (laptop, desktop, Wii)

Personally I think there is something wrong with the way ATV handles the Netflix stream. Occasinally there will be times when using another device the picture quality degrades when the network slows, but the stream never pauses. The Apple TV picture never degrades, just pauses. So if I were to hazard a guess I think if the stream slows down to the point where the picture might normaly be dynamically degraded on any other device, the ATV just pauses and buffers until the picture quality is back up. This is fine but there should be an option to turn that off so the device won't pause. Or the device should be buffering 10-20 minutes of programming so if the network does slow down, there will be some time for it to recover before it starts impacting picture quality. Its hard to explain to my 7 year old why Spongebob keeps pausing on a Saturday evening.

So that's my thoughts on the topic. Wish some one had a solid fix or Apple could admit they have problem and provide an update that better accounts for network congestion.

I'm having this same issue and learned quite a bit this evening via troubleshooting:

Own both ATV 2nd Gen and a Roku. Also have an iTouch with Netflix app loaded. I hard wired both my ATV and Roku to my router this evening. I had been running via wireless, but, hearing that some were suspecting wireless as a contributing factor, took time to connect both directly to the router. With both hard wired still many pausing, silence, audio/video sync issues with Netflix via ATV, however NO PROBLEMS via Roku. Tried two different movies. Both were not working properly on ATV, but were fine on the Roku.

Didn't stop there...got on my iTouch and loaded the Netflix app. Ran same two movies. NO PROBLEMS there either. Streaming was smooth and uninterrupted.

I'd say Apple has some explaining/investigating to do about why ATV 2nd Gen is having problems with Netflix, because what I've seen this evening seems to exonerate Netflix.

Hi a new poster here. (14 year IT vet) I just wanted to reply for those that don't have a programming back ground. I know this has been stated many times on this thread, but many of the people I talk to don't understand why Netflix will not play on their IPod.

First and for most. Netflix software runs in your memory. (When it streams) The code that they have been using is seen by most new router's hardware firewalls as a "DNS Rebind ATTACK" there for it blocks the streaming information as a video starts. That’s why you can browse what they have, but can’t view the video on your IPOD.

There are several fixes listed in this thread so I won’t rewrite them. But having said this, the only true way to resolve this issue is for Netflix to reform their protocol in their software code;. Why you ask. Because most fixes here leaves your router open for attacks, PERIOD.

Netflix already has numerous problems with their streaming anyway, like:"Video - Audio sync" Pixilated picture, "no picture but have sound" and most of the time their servers can't keep up. That’s why it jumps in an out of "retrieving". That’s one big reason they dropped their monthly fees in fear of losing monthly payments, amongst other reasons. Haveyou ever seen any way to complain on their web site, other than a brief."How was the quality, good or unacceptable" with no real way to speakyour mind.

If Netflix want to stay in the business then they have allot of work to do, and not blame Apple, or the user.

A client called me in this AM with a Netflix streaming issue. Some movies would stall at the 99% loading while others played fine. I took out all the wifi/router portions of the mix and found exactly the same issue persisted. I then substituted the OpenDNS DNS server IPs for the one the router was obviously getting from the ISP (TimeWarner, El Paso, in this case). Problem solved. Evidently some of the videos on Netflix are hosted on servers TW's DNS servers can't get a lock on. Not surprising as TW's hardware bites.

To save anyone the need to look up the OpenDNS server IP's: They are 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220

All I had to do was add them into the appropriate screen (in each Mac's Network System Prefs) for DNS while still using DHCP otherwise.

Hello nmballa,

I have used the 208.67.222.222 as the DNS setting on my ATV and I have had no problems since making this change. Go not network setting, select he manual option and accept them all as they are until you get to dns.

I works!

Hi All,

I have been having similar issues where Netflix will only steam for a short time then need to buffer again.

I have a rather complex setup at home and did some troubleshooting to see what the issue is.

I run the traffic through a linux based firewall which gives me traffic stats. Oddly enough today I applied an update to my ATV2 and while it was loading switched off my TV. Shortly after switching off the TV I noticed the traffic spike on the firewall >6Mbps... hmm odd.

Later I switched the TV on to check the status '7 mins remaining'... then it just froze. No more downloading. Checked the FW stats and we were down <100kbps.

OK - weird. Let the update finish with the TV off and continued some troubleshooting.

Ran my laptop through the FW checking the FW stats. 1-2Mbps while streaming it was pretty constant.

Tried the ATV2. Would sit around the 200kbps mark and not stream particulaly well at all. Switched off the TV and checked the FW stats >1mbps. Let it run for a while checking the stats and it was consistently above 500kbps. Switch on TV and the FW stats flat line back down <100kbps.

Very strange... I can keep re-creating the problem using the above. So my ATV2 works fine... I just cant turn my TV on.

Also I should mention that the network was isolated during these tests and I tested wireless .11g and wired. Results were consistent across all layer 1/2 access methods.

I am just wondering if this is a Panasonic Viera -> ATV2 issue??? What is everyone else that is having issues using?

OK - I think I have a resolution for my issue...

While I was writing the above post I had my ATV2 running with my TV on. I noticed that all of a sudden the traffic spiked and the ATV2 was downloading at a decent rate.

What had changed? Well my TV has a screen saving mode where it goes dim. This had kicked in and now all of a sudden the ATV2 was working.

Next I moved the ATV2 back in front of the TV. Plugged in the HDMI, the TV light up. I noticed the traffic slowed right down. I opened up the menu on my TV and turned the brightness and contrast right down. Traffic spiked.

I gradually increased the brightness and contrast and now my ATV2 is working fine.

Original TV settings:

Brightness: 58

Contrast: 80

New TV settings:

Brightness: 50

Contrast: 50

Hope this helps others... I dont really have a good explanation as to why these settings on your TV may impact the ability for the ATV2 to dload from netflix.

I was thinking EM fields something like that but cant explain it...

I tried everything, DNS change, IPs etc..., nothing seemed to work so I tried the classic archaic "Unplug/Plug" and it fixed it. And I realized that could've been the reason why everything started in the first place. "Off/On".

I have an ATV2 and it is a love-hate relationship when using netflix. I could be streaming movies or tv shows for hours without problem or it would be completely impossible to watch anything, the thingy spinning forever until I get "Unable to connect to Netflix at this time. Error 108". I have grown to hate this error 108.

-When this happens, streaming the same content (movie/tv episode) from my laptop worked fine, so netflix is not to blame.

-Run a bandwitdh test when it happens, I get over 5Mbps, so my broadband is not to blame.

-The wifi strength on the ATV shows max strength, so wifi is not to blame.

Sometimes unplugging the power works, but not always (the restart from the Settings menu never works).

I have had ATV2 for over a year, and had this problem all that time. It is really frustrating. Considering the hundreds of entries in this *Apple* forum, going back to 2010, it is obvious that Apple doesn't care.

One day I am going to take a hammer and smash this apple TV to pieces. There are other streaming devices out there for comparable prices.