Netflix Problems

Everyone -
What has been your experience since the 4.2 upgrade? Last night the TV series "Lie to ME" that we watch via Netflix ran perfectly, with what seems to be an improvement in audio quality.

We continue to experience a lot of streaming delays, when watching the movie "The Odessa File", which has become the poster child for the difficulties we experience.

my 4.3 experience..much much better. i have had no stalls for two nights running which is a record.i even have had none of the normal pause 17 seconds in . i did try an HD 5.1 program, which did stall, but that is beyond my D/L speed. I watched another HD prog and that worked fine (no 5.1) so perhaps it can adapt to real world conditions. I also had just enetered my DNS numbers in my router, before that, it obtained the DNS automatically. Don't know if that made a difference.

also video podcasts are now almost instant and trailers seem a bit faster too.

to folow , i also disabled DNS masq on my dd-wrt linkysys 54g. Was in middle of doing this when update went live so i just did it all !

I have both a new ATV2 and a PS3 slim in my entertainment center which sits about 20 feet away from my Airport Extreme BaseStation and is visible through an open door in my office.

When I try and play Netflix movies on the ATV2, one of two things happen (we'll use Heroes season 3 as my example);

1) Roughly 5 - 10 minutes into the episode, the sound will completely cut out, yet the video will play along happily.

2) Roughly 10 minutes into an episode the video will freeze. End of story 😟

Only if I restart the ATV2 am I able to continue watching the episodes from the ATV2 from where it froze. In most cases, the sound or video will drop out again after another 5 - 10 minutes. Almost like clockwork.

Now underneath the ATV2 - two shelves down in my entertainment center - is my PS3 which has a slower network card in it than the ATV2 (A 802.11g versus the ATV2's 802.11n). Every time I have had a freeze on the ATV2, I switch over to the PS3 and can watch that episode, or anything without ever having an audio or video issue.

This tells me two things: 1) Netflix is not the culprit here, unless the software on the ATV2 is faulty or somehow Apple is re-streaming Netfix through some service of theirs and is making a mess of things. Also, 2) it tells me its not a network speed issue since I can view anything I want via Netflix on a slower PS3 without the issues I am having with the ATV2.

Either the Netflix software is faulty (buffering or error correction, or both) or something is screwy in the ATV2 hardware/software and is the problem.

For now, the ATV2 sits collecting dust as I can't get it to work with our Netflix account.

While the DNS may be a solution for some folks, I personally find that an unacceptable way to deal with the problem. Your typical "joe plumber" user isn't going to know what a DNS is or even want to try to fix it like that.

Given that this forum topic has almost 500 postings and 120K+ views, there should be some serious efforts by Apple/Netflix to resolve the issue.

I have a kick-*** Internet connection, generally 70 Mbps download. I hadn't been having any problems lately, until I tried to watch "Coma", which is a standard definition movie. I had nothing but pauses and rebuffering. I tried changing DNS to Google, OpenDNS, my own ISPs DNS (Cox) and nothing worked.

I ended up going back to my ISPs DNS. I then decided to try a different movie. I started up "The Naked Gun", which is an HD movie. It played flawlessly. I notified Netflix that there might be a problem with "Coma". So, I guess it may not necessarily be a problem with the Apple TV 2? Is this a possibility or a coincidence?

Apple...what the deuce? First night with ATV, 2+ hours for a show to load. I'm thinking it's my Internet and/or wireless till I spent 2 hours reading this crap. Tried the 8.8.8.8 trick, worked great during the day. Tried watching something tonight and the show paused 5 times 2 minutes into the show.

Freaking BS Apple. Why do I have to spend 2 hours reading possible solutions to a product that should...SHOULD work flawlessly out of the box? Thought I bought my fiancé a great birthday gift in ATV. What I got was a piece of sh1t.

I am having the same problem. I tried watching The Girl Who Played with Fire last night on my ATV2, and it had tons of lag and kept freezing up. After about 20 minutes of pure frustration, I had to turn it off. Then, I tried watching it on my iPad 2 through the Netflix App on my same network. Had no issues whatsoever. So, it's clear that the problem lies with the Apple TV 2 unit, not Netflix. I would be interested to know how this will be resolved.

Just because it worked on the iPad doesn't mean it's not a Netflix problem. I would try reporting it to them.

It is NOT a Netflix problem. It is a download problem from wireless. I've been having the same problem. Called Apple, they advised I call AT&T to see if we could boost the download Mbps. Apple said the download Mbps should be no less than 5. I went to a site called www.speedtest.net from my desktop...5.66 Mbps download speed, then again using the speediest.net app on my iPad...1.52 Mbps. I was losing 4 Mbps at a distance of 30 feet from my desktop.

Called ATT, went into my modem/wireless router settings and changed the wireless channel my router was using because we were getting interference from other wireless networks. Currently, works like a charm.

Schmaggin,

Your quote of "It is NOT a Netflix problem. It is a download problem from wireless..." may be true in your situation, but not for the vast majority of folks on this thread. And even 1.52 Mbps should be plenty of bandwidth for most streaming.

For example, I just carried my old crusty white MacBook 13" over to my entertainment center, set it on top of my ATV2, and ran the speakeasy speedtest (which I use all the time). Here are my stats:

DOWN: 10.29 Mbps UP: 4.15 Mbps

As you can see that is freakin fast. AND my MacBook has a slower network card (an 802.11g) instead of the faster 802.11n that is supposed to be in the ATV2. But with this crazy bandwidth I still have sound dropout and freezes almost 90% of the time watching Netflix.

I simply cannot believe this has anything to do with bandwidth when I am seeing crazy speeds from our Comcast cable running through my Apple Airport Extreme base station roughly 25 feet from my ATV2.

The Netflix sound dropouts and freezing in streaming video are software or hardware issues (but most certainly software).

And to echo sentiments from hundreds others on this thread, the ATV2 should be easy enough for your grandma to plug into her TV and get working. All these goofy DNS changes and other "tweaks" are short term potential fixes (none have proven 100% successful).

It is definitely not a wireless or bandwidth problem. I am hardwired with it, and at a run of only 10 feet at that and still have these same problems. Wireless to my ipod Netflix works great. Wireless to my Wii upstairs at about 30' thru floors and walls Netflix works great on that. Wireless to the laptop anywhere in the house Netflix works great on that. But hardwired to the AppleTV2 gives me problems, so it is a problem with the unit and it's communication with Netfilx. What the problem is and who needs to fix it I do not know ... and obviously no one else seems to know ... but Apple and Netflix need to get together and work this out.
Like others, watching Netfilx is the main reason I bought this thing and that part of it does not work, otherwise it is an awesome little thing. Out of the box I should not have to seek community support trying to figure out how to fix it to watch shows, which none of these temporary fixes seem to have helped me.

I just upgraded to ATV2 version 4.2. I cannot watch Netflix anymore. It pauses every couple of minutes. It's very annoying. Yet Netflix works fine on my PS3, and it used to work well on the ATV2 prior to this upgrade.

I have a Netgear WNDR3700 Gigabit router optimized for video streaming. My cable Internet is 30 Mbps download, 2 Mbps upload. My ATV2 is connected to the router via Ethernet. I'm not using wifi. The only change made was the upgrade to 4.2.

I hope Apple repairs this quickly!

I am having the exact same problem since updating. I, too, really hope Apple fixes this soon!

Since letting my ATV2 do its update yesterday, it has been unwatchable. I have switched to watching on my XBOX360. It has zero issues.

My internet connection is 20 down and 2 up.