Netflix Problems

Earlier in this thread I reported repeated problems with shows stopping often. I wanted to update and say I haven't had any problems for 2 or three weeks now. I didn't do anything to fix the problem. The problem just seems to have gone away. Everything works good. Weird

Sorry if this is a stupid question but I too am having netflix issues on my apple tv's. I would like to try setting the DNS to the 8.8.8.8 but exactly how do I do this? I have an Apple Airport Extreme for my router and both apple tvs are connected wirelessly. Thanks.

Not sure if this is repetitive to what has been posted already, but, I have several movies and videos on both of my computers (successfully set up for home sharing). I have been able to access photos, music, and a few videos on the apple TV, but some work and some don't. I can click on one video, it loads, and then plays, and then on others, just a black screen. The same on Netflix. I tried loading one movie (let it sit for quite a while) - nothing, black screen. Then clicked on another (that I didn't really want to watch) and it loaded straight away. Previews from the iTunes store worked fine.

My internet connection is fine, and all the same movies worked just fine on my laptop.

Do I have a faulty unit? Has anyone else had similar problems?

HELP!
Very frustrated.

Same problem. Can't watch netflix (used to work great before the update) and now literally both kids are crying because they can't watch Rainbow Brite (although - this might be good for me...)
Apple needs to seriously do something about this. In the meantime, I will try one of the many fixes on this post - thanks for all of your input

I generally prefer to watch Netflix on Apple TV, even though I also have a PS3, because Netflix loads so fast on Apple TV. I've never had more than a few seconds delay starting a movie or TV show, and never any pauses, nor have I ever had it drop back to a lower resolution, as seems to happen sometimes with my PS3. One time I did have Netflix seem to crash back to the main Apple TV menu, but I was able to restart the show immediately. For a while, I was occasionally getting "Unable to contact Netflix" errors, but these never persisted, and they vanished entirely after the Apple TV update.

Jebus.. guess im not alone. It's been working perfectly until this afternoon. Just watched a movie.. then when attempting to play the next.. it could no longer connect after selecting a movie and pressing play. Works fine on my iMac and my cheapo $99 LG blu-ray player.. kids are watching a Netflix movie on the TV right now.. from the LG.

I have a somewhat different problem. I fired up my Apple TV today and Netflix had gone missing. As in the option is just gone from the Internet menu (just says YouTube, MobileMe, flickr, Radio and that's it). I've used Netflix on my Apple TV without problems in the past. Any ideas?

Ridongculous wrote:
I have a somewhat different problem. I fired up my Apple TV today and Netflix had gone missing. As in the option is just gone from the Internet menu (just says YouTube, MobileMe, flickr, Radio and that's it). I've used Netflix on my Apple TV without problems in the past. Any ideas?

Restore the Apple TV to factory settings.

Wow, this is getting way complex and still doesn't sound like we really know what the problem is. Several people have seen short term improvement after and adjustment of some kind only to have problems return again later. What is throttling? This term has come up a couple of times. I have tried all of the stuff that Netflix says to do, but not the DNS settings you suggested. I do seem to have some some recent improvement. I have learned to have patience with buffering. It seems if you just let it recover without trying to tweak it, it comes back eventually. Still, it is annoying.

Jason -
I have a Comcast cable mode, but I suspect that the same logic applies. Can you say more about the settings needed to put one of the devices in bridge mode?

I too am interested in an explanation about throttling at the ISP level and what one can do about it.

I am having the same issue! The ATV worked last nigh while watching a show but once i paused it and came back it did the spinning wheel until it told me Netflix wasn't available. I went on my mac and the shows played fine. What's the deal?

I've directly compared the quality of Netflix on Apple TV to XBox 360 and also to PS3. The picture seems slightly better on Apple TV than on the 360, although this may be because the 360 is connected via component instead of HDMI. I could perceive no differences between the picture on Apple TV and on PS3. While my other devices occasionally pause for Netflix to rebuffer or drop down in resolution, I've yet to have this happen on Apple TV. On one occasion I had the PS3 drop back to lower resolution, and I switched to Apple TV, which continued to stream the same show in full resolution. Of course, the Apple TV is much faster to load Netflix than either the 360 or PS3

The tenor of these responses indicates that ATV2 has widespread problems, is not easy to use, doesn't work well and requires significant tweaking to get it to work at all. I think Apple owes all of us a firmware update, a software update or a free ATV3 (hopefully more highly evolved) when they come out. I have been an Apple user since the 80s and this is the worst experience I have ever had with one of their products. I await the fix patches. Spending an additional $115 to support a product I paid $99 isn't a very attractive option for me.

It would be hard to say whether it's something with ATV or Netflix or combination. I have heard feedback from others having similar issues with completely different devices.

Fortunately I haven't had issue but obviously a lot are so hopefully something comes.

T. Gibbs -
You are in Boston, using Comcast as your ISP and experiencing no problems with your ATV

I too am using Comcast and am 90 miles from Boston. Our download speed is typically 15 MG/sec or better, but I am experiencing the interruptions others have reported.

What Cable Modem and Router are you using? My Modem is a Terayon - Model TJ715X. My Router is an Airport Extreme.

Also how are they connected to each other, to the ATV? Our ATV is connected wirelessly. I did test bypassing the Airport Extreme and connecting the TJ715X directly to the ATV, with no improvement.

You are also appear to using a iOS beta. What effect has that had?

Any other potential fixes in your installation?

Thanks.