Netflix Problems

I did a reset as some have advised.

Restarted and played same movie again. Netflix still stutters, sputters and stops on AppleTV2 and v.4.2.1

Double checked my DL speed - 30Mb tonight when it was stuttering.

Anybody know if Apple is doing anything about this?

craigmag143, any updates?

In a similar situation to you, have escalated to Sr. Support and from there to Engineering. So has markbober in a different thread. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2616899?start=330&tstart=0

Curious if you've made any headway.

I sent my thanks to you on the other thread.

I have not contacted Apple as yet as I just connected my Netflix for the first time Saturday. I experienced some problems early Saturday evening but it improved as the evening wore on. Then Sunday evening it was downright unwatchable. Since my AppleTV sits about 2 feet from my router, it has been connected by ethernet from day one.

I came to the forum to find out if this was something others were experiencing (obviously a lot more than I expected) and if there was a suggested fix. I followed through on the reset as some others suggested on this thread, without the desired result.

As soon as I can get enough time to sit on hold for a few hours (probably not until Saturday), I'll call them and report the bug.

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.

That would explain why I was able to watch 6 hours of Monty Python Documentaries. I started watching about 8pm Pacific on Saturday night. As the hours grew later, I had less and less pausing of the AppleTV.

I would gladly trade instant streaming for a "30 minute head start" to cache the download before I started to watch.

No headway. Apple engineering said it's not their problem. Netflix supposedly "escalated" the issue for me, but I haven't heard anything back. My ISP is fine. Nobody will own this issue. Like Markbober, I suspect it's an issue with the Netflix app software on the apple tv. I've just dealt with it. It seems to happen the most in the evening, but I never get HD resolution or DD5.1.

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.

I have Time Warner too, and tried setting the DNS to 8.8.8.8 or whatever it was, and wasn't successful, any other ideas?

Well, I'm not sure if Netflix changed something or if my ISP did something, but I've had two pristine evenings (Thursday and Friday) of watching Netflix on the Apple TV. No pausing, no buffering, just enjoyable viewing. This is the first time I remember that I've never had pausing while watching Netflix in the evening.

We'll see if it stays this way.

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 denial of service attack? That makes little sense. It the routers firewall was thinking the Netflix stream was an attack of some sort why doesn't it impact any other device in my house? My desktop, laptop, iPhone and Wii all stream Netflix without issue. The only time I've had any problems is with the Apple TV. And when I plug my laptop into the Ethernet cable from my Apple TV, no problems at all. The issue s clearly with the implementation of Netflix on the Apple Tv. Whether it's Apple's fault or Netflix's, I don't care as long as some one owns up and fixes it. I don't see how this could possibly be a router firewall issue.

My observation over a couple months of this problem is that the problem occurs as a function of the movie chosen on Netflix. It does not matter whether it is HD, Dolby Digital, both, popular films, foreign films, etc. It just seems to occur rather randomly. It's almost like someone is guessing at the bandwidth required to get these movies out to users, but quite often this guess is wrong. You can be having a problem with a given movie, switch to another after getting fed up, and then, the new selection runs flawlessly from start to finish.

Someone please explain that.

This is totally my experience. But, the appletv is the only Netflix device I have that fails to play videos properly. maybe if apple opened the Netflix AirPlay from iOS devices, it could at least be a way around the problem.