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Level 1

0 points

Problem streaming HD Movies to Apple TV through home network

Got my new Apple TV yesterday but has some quirks. The biggest one is I'm in the middle of watching an iTunes HD movie I own -- streaming it to my Apple TV on my home network -- and the video starts stuttering halfway through the movie. It was playing with no sound, the video was jumpy, etc.

I stopped the movie, unplugged the Apple TV, tried playing the movie again -- I did this a couple of times -- and same result. This issue didn't happen until about an hour into the movie -- for the first hour of the show it played perfectly. Just before the movie, I'd watched an HD TV show I downloaded from iTunes earlier in the day, and was streaming this to my new Apple TV over the home network, and it played fine.

The other issue I'm seeing is it takes a looooooooooong time to load my iTunes Library from my computer. I selected my shared library, and then it takes about five times (or more) as long to load the list of movies compared to my older Apple TV (the previous generation 160GB hard drive model).

Is anyone else seeing these issues, and is there a fix?

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Sep 30, 2010 3:45 PM

166 replies

Nov 29, 2010 1:05 PM in response to Ubberd0rk

This sounds similar to the problem I've been having since the update. SD movies and TV shows stream perfectly; HD movies don't have enough of a buffer to play smoothly. I watch HD shows in two minute spurts before the buffer runs out and the ATV has to sit there spinning. This is extremely frustrating, to say the least, since iTunes encourages us to download the HD rather than SD version of content. I know that when buying HD content, iTunes also downloads the SD version. Is there a way to force the ATV to play the content in SD? That might be a temporary solution until Apple releases a patch.

Nov 29, 2010 3:22 PM in response to Ubberd0rk

Please Apple or someone help with this problem! My ATV2 streamed HD and SD content perfectly before the update. Since updating, it seems to randomly choose what videos it wants to play back. Videos that played back perfectly before are now stuck on the buffering screen with a spinning wheel in the bottom left. What happened? This update has rendered my streaming device unable to stream!
I love my Apple products and have just transferred hundreds of films to m4v to work with my Apple TV, now since updating they won't play. Poor show Apple, you're forcing me to go back to my PS3. Please respond to this.

Nov 29, 2010 9:41 PM in response to thewizardofoz

Same problem here. I haven't been able to stream HD content from my computer to my Apple TV2 since the update. HD content from Netflix starts almost instantely, as well as SD content from my computer.

Nov 30, 2010 9:43 AM in response to thewizardofoz

I too am being forced to go back to my ps3 because of this. I was gonna try to downgrade the firmware, which is easy enough, but for some reason I couldn't get the stupid thing to go into DFU mode to where I could install the original 4.0 apple tv firmware. Maybe y'all will have better luck tufting to get it in DFU mode but it took me 2 hrs and still didn't get it, and I'm VERY familiar with apple products and how to manipulate them. Ugh apple, you are ******* me off.

HuDDy25k

Level 1

29 points

Nov 30, 2010 2:31 PM in response to Ubberd0rk

I Have been trying the same mothered funny thing is out of my 3 TV I have only been able to access 1 of them and thing that I can not understand is but out off all my TV's this one is the only one that still played HD content after the update so I have not really archived much I am now wondering if there are different batches of TV or even a different manufacturer ???

Nov 30, 2010 7:50 PM in response to HuDDy25k

yes, this is very frustrating to people (like myself), who have bought a metric eff-ton of HD movies from itunes store. I realized that anything that is tagged as "HD" in itunes will just simply not play. I have blu ray rips that do not have the tag and they play perfectly fine, so its not a bit-rate or resolution issue because some of my rips are higher quality that the "HD" movies I purchased from itunes. I tried to use metaX to re-tag a movie marked as HD in hopes that it would remove it, but it did not and it still wont stream via apple tv like it used to. This is beyond frustrating and it doesn't seem to be affecting everyone (as far as I can tell). This should not be an issue and I am seriously disappointed. If anyone knows how to remove the "HD" tag on movies in itunes, give it a try to see if it solved the problem, as I do not know how to remove it without re-endcoding the entire freaking movie!

Nov 30, 2010 10:48 PM in response to Ubberd0rk

FYI I managed to remove the HD tag with isubtitles and it didn't help.

Dec 1, 2010 6:43 AM in response to JohnnyBGoode

well idk *** to do at this point. This really makes me angry...and apple prolly wont fix it (that is, if they fix it)for months...I may be returning it and opt for a boxee box, which can actually stream 1080p

Dec 1, 2010 3:06 PM in response to Ubberd0rk

Solution. Hi guys, I found a workaround that works for now for those stuck on the buffering screen. When your stuck and the movie doesn't seem to be loading, press down on the apple remote, which should bring up those breaks in the timeline where you can navigate through the film in jumps. Click right through the film to the end until the buffering screen is full. Then just click left back to the beginning and hit play. The video then plays like before. (but this is ridiculous that we have to do such a thing.)

Baradoc

Level 1

0 points

Dec 1, 2010 3:09 PM in response to Ubberd0rk

Hello,

I've got the same problem with my hd movies with ac3 dd 5.1 sound
I tried to reencode one movie in hd but with acc stereo sound and now it works fine
I think this is not a solution ( i loose dd 5.1 sound)

Dec 1, 2010 8:34 PM in response to thewizardofoz

hey, that is a good work around. It worked for me no problem. Of course that doesnt make this any more acceptable. Thanks dood. My apple tv kinda gained some of the functionality that its supposed to have lol. Good lookin out man! I really hope that apple addresses it. It is obviously not an issue with the capability of the apple tv. Something got messed up in the firmware or something. For anyone trying to downgrade, good luck. I tried to do it and apple quit signing the firmware. Unless you previously saved your shsh blobs (which i did not cause im stupid)

macjk

Level 1

0 points

Dec 1, 2010 10:07 PM in response to BigCountry10

I've had absolutely no problems streaming HD movies from either the iTunes store or my Mac. All the movies are ready to play in a few seconds and have no problems during playback. The only problem I have is watching previews. The previews for rental movies on iTunes take FOREVER to load, and I usually end up giving up on the preview.. this is the only issue I've had.. everything else has worked flawlessly. I am using an Apple TimeCapsule for my wireless network, and my provider is Comcast high speed internet. It really seems to me that anyone who's having problems with playback probably have either a slow wi-fi network, or a slow connection with your internet provider. I can only guess the problems I've been having loading previews can be blamed on Apple's servers. Anyone trying to use a Verizon DSL connection should probably just give up.. DSL is too slow to handle HD streaming.. you're going to need a cable internet provider.. Comcast is evil, but their internet is fast.. at least where I live.

Dec 2, 2010 6:36 AM in response to macjk

Well your just lucky then. This is not an issue of slow internet in most cases, from what I understand. I have high speed internet via comcast and my wifi network is more than capable of streaming HD, either from itunes store or my HD content in itunes. It worked perfectly before the 4.1 update, and after the update this problem started. My network didnt change so we can rule that out. It is CLEARLY a apple firmware issue and it needs to be resolved.

Dec 2, 2010 11:23 AM in response to Ubberd0rk

Yes totally agree. This problem has nothing to do with slow internet. This problem only started after the update - videos that played before suddenly stopped playing after. It is a bug that needs to be addressed by Apple immediately. The fact that you can step through your movie file and suddenly it works (like I mentioned before) only confirms the fact that it is some sort of bug and not a case of slow buffering.
Apple are you listening? It would be nice for some sort of acknowledgment of the problems we are all having and an incoming fix?

vazandrew

Level 8

40,354 points

Dec 2, 2010 12:04 PM in response to thewizardofoz

I have no issues either. I agree it's not only slow internet but there's other factors like ISP throttling connection, wifi issues, high traffic area, couple that with slow internet speed and it will be problematic.

Also worth mentioning, advertised speed and what you're getting on a consistent basis will usually be different.

Problems with home-sharing will be based on your local network.

Message was edited by: vazandrew

Problem streaming HD Movies to Apple TV through home network