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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

Reply
166 replies

Oct 2, 2010 11:09 AM in response to BigCountry10

I am having the same problem streaming HD anything, Movies or TV shows. It seems to try to buffer more of the video than when using SD video anything. When playing SD anything, it seems to start playing very soon after pressing play.

My content is on a spring 2009 iMac
CPU 2.93 GHz
4GB RAM
OS 10.5.8

Network
Wireless N (G,B 2.4 GHz) No G or be devices on network presently not switching to N only because iPhone 3GS doesnt 'support N.

Airport Extreme (man BS) -> Airport Extreme (Extend Network mode) -> Airport Extreme (Join Network Mode).

Thanks,

Andy D

Oct 2, 2010 12:44 PM in response to BigCountry10

This is similar to a problem I would have with my 1st gen AppleTV. I didn't have the long load times, but any HD content would pause/stutter partway through the movie.

I just got my 2nd gen AppleTV last night and am happy to report that I no longer have any issues streaming HD content. Not a single hiccup.

I did read in another thread that someone was having these same issues and they resolved them by rebooting the server computer. I don't know if you've tried that already, but its worth a shot if you haven't.

Nov 6, 2010 12:11 PM in response to AndyD

Mine craps out as soon as the entire movie (the grey bar) is loaded. 20-30 minutes into the movie usually. The movie plays fine while it is buffering, but when the entire movie is in the buffer it slows down and the audio stops. I have to do a reset to clear the buffer. Then the movie plays fine until the buffer fills again. Apple tech support can't help. This seems to be a hardware/firmware issue, not network.

Nov 25, 2010 10:44 AM in response to siggibg

I have the exact same issue. My Apple TV streamed HD content from my iTunes library via Home Sharing just fine before the 4.1 update. Now only SD content will stream/load. The HD movies just keep loading and won't start! I hope they fix this soon, soooo annoying!!!
I even tried AirPlaying the HD movies from my iPad to the Apple TV, and it's the same result. The SD content will play via AirPlay just fine, but the HD movies just keep loading and will not start.

Nov 25, 2010 10:44 AM in response to siggibg

siggibg wrote:
I just updated my Apple TV to OS 4.1 and now I can no longer stream HD movies from my iTunes library to the Apple TV, worked fine before... They just wont start playing anymore, just a loading sign and nothing! Anyone have the same problem ?


all my HD content still streams over WIFI perfectly.

Nov 25, 2010 11:21 AM in response to AntoPing

At least now I know that I am not alone having this problem! All my SD content works but not the HD content. I tried letting a HD movie load for about 15min and then it worked after it stream the whole movie into the Apple TV buffer.

I also have the same problem trying to stream from my iPad via Airplay!! I have also tried connecting the Apple TV directly to my router using ethernet and that also does not work...

Before the upgrade all my HD content worked perfectly and now I wish I didn't upgrade... I really hope someone will figure out a solution.

Nov 26, 2010 4:51 AM in response to siggibg

I am having the same problems as above but get this
TV in Lounge works fine with HD Content plays fine but my network signal is full strength as its in same room as my router.
TV in Bedroom 1 plays some HD content has 4 Bars for signal strength
TV in Bedroom 2 plays only HD Tv Shows has 4 Bars for signal strength

If connect all 3 to the TV in the Lounge they all work fine and this as only started sins the update


any ideas ???

Nov 29, 2010 12:41 PM in response to HuDDy25k

soo...Has anyone figured anything out. I think I have tryed everything. It seems that my apple tv picks and chooses which movies it will play and which ones it wont. All my movies in my itunes are in HD. Some stream and some do not. All have been encoded the same way. Before the 4.1 update ALL my movies would play instantly. Now after the update, it will only play roughly half of my library. Any ideas? My connection hasnt changed, i reset the router, i restarted the imac, i deleted and re-added the movies that wouldnt play to no avail. This is very frustrating because this is the sole reason I bought the apple tv. Suggestions? Is it just an apple eff-up?

Problem streaming HD Movies to Apple TV through home network

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