Level 2

204 points

Minor Video Stutter

Just connected the new ATV(2), and watched a few free TV shows...I'm noticing some slight playback stutter (video only) - seems more like an encoding issue than streaming - wired connection, and had no pauses or audio stutters.

It presents sort of like dropped or missing video frames...Curious if any others are noticing this. I'm watching on a projection system (missing the 1080!) so perhaps this issue is exaggerated for me, but it's clearly there...

iMac i7, Mac OS X (10.6.4), 8 gb RAM

Posted on Oct 1, 2010 5:35 AM

308 replies

BobPenn

Level 1

34 points

Oct 19, 2010 1:31 PM in response to tf11

I phone Apple Support and they created a ticket to be sent to Engineering. Was on the phone for around 15 minutes explaining what is happening. As usual, they were very helpful and supportive. Now it's a matter of more people doing this to raise this issue higher in the queue.

Oct 20, 2010 1:04 AM in response to BobPenn

I contacted Apple support last night, they put me through to the engineering department. I had explained I had tried resetting, restoring, wired, wireless connection, stopped sending Apple info from the Apple TV, adjusted settings in my TV. He basically set up a new wireless network so it was streaming directly from my MacBook to my Apple TV as opposed to streaming to the router and the from the router to the Apple TV. But I still had the stutter issue. He seemed to think it was because the movie hadn't completely buffered into the Apple TV memory, which i knew it wasn't, so we let it buffer the full film, still with no success.

He said he could not see any other issues like this in their logs, but i explained it was all over the forums and many people were experiencing it. After we let it buffer the full movie, he had nothing else but to leave the issue with him to investigate further. He is calling back on Thursday evening, hopefully with some other suggestions.

udo2321

Level 1

0 points

Oct 20, 2010 7:56 AM in response to Greg Bastug1

I can confirm the skipping of a frame (maybe more) every once in a while when watching HD movies on the new Apple iTV. No problems with sound. It appeared in both HD movies I rented so far. Netflix and Youtube don't seem to show this (not HD anyway as far as I know).
It's very annoying considering that I just paid $4.99 for an HD movie on itunes to rent it. It's not obvious. But as somebody pointed out, once you saw it, you see it every ~15 seconds.
Any feedback from Apple about this yet?

rz22g

Level 1

62 points

Oct 20, 2010 8:29 AM in response to udo2321

Unfortunately Apple tends to move slow on issues until they get real exposure, for example a couple of top sites reporting the issue. At that point it starts affecting sales and then of course Apple will get in gear and actually acknowledge the problem and fix it.

My suggestion is contacting popular sites, pointing them to specific threads where people are complaining and perhaps they will pick it up and make a story.

rz22g

Level 1

62 points

Oct 20, 2010 8:38 AM in response to Greg Bastug1

I went to engadget.com and used the red "Tip Us" link at the top right of the page. If your having this stutter issue, which so far I have not seen a new ATV that does not, send them a tip.

To make sure this gets noticed put New ATV Stuttering Video as the title and also link to this thread in the message.

Oct 20, 2010 8:47 AM in response to Greg Bastug1

I'm just fallowing up on my post on this issue. I hadn't seen any frames drop since turning off the "send data to Apple" feature. I should note that coincidently around the time I disabled that feature, I had also unplugged my ATV because it had locked up. I've also reset it by holding down select and menu as well. However it wasn't until I disabled "send data to Apple" that the frame drops seemed to go away.

With that said, try resetting and disable "send data to Apple" then see if you still have the frame drops.

rz22g

Level 1

62 points

Oct 20, 2010 8:55 AM in response to Phoenixfury

Yeah thats worth a try.. however mine and none of the ATV units I have seen that do this did not have that enabled to begin. Still those experiencing this should give it a try.

Greg Bastug1 Author

Level 2

204 points

Oct 20, 2010 9:03 AM in response to Phoenixfury

While this may have worked for you, I don't think this is the fundamental issue.

I just got off the phone with Apple Wireless (the new name of the support group for that handles the Apple TV among other products)

1) There was an Apple TV 2 update released a few days ago, version 4.1 (she said the shipping version was called 4.0) This address a number of issues, but primarily local streaming and not the dropped frames issue. I don't recall seeing any update notification - perhaps it happened in the background; I'll check when at home.

2) Apple is aware of the dropped frames problem with rental content, and it is an iTunes store issue. Apparently, it is an encoding problem and they are in the process of fixing (re-encoding perhaps? Yikes...)

It was suggested that I go here:

http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/contact.html

to address the concern specifically, and to see if there's a more concrete time frame for the fix on the ITMS.

So call, get a case number, and then report on that contact page - that's about as thorough as we can get I suppose.

morgajx

Level 1

1 points

Oct 20, 2010 9:30 AM in response to Greg Bastug1

I have just checked the firmware on my ATV and its 4.0 and tried the update but it says its already up to date. I am in the UK so we might not have it yet. I dont see anything on the Apple website either.

Greg Bastug1 Author

Level 2

204 points

Oct 20, 2010 9:34 AM in response to morgajx

I indicated the same thing to the tech support agent, but she said it was released a few days ago...I would suggest all here experiencing this call 1-800-SOS-APPL and see if you get an answer consistent to what I was provided...

Oct 20, 2010 9:52 AM in response to Greg Bastug1

I suspect what the tech meant is that it was released to their server farm which does not necessarily mean it was released to the public yet. That and if it's really a 4.1 and not a 4.01 this is more than just a minor update. I suspect Apple may be holding back the update due to the big Mac keynote that is going on today. We'll have to keep our eyes peeled on that one to see if they say anything about the ATV. I suspect a new feature here and there amongst bug fixes.

Oct 20, 2010 5:08 PM in response to Greg Bastug1

I can't imagine Apple re-encoding all their video content on iTunes to solve this problem. That's insane. If the rep lead you to believe that I have to think they are mistaken. This looks to be a firmware/software bug.

Greg Bastug1 Author

Level 2

204 points

Oct 20, 2010 6:11 PM in response to Merged Content 1

The issue was described as being iTunes store related, not something that would be fixed in firmware. That would likely mean either an encoding or a transport/delivery issue. The speculation about encoding was mine, not the tech agent's...

The upgrade she was referring to was perhaps the os version not the firmware. When you are in the About screen, pressing the enter button will cycle you through different information. The first is the firmware, which shows 4.0. On a subsequent screen, there is an os version, and mine does show 4.1

I played several HD trailers a short while ago, and did not notice any dropped frames (though lots of encoding compression artifacts...). Being only two minutes long, they're not an ideal test, but it was mildly encouraging. These trailers were for upcoming releases, so they may have been encoded very recently and thus don't exhibit the problem if already identified - or if a delivery issue, it is addressed,

Time to rent some real content and see if there are any real changes...

morgajx

Level 1

1 points

Oct 21, 2010 1:39 AM in response to Greg Bastug1

I am getting this issue on handbraked movies which play ok by other streaming methods, itunes rented movies and even the digital copy of "Star Trek" that came with my blu-ray. I noticed that when the buffering is full, looking at my firewall logs that itunes is polling the atv2 every 45 seconds. Due to my imac being in a different room I cant see if the timing coincides with the frame drop.

Finally I have noticed very slight jerkiness a couple of minutes prior to the start of the stutter.

Oct 21, 2010 7:06 AM in response to Greg Bastug1

Can you let us know if the judder has been resolved on content being streamed from your iTunes library in particular any Handbrake encodes if you have any. As the successor and upgrade model, I would be disappointed if ATV2 cannot reliably stream what ATV1 could.

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Minor Video Stutter