Apple TV HD Rental Streaming Problem

I wanted to create this topic to ask if others are running into the same issues I am with streaming rented HD movies. I go to play the rented HD movie and am transferred to a screen that says "Loading...." for about a minute or two. Then, that message is replaced with one that says "Ready to play in [xxx] minutes"...with horribly long times listed (my movie was rented last night, and as of this evening, it shows "Ready to play in 232 minutes").

This seems like a MAJOR flaw with the Apple TV. I have no problem viewing YouTube, HD Netflix movies, HD trailers, etc. I have even been able to watch an HD TV show rental within about 5 mins of selecting it. Seems like there may be a major flaw in the streaming process for HD Movie rentals over the Apple TV.

If you haven't tested this yet (or if you have no issues), please post what is happening with your HD movie rentals.

TWP

Note: I have rebooted everything, used my Airport Express with the ethernet cord directly into the Apple TV, over wiFi, adjusted the distance between my router and the Apple TV. Nothing has worked.

Dell Laptop m1330, Windows 7

Posted on Oct 8, 2010 9:05 PM

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771 replies

Jan 21, 2012 2:44 PM in response to TWalkerPolk

Got our atv in December and tried to do two things


1. tried to watch an online film via love film last night, got sound on the tv but no picture , the picture was on the iPad so that was a fail , any ideas on how to fix that?


2. Downloaded a movie from apple tonight , got halfway through and film stopped, tried to restart and we were told that we could watch the film in 17 Hours and 26 'minutes....? Tried to re start, start again to get similar message with varying times from 17 hours to 27 hours until we can watch it.....tried switching everything off then back on again with no luck.


I am completely computer illiterate and have no idea what any of the suggestions mean other than 'Take it back to the shop', we are also in the uk so some of the USA stuff confuses me even more!


Any ideas?

Jan 21, 2012 3:29 PM in response to TWalkerPolk

I have the same problem. It used to start streaming shortly after renting a film. However, now it takes almost ask g as the film runs for to be ready. I've noticed this since switching on iTunes Match. Not sure if that is related or not. Have tried turning it off. Certainly putting me off renting films this way. In fact all my Apple products are running very slow at the moment. Very disappointed. Seems to be software bugs.

Jan 24, 2012 9:44 AM in response to TWalkerPolk

This is not an Apple issue. After finding this forum yesterday I took someone's advice and changed my DNS to google's. It worked great. Was having trouble with iPad streaming as well so I changed its DNS and now it works great. time warner is my ISP and I think they are slowing down access to apple servers. I'm not an expert, just my two cents but everything is working great now. I suppose there is an outside chance there could be a problem with apple's DNS but I've never had any problem with netflix so that probably eliminates that.

Jan 24, 2012 12:07 PM in response to johnniefromnc

As I noted back on 1/16, my ATV2 issue is fixed. Just wanted to say that it is still fixed. IMHO, anyone with an issue should make sure that ouyr ATV2 has a very good signal if you are using wireless. Whatever the case, the unit works if the signal to it is good — fast enough line, good conneection with the provider, and good wireless signal. If there is a possibility of a poor wireless signal (don't trust the bars showing on the ATV2 menu), then try adding an Airport Expres to extend your wireless signal — while making sure that your base station is giving a good signal to begin with. With signal improvement on my wireless network, my ATV2 went from not functioning to perfect functioning.

Feb 2, 2012 3:25 PM in response to TWalkerPolk

First time posting here, so go easy on me!


Like quite a few people here, I've had issues streaming films. However, I have no problem streaming HD TV programs, even seconds after attempting to stream a film... Intact, I can stream other HD films straight after too!


It's clear to me that my net connection isn't the problem, neither is iTunes, as I can easily download HD TV shows with no delay. It appears to specifically be films; certain types of films. Do Apple store films on different servers, and that is why some films do not work?

Feb 4, 2012 4:42 AM in response to vazandrew

Hi Vaz, I have tried all the things you mentioned above (I read back through a lot of this thread to get an idea of the issues. Line is 7 Mbps, no interference, and no difference in any DNS settings i use. The TV shows are HD and an hour long, whilst some of the films in question are SD. The shows start instantly whilst some films won't at all. And this is within seconds of trying one another.


From what I can tell, there is an issue with certain films downloaded via Apple TV, as I have no trouble downloading those same trouble films from my Mac.


Hopefully Apple will figure out how to solve this issue soon.

Feb 4, 2012 8:21 AM in response to SumThinkCreative

I think I had posted this before. I had experienced all the issues that have been reported on this discussion and finally took the Apple TV box into an Apple store. They simply connected the Apple TV box to a Mac and opened iTunes and restored factory defaults and ever since then I have had zero problems. I can download movies from Apple TV in minutes and they are able to be played in entirety and other sources such as NetFlix work without a hitch (touch wood that it keeps working). You should be able to do the same from any PC/Mac with iTunes.

Feb 8, 2012 7:02 PM in response to TWalkerPolk

I am having the same problem as the OP.


We rent movies on our ATV all the time and never have issues until now.

It's taking hours to load an hd movie now and it used to take about a minute.


I tested my network, rebooted everything etc.


I then called apple support and they wanted to charge me $30 to help me work on a $99 product with no guarantee that they could resolve it.


The lady on the phone even tried to tell me they have never heard of this issue. Meanwhile a 2 second google search turns up countless posts from people with the same issue.

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Apple TV HD Rental Streaming Problem

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