Q: Apple TV HD Rental Streaming Problem

25mps download 18mps upload and that is on wifi (using my iPad to test) while waiting the 30mins for the 45min episode to start playing.  So that is the lowest without the "stream" going it's 28mps download.  Again it is not all the time.  For the first few episodes or first couple movies (depending on SD or HD for how many it will handle) it is instant.  Then all of a sudden it stops streaming and goes into slow download mode like the HD got full and it has to delete first before it can stream again. 

Cobrattack wrote:

 

25mps download 18mps upload and that is on wifi (using my iPad to test) while waiting the 30mins for the 45min episode to start playing.  

With speeds like this, you should get the movies about a millisecond after you hit the download button. My network speed (CenturyLink DSL) averages maybe 6-8 Mbps.  While I normally download movies to watch on another day, I have seen ATV messages pop up that say my movie is ready for viewing in 10 minutes or less.

The problem sounds like a server problem that may effect only parts of the country (if that's possible).

After struggling with this for a while I've managed to get a little success after I changed my router settings.

This might not work for everyone but it may give a small hint about what's going on especially when one considers the difference between the way that Netflix serves up video (VBR) vs the way Apple does it via the Akamai Content Delivery Network (fixed).

I'm in the UK and using a Virgin Media SuperHub with a 50Mb connection. Connected to the SuperHub is an Airport Extreme (AE) to do the heavy lifting of dealing with all the Mac's, iPads, ATV's and other things that need access.

Whilst everything works pretty much fine on my ATV 1 on exactly the same network when streaming, after letting it fill up for about 15-20 minutes, things were consistently stalling when attempting to stream via my both of my ATV 2's no matter how long I left it.

So I decided to just buy or rent movies on my domestic iTunes server (an old Mac Mini with a shed of HDD space for my DVD & Blu-Ray rips, iTunes music, iPhoto, etc) then let it stream the movies to the ATV 2. This was working fine but when I was in a hurry to watch a movie I noticed that the speed of download to iTunes kept grinding to superslow which wasn't consistent with my pretty fast Internet connection.

It would speed up again if I paused the download via iTunes and then resumed or reset the router but then it would slow down again. For a while, just to get movies to download faster, I would actually sit by the server and keep pausing and resuming the download!

So first of all I thought that my ISP was choking my service but they insisted that they weren't.

So I goofed around on Google for a bit to find clues and then changed two settings on the Virgin Superhub.

I disabled the Firewall and the IP Flood Protection.

I'm not bothered by either as I use an Airport Extreme to deal with the outside world so effectively use the Superhub as a modem (it has a modem mode but I could never get it to work as the "superhub" isn't so "super"). I rely on the AE to handle all the firewall / flood requirements.

Hey presto!

Things got a whole lot better - HD movies download in about 20 minutes and things stream on the ATV 2

I hope this helps people here or at least provides some clues. There's clearly some differences in the way that the ATV 1 and the ATV 2 handles streaming not least of which the ATV 1 has a proper hard disc with a cut down version of Mac OS running it rather than being a glorified iOS device with a chunk of flash memory but things are working better for me now and I'm much happier with my ATV 2's.

Personally, I think that to get the best out of these devices you really need to add a cheap computer such as an old Mac Mini off eBay with some large HDD real estate. I couldn't imagine running an ATV on it's own.

Good luck everyone and thanks for all the ideas and input

Message was edited by: grahambrownmartin

I have both the ATV original and the new new ATV2.  Today I rented a HD verision movie on my ATV1 and after just a second or two after one minute, it said the movie was ready for viewing.  At that moment, it showed 1% downloaded, but it was closer to 2% as the 2% figure popped up right after the it said the movie was ready.

I think it works at about the same speed using ATV2.  Next time I'll rent it there and time it to see how it compares with ATV2

I had the same problem as everyone here.  And, I had an ATV 1 originally which gave me issues streaming music but never once rented movies.

So, I got the ATV 2 and had horrendous trouble watching a movie last night.  But - I think I have found the fix from another thread in the support community - you need to change the channel on your router.  Took 2 seconds, and it's absolutely perfect now.

Not sure if it matters, but I changed from channel 6 to channel 11.  Voila! 

For SURE try this fix - I think it's the answer!

Let me correct that - I never had a PROBLEM once with rented movies on my ATV1.  So it's possible that the router channel was responsible for my annoyances in bringing up the network via remote to control my music - but anyway, upon switching to ATV2 I had the streaming problem on youtube, movie previews and finally, viewing a rented movie when it ground to a total halt.

Switched the router channel and it was clear as an azure sky...

Been there — long frustrating issue for an Apple apostle.  Until this gets fixed, I rent a movie on the iMac, iP2, etc. and then, once it's downloaded, stream it through Airplay to the ATV2.  Works flawlessly and you can rent multiple movies and watch at your leisure — or rewatch within 24 hours.  Just don't count on the downstreaming capability of the ATV2 on its own — occasionally it's great, but commonly it buffers, delays, stutters, etc.

Yes I'm having better luck streaming music through AirPlay than using remote, even. Course it appears to lack the ease of interface - can't shuffle songs e.g.  Super annoying.

Andrew

Forgive my ignorance - how did you do this?? Up to 20hours wait now!!

Hi Magic Slim -

Not at all - what you'd want to try is to log into your wireless router.  Most routers (mine does, at least) include a setting for the "wireless channel" - mine has channels 1-11 and also an "Auto" option.

Mind you, I've had to switch it a couple of times and I still can't get "Remote" app (on either my iphone or ipad) to work for streaming music, which is super annoying.  I don't understand why, since when I go to Search in the movie section, Remote obligingly brings up the keyboard.  So, obviously the Remote app and my AppTV are "talking" to each other...I just can't bring up my music library. 

BUT - back to movie streaming and rental - I did have success by switching the channel in my router.  Just try any random channel other than the one it's set on now.  The router will re-set for a couple of minutes, then it should bring your network back up - you shouldn't have to revise any settings on any of your devices, because the network name (SSID) and pw are unchanged. 

It may be some trial and error to find a channel that works well - I am currently giving "Auto" a shot.

So mad at this stupid apple tv. I have tried everything and nothing has worked. Waste of money....should not have to spend so much time trying to fix something like this. Ha, and apple claims they are going to revolutionize the tv industry. This ATV2 is a joke. Don't waste your money buying. Walmart has the same thing for $60 and it comes with Hulu.

Have to say I agree at this point - the product is inferior to the ATV1.  I don't know what's going on, but they've made this thing less functional and generally worse over time.  It's a real disappointment.

I agree it is frustrating and Apple has been less than agressive in resolving the issue. I have been looking for a simple solution for months.

I went through these steps and it solved the problem for me.

I offer this suggestion, if you are using a cable modem such as a Motorola Surfboard or similer.  I resolved my problem by looking at the router I had sitting in between the ATV1 or 2 which I have both and Noticed that they picked up my router IP also as the DNS IP address automatically.  I then followed these steps:

Went into my Router Configuration: and wrote down the following from the WAN Section:

1. The IP address; the Subnet Mask; The default gateway IP address; The Primary DNS IP address; The Secondary DNS IP address;

2. I Then went into my ATV1 &2; under Settings General (Doing from memory) and my Internet Settings:

3. I then wrote down the DHCP address and Subnet Mask that was assigned to the ATV1 &2  by my Router: (This is an important step write it down before contiuning)

Next I reconfigured my IP settings Manually on both ATV1 & 2.

4. I then entered the IP address and Subnet Mask that was assigned by my Router manually:

5. I then entered the Default gateway IP address; The Primary DNS IP address; The Secondary DNS IP address from the WAN Section of my router.

**NOTE**  In DHCP ATV1&2  will always revert back to your Router for GatewayIP and so forth. it apparently cannot see beyond that.

This made a vast improvement!!  Less than 5 min. to load a HD movie then started and finished with not stalls.

The probelm appears to be using DHCP with a Router and both ATV1 & 2 will use the IP address of the Router as the gateway and DNS. 

The main thing is to write everything down then if it doesn't improve you can get back to step 1 and get another device. I have been on this thread for almost a year and the seems to have solved my problem.  If it works share it others.  If it doesn't then Apple needs to stepup because the won't get customers for their new products.

Nlrmccabe wrote:

 

Walmart has the same thing for $60 and it comes with Hulu.

Sorry you're having troubles with your ATV2.  I suspect it's a server problem with your system, but if it's not working for you and you're still in the "return to seller time option", you should return it.

Re Walmart and what ever  they have for $60, I doubt it offers the same video content like new releases like "The Help".  Whle Hulu is miles ahead of what was offered just a few years ago, I doubt it offers the kind of TV and movies that Apple does.  Even NetFlix doesn't offer the latest movies via download.  For that you have to subscribe to their DVD service.

I got my ATV2 from a customer of mine as a gift, or else I would have gotten Roku. I tried to rent a movie and experienced the same ridiiculous load time. I know nothing about setting up my router and don't intend to learn how. I edit videos and don't care to learn how to fix anything on a computer. That's why I enjoy Apple products. Take them out of the box and they work.

Aside from that, Roku is just a bettter product than Apple TV. I've only seen it used once at my friend's house about 2 years ago, but it had way more content (even then) and seemed to work easily. I was there when he set it up and we were watching clips from Animal Planet, digg, and host of others within minutes. He also checked his Facebook account. I never saw the rental of a movie, but it couldn't be any worse than ATV2. I will say if I had a big soundsystem upstairs away from my computer, it would be cool to share the iTunes library upstairs. And I just rent movies now to my computer an play them upstairs on my Apple TV and it works fine. I would just like it to work as well as the few Macs, iPhones, iPods and iPad that I've owned. And more content options, like Roku offers would be nice.