Q: Apple TV HD Rental Streaming Problem

I spoke too soon, Provider in the Dark as to what the Heck is going on!

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?

1. Not all apps are enabled for AirPlay video, this is up to the developer to do

2. What is your Internet speed? www.speedtest.net

if on wifi try Ethernet and www.istumbler.net to rule out interference on the network

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.

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.

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.

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?

Tv shows are much shorter. An HD film is usually 3.5 to 4GB

What is your speed out of curiosity? Have you checked speedtest.net?

If on wifi, try Ethernet and www.istumbler.net to rule out interference

Are you using an ISPs DNS?

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.

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. 

Well that seems easy enough to do. Another project for the Superbowl weekend. Thanks so much.

Excellent, thanks for this. I will try that tonight. :)

I'm having the same issue. I'm about to return this appleTv.

You can do this right within the Apple TV Unit. Go to Settings > General > Restore .  That's what I'm doing now.

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.