Apple TV 2nd Generation slow streaming for Movies from my iTunes

Just taken delivery of a 2nd Generation AppleTV. Everything works but when selecting a movie from my iTunes library it takes a very, very long time before it plays. I can fast forward and reverse but cannot play. Sometimes it takes 15 to 20 minutes before I can play it. Is there anything I can do to improve this? I could go and get the DVD and play it in my DVD player much faster than this.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Oct 9, 2010 6:14 AM

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189 replies

Feb 8, 2012 6:56 PM in response to jprice126

Mine worked well streaming from iTunes or from my iPad until yesterday when it stopped mid movie and then had trouble loading my library and was VERY slow playing files. Same problem as many others. I fixed it by setting up home sharing in video settings on my iPad as someone suggested. It fixed the problem immediately and now it is working correctly. Worth a try if you have an iPad or iPhone in the mix.

Feb 22, 2012 3:22 PM in response to jameswatson3

I own two 2nd-gen Apple TVs. This is an inherently flawed and problematic product all-around. Some "solutions" just happen to coincide with the times when it occasionally works as advertised. My home network is very fast (between 18-25 Mbps whenever I test it) and I can easily wait 20 or 30 minutes or more for a movie from my iTunes library to begin playing through my Apple TV. That's just absurd. I've done every troubleshooting step imaginable (including everything in this thread). Nothing has worked. Any real solution, if one exists, would be deeply appreciated.

Feb 24, 2012 12:53 PM in response to Richard Birkenhead

Sorry guys...I really cant give you a solution but all I can tell you is my experience...

I had 4 1st gen Apple TVs and now have 3 Apple TV2. WHen I first got them, they were incredible ( when they first came out )....then as the updates came, it slowed down in streaming....I had to spend some time fine tuning it...but it takes me about 15-15 seconds for a movie to start streaming for me....I have a two story home and 1 ATV2 is on the first floor where my router is at ( about 15-20 feet in a straight line but in another room). The other two are upstairs

Heres some specs:


All AppleTVs connected wirless N - 5ghz

All Apple TV are ATV2

All ATV2 use WPA2-AES

Using a Netgear WNDR4500 ( only for a week so far before that I had a NetGear WNDR3300 )

WMM and QoS activated on the router

Port forwarding for itunes and apple TV ( I use UPNP but I just did this to be redundant )

I have a dedicated Gateway GT5662 desktop for streaming and other things ( Ive upgraded several componenets )

-Upgrade: Intel Gigabyte Adapter ( This week )

-Upgrade: From 3 GB to 4 GB RAM (This week )

Charter Cable Internet ( right now its at 100mps dl/5mps ul. Prior : 25mbs UL/3mbs DL

Feb 26, 2012 12:19 AM in response to jprice126

Yep me too. Movies insanely slow, TV programs slow, even Vimeo is a dog. Prior to installing the update, I was a huge fan of Apple TV. I didn't have an issue at all. As of a few hours ago after I stupidly accepted the update, it's a piece of junk. Why do they do this. Have Apple never heard of the phrase, "if it ain't broke. don't fix it."? More to the point, what the **** are they doing to put things right?

Feb 26, 2012 12:48 AM in response to Jesse Diaz

Hang on. Don't have a go at me. Whether I installed an old update or not is irrelevant. The fact remains that there are a lot of people having the same problem. If you go back to the original post where this spun off from you'll find there's eight pages of people having the same problem since installing the LATEST version of Apple TV - whatever that is. So I wasn't sitting with baited breath waiting for the latest update. So what? The fact remains, since Apple told us to install the latest update, Apple TV has become a dog.

Feb 29, 2012 6:11 AM in response to jprice126

I was having the same problem at home in switzerland, which i assumed was my network. Then i came to charleston to visit my sister, and she was complaining aboutbhow tv shows stream right away but movies do not...that must be a software issue on the apple tv 2, as it clears a network fault. So test on on a movie, was hit play and wait. Waited 7 min, test two play and wait 8 min. Then i found this threadbas i was waiting on test 3, where the user mentioned that he could fast forward. I tried that and oddly found i could fastforward. I then tried to rewind...that also worked showing the scenes detail in reverse. When i hit play it worked.


So try this as a work around, ff or play x2 forward, then play x2 backwards, and then return yo play. It worked on 10 different movie tests here at my sisters...will try it at home.


Apple get this fixed!!

Mar 1, 2012 12:31 PM in response to NeilHitch

Same problems here. Everything was working fine but at some point in the last month or so, streaming/buffering from my Mac Mini has become a real issue.


Its not related to wireless here, I've got my Mac Mini connected via Gig ethernet to a new Airport Extreme Base Station and the ATV2 is also wired to the same AEBS.


Content which played OK previously now stutters as the buffering tries to keep ahead of the streaming video.

Once in 5 or 10 attempts it plays OK. Sometimes it just times out completely when trying to play a video. Switching to wireless doesn't help.


Not sure what else I can try to be honest.



Mike.

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Apple TV 2nd Generation slow streaming for Movies from my iTunes

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