Level 1

5 points

Netflix pausing/buffering issues

Hey all!

I bought my apple tv yesterday, mainly for the purposes of watching netflix, so my parents can have the wii back. Everything works fine, youtube, flicker, itunes and so forth, but then when I would try to watch an episode of tv on netflix, every one to two mins it would pause for 30ish seconds and have the spinning wheel going, like it was buffering.

Has anyone else had these issues? If so, how do you fix it?

Thanks!

Posted on Oct 17, 2010 7:50 AM

728 replies

Apr 11, 2011 6:51 AM in response to RebeccaA

Please contact Apple with your issues. The more people that contact them, the better. It would help if you called Netflix first to ask them at what speed you're connecting with the Apple TV. Call within 24 hours of the last use.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html

1-800-275-2273

Tell them you are reporting a bug and are not looking for support (in case you don't have AppleCare).

caa100

Level 1

11 points

Apr 15, 2011 7:46 AM in response to markbober

I think the bandwidth numbers Netflix has are wrong.

Just now they hey told me I was getting .88 Mbps on the show I was watching. I told them I had no pausing at the moment. They said anything below 1.5 Mbps should exhibit pausing.

Their explanation was that perhaps the AppleTV does not report bandwidth properly. The rep told me that until recently, they never even got numbers from AppleTV's -- the always reported 0.

So they said perhaps the AppleTV is not reporting accurate numbers, because at 0.88 I should be seeing pausing/rebuffering pretty frequently.

caa100

Level 1

11 points

Apr 15, 2011 7:51 AM in response to caa100

Has anyone has luck with Apple Support and escalating the issue?

I have been working with Netflix, my ISP, and Apple. They are all pointing the finger at each other.

The facts are:
AppleTV connected via wireless
From a wireless PC, using Speedtest.net, I get 18Mbps down.
Apple rentals are fine (though its been a couple of weeks since I rented.)
Netflix on AppleTV usually pauses a couple of times during a standard def TV show (not horrid, but still a pain)
Netflix on Wii (also wifi) is not a problem

Netflix bandwidth last night:
Wii: 3.99Mbps
Apple TV: 0.68
Speedtest on an iPhone: 15 Mbps

So Netflix said I should work with Apple.

Apple said to reset the AppleTV. (That sage advice cost me $29 worth of AppleCare)

After the reset, I called Netflix and they said I was only getting 0.88 Mbps.

I am off to buy a 50' ethernet cable, just so I can rule out Wifi and my router, even though I know they are fine.

Fun fun fun.

Apr 15, 2011 7:50 AM in response to caa100

It's possible that they are not properly reporting the bandwidth but that doesn't explain the loads of people with issues. I have problems most of the time and have a very fast connection. I've literally tried everything mentioned in this forum and still have problems. I have talked to Netflix on multiple occasions and my connection speed is generally reported between 1.0 and 1.8 Mbps.

caa100

Level 1

11 points

Apr 15, 2011 7:52 AM in response to markbober

markbober wrote:
It's possible that they are not properly reporting the bandwidth but that doesn't explain the loads of people with issues. I have problems most of the time and have a very fast connection. I've literally tried everything mentioned in this forum and still have problems. I have talked to Netflix on multiple occasions and my connection speed is generally reported between 1.0 and 1.8 Mbps.

Absolutely agree with you, markbober. Did not mean to imply there was no issue. Clearly there is. I am experiencing it, though not as badly as many of you.

Apr 15, 2011 7:53 AM in response to markbober

I have been able to escalate the issue without AppleCare. I told them I was reporting a bug. They had be go through a few steps first and get to the Senior Advisor, etc, but it's already gone to the engineer and back once. The engineer told me to route the AppleTV directly to my router (which I did). Waiting to hear back again.

Apr 15, 2011 7:54 AM in response to markbober

Sorry, didn't mean to sound like such a ****** earlier. I just ripped the reply off quickly.

caa100

Level 1

11 points

Apr 15, 2011 7:54 AM in response to markbober

markbober wrote:
I have been able to escalate the issue without AppleCare. I told them I was reporting a bug. They had be go through a few steps first and get to the Senior Advisor, etc, but it's already gone to the engineer and back once. The engineer told me to route the AppleTV directly to my router (which I did). Waiting to hear back again.

I will try to do the same thing. Gotta go buy a really long ethernet cable first. We can compare notes right here in this thread.

Apr 15, 2011 7:57 AM in response to caa100

The key for me was watching the same content on the same network at the same time on multiple devices and experiencing problems only on the Apple TV. Then calling Netflix and asking for the speeds.

MFQ

Level 1

0 points

Apr 15, 2011 10:44 AM in response to RebeccaA

If I'm right, all these Netflix issues may be nonissues soon enough. I have posted on my blog my comments on what Apple is up to in the context of this battle. I'd love to see replies here or on my post.

http://futureoftv.blogspot.com/2011/04/reed-and-giant-apple.html

Mike

caa100

Level 1

11 points

Apr 15, 2011 10:56 AM in response to MFQ

MFQ wrote:
If I'm right, all these Netflix issues may be nonissues soon enough. I have posted on my blog my comments on what Apple is up to in the context of this battle. I'd love to see replies here or on my post.

http://futureoftv.blogspot.com/2011/04/reed-and-giant-apple.html

Mike

Whether or not Apple decides to compete with Netflix in the future is irrelevant to the topic of this thread.

Completely NOT HELPFUL to those of us trying to troubleshoot.

Blatant attempt to drive traffic to your blog.

Please do not pollute this thread with replies to MFQ. This thread is for troubleshooting a real, current technical problem.

Apr 15, 2011 11:03 AM in response to caa100

Yeah dude, not cool.

Apr 17, 2011 8:34 AM in response to RebeccaA

Has anyone else noticed much better performance in the last week? All of a sudden, no action on my part Netflix has been streaming as it should. Or at least the worst I've seen is a very short pause. 2 weeks ago it was unusable, was even getting errors that it can't log in. Then about a week ago it just started working and I've had nary a problem since. I hope that's the case with everyone...

caa100

Level 1

11 points

Apr 17, 2011 11:06 AM in response to markbober

markbober wrote:

I have been able to escalate the issue without AppleCare. I told them I was reporting a bug. They had be go through a few steps first and get to the Senior Advisor, etc, but it's already gone to the engineer and back once. The engineer told me to route the AppleTV directly to my router (which I did). Waiting to hear back again.

I escalated to senior support, and from there to engineering. They tell me it may be several days until there is a reply. I will post pack if/when I hear from them.

The senior support rep told me that he has already done this for someone else, and that engineering simple replied "the apple TV does not throttle netflix bandwidth", which obviously is no help.

They were willing to work with me because:

1. Netflix says I get much better bandwidth using other devices

2. I was able to eliminate my wireless access point as a problem by trying it using a really long ethernet cable

3. My ISP does not seem to be the problem since I get great speedtest results

I am quite ticked off, though, that I had to spend $29 on Apple Care to get this attention.

H R W

Level 1

8 points

Apr 18, 2011 9:47 PM in response to caa100

Thanks for carrying the ball for us.

I have almost the identical situation you've described and I've followed the same problem elimination process (direct ethernet connection, full reset of the device, etc).

Now we wait.

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Netflix pausing/buffering issues