Netflix pausing/buffering issues

Well, I got AT&T tech help and they determined that my DSL download speed was way below target! Use http://reviews.cnet.com/internet-speed-test/ and/or http://www.speedtest.net/ to see if your Internet download speed meets the requirements for the purpose. See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1577 for download speeds required for different purposes. They had me replace the filters (the little 3-inch long matchbook-size boxes with 2 jacks and a 4 inch long phone line pigtail to plug into your wall phone jack) on my phone/DSL wall jacks. Be sure that you plug the phone into the phone jack and the DSL line into the DSL jack - they are NOT THE SAME! The filters that I had on before were either degraded or not up-to-date. Be sure that when you replace your modem (or router?) that you replace the filter with the new filter that presumably was sent to you with the modem/router. We were able to watch our first streaming Netflix move on Apple TV now that we have 2.55 Mb/sec download speed. 😉 Thanks AT&T and Apple tech support!
By the way, I was checking to see if I could get a higher speed DSL service. It turns out that my neighborhood in Berkeley, CA, is too far from the main Berkeley terminus of the fiber optic line to have a service higher than 3 Mb/sec. Maybe one day they will install a fiber optic line closer to my neighborhood, but right now I have the fastest service that is available here. One day maybe U-verse (with very high download speeds of up-to-6, -12, 18 or -18 Mb/sec download speeds) will come to my neighborhood. Fergunnessake I live a few blocks from the University of California at Berkeley and just a short hop up the freeway from bloomin' Silicon Valley! What gives? At any rate my download speed has almost quadrupled to 2.55 Mb/sec by changing the filters! So I'm pretty happy. 😉

Spent all morning with Cox cable. Have the fastest cable modem available. Apple TV is hard wired (ethernet) from the apple router (time capsule). NETFLIX STEAMING *****. Download connection speeds are 48.6 Mbps (that's right ... 48 large). Even streaming to my Mbook Pro with airport is 48mbps. ATV is ethernet connected (so it's getting maximum throughput). Having a 1 1/2 hour movie pause 22 times is beyond ridiculous.

Message was edited by: William Arnold

I drank The kool aid a long time ago and trust me this new apple tv is only good for looking pretty in the store. I can literally stream Netflix to my wii two iPods two iPhones and two laptops with ZERO ISSUES (except for the apple tv). The apple tv is flawed and a waste until they fix the Netflix issue. It may be the internal antennae or maybe file type conversion. What ever it is don't be the sad beta tester of this product. I have. And yes wired wireless doesn't make any difference. And yes my Internet is tweaked so it's super fast (50 m package 6ms ping time avg)

Same issues - but it seems to just be issues with indexed TV shows - the movie feature appears to be working fine

My ATV skips maybe 1 or 2 times per movie but seems to be for just a few seconds before it resumes. I have 12MB U-Verse service from ATT which consistently clocks a 10MB+ connection with speedtest.net. Might I also mention -- like everyone else -- Netflix streaming works just fine on my PS3 and Samsung with no skipping. I am hopeful Apple provides a fix for the annoyance soon even though it’s not stopping me from using the Netflix functionality…. I have streamed over 30 movies / tv shows since Christmas!

-James

I am experiencing the same problems with Netflix programs, frequent buffering with long delays. Have had the ATV a few days and it is Very Frustrating! Hope there is a response and solution from Apple soon or I will be returning my ATV2!

I am the owner and senior technician at an IT Consulting firm so believe me when I say I know computers, networks, and technology.

This is definitely an issue with the hardware/software on the Apple TV.

We have a Cox 50/5 Mbps Cox SOHO business connection, Cisco DOCSIS 3.0 modem, a SonicWall TZ 210W firewall/router, and an HP ProCurve gigabit switch. In short, some of the best network equipment you can buy for a home-office/small business. The AppleTV is up to date, speed tests are perfect (actually getting higher than 50/5), the other computers are off at the time of testing, tried wireless and wired, swapped the sonicwall with a D-LINK DIR-655 router and a Cisco ASA 5505, tried a different cable modem, etc. THE WORKS.

The buffering issue with the new Apple TV and Netflix has consistently worsened and now pauses 5-15 seconds every 4-6 minutes. Fairly unusable.

I've been on hold with Apple tech support while typing this message. I'm hoping for a replacement unit that works but judging from some of the comments I've read I won't hold my breath.

It worked fine until the update. Now it pauses every 1 or 2 mins. It's unwatchable.
Netflix works fine on all my other devices, including iPod Touch. Quite poor Apple don't acknowledge this problem and fix it.

Can I roll back to the old software, that worked with no problems.

Wow, didn't know lots of people have problem. I have ATV since early september and have zero problem. I'm using wired ethernet with 10 mb/s connection. I watch a lot of movies via netflix or itunes. at least once a day.

same here. lots of buffering problems since the latest update.

Same issue here. It was working fine until a few days ago. I called netflix and they were convinced it was something on my end..... they blammed either my bandwidth or my router so I did some testing

1) SpeedTest.net > Min is 16 mps Maz 21 mbs
2) I have tried both wireless and wired
3) Removed the router from the mix and connected straight to the ATV
4) Rented a movie from the apple store, worked perfectly
5) Streamed a movie from my server, worked perfectly

So I agree with everyone here. It has to be a ATV\Netflix issue.

One question. Do all of the other devices that work with netflix have a hard drive? Could those devices buffer a little more of the movie than the ATV. So if there is any latency on the connection the devices with the hard drive can continue to platy with no issues but the ATV has to pause?

Just a thought. I hope they have this issue resolved soon!

Jesse

Good info, Jesse. The only question is, on my second ATV I have denied it the update and it streams movies from Netflix without buffering. I'm ready to send the first one back for exchange and then deny it the updates.

Wow, lots of variables here.
we're using 2nd gen ATV, connected wirelessly to an airport extreme dual band, with HDMI cable to a 720i Samsung TV. Cox is the ISP in San Diego. We live in a condo and I am guessing are susceptible to interference from neighbors....?

I am getting the pause problem frequently on Netflix and agree it's unusable. Pause is sometimes every 20 seconds. However this issue is inconsistent. I've now narrowed it down to the "prime-time hours" Running it in the daytime hours it is totally non existent.

Last night (primetime) I tried to look at some of the featured uTube vids from the CES Show and I was not even able to get the vid to start.

Very disappointed in ATV.

OTOH, we also use airport express to stream airtunes and we experience infrequent interruptions in the streaming and sometimes it cuts out completely.
I've changed channels on the Airport Extreme and it seemed to help but not permanently.

Why hasn't apple or netflix chipped in here? What's the fix?


Will be following this thread.

Just wanted to add I've been having the same problem with buffering during TV shows and itunes movies.
Netflix seems to work fine on all the other devices in the house.

Same problem here!