Netflix pausing/buffering issues

The fact that it's slow and has poor picture quality would be based on your internet speed.

I have to agree with vazandrew, speed and low quality are going to be related to your configuration and network performance. I have two ATV2's and with normal operation they work extremely fast and provide excellent SD and HD picture quality. The quality and performance match Netflix viewing on my Roku box and is consistently better than viewing on a typical desktop computer.

I think it would be helpful if people are discussing picture quality to include the results of a bandwidth performance test and the name of their ISP for comparison.

We've already gone over this before, and connection speed is not the issue because many of us have fast connections and still have streaming problems. Others have reported that other devices work fine with netflix on the same connection but the ATV has problems. Also many of us have reported that streaming Apple HD content works fine but not NetFlix which means it's not the connection speed that's the issue here.

Here's my speed test result (11 megabit download: http://www.speedtest.net/result/1132572389.png) I again had to give up on watching a netflix movie tonight because it would pause for about 30 seconds every 2-3 minutes. I switched to my iPad and it worked fine there.

No need to get defensive, it was a response to that particular situation. Just because some have problems on a fast connection doesn't mean that applies to everyone.

Speed is the first thing to look at but there are other variables too. There are also users on other forums saying the exact opposite (works fine on ATV but not on this device).

Have you tried unhooking all the cords and leaving it disconnected overnight?

We already discussed the issue of connection speed like 5 pages ago on this thread.

That's fine but you can't generalize. For some people it will be a speed issue. End of story. Now let's move on.

Speed is the first thing to look at but there are other variables too.

I am convinced that wifi is more likely to be the culprit in many cases. I have all of my streaming devices connected by Ethernet cable now and I have far fewer problems. Over the past few years I have come to believe that the state of wifi technology is just not there yet. There are too many variables that can degrade wifi performance and result in poor streaming.

I have Netflix on HD TiVo, XBox 360, and PS3, in addition to Apple TV. So far, the Apple TV version has been the most problem free. Shows always start in a matter of seconds, never drop back to lower resolution, and never pause to rebuffer. And access to Netflix from the menu is much, much faster than any other device.

Some people are clearly having wifi problems (and certainly that is the default assumption until proved false), but there are some people with wired connections reporting problems with Netflix. But I suspect that a lot of it depends upon where you live and which of Netflix's thousands of servers each particular device happens to connect to. Netflix reports that Apple TV has become one of their biggest clients, so it would not be surprising if their network is having growing pains with respect to Apple TV

i am wired, i tried the unplugging trick alo, as well as the DNS trick. none of these things has helped.

i think it's just a bugfix needed, as earlier versions apparently worked well.

I've never had a need to connect my laptops, Roku, or two Apple TV's to Ethernet for viewing Netflix as they perform great typically. Obviously wireless is the only option when using my iPhone and that works good for Netflix too. Ironically I have DRM issues viewing Netflix over Ethernet on my desktop computer with Safari.

I have the Apple TV 2 hard wired to cable that is passing 20mps. The buffering occurs every 2 minutes and so Netflix is virtually unusable. Has anyone worked out if this is an Apple TV issue or a Netflix issue. I have not had the problem when streaming Netflix to my Macbook or iPad.

It's hard to tell but it could come down to certain areas/servers being more bogged down. Those devices will be accessing different servers.

To give some perspective, I have never had an issue during my 3 months of membership.

I'm a late arrival to this discussion and only showed up after purchasing an ATV2 about a week ago for the specific purpose of streaming Netflix content. I wouldn't have bought it had I read this thread, but the results of my efforts to solve the same problems I experienced immediately may be of interest to others. My system: Samsung LN-T4665F HDTV, Sony BDP-S300, Sony STR-DG510, and Scientific Atlanta 8300 HDC with Time Warner. The comments of others focused my attention on possible solutions, but the bottom line for me was to consider the ATV2 as the single common denominator associated with the vast majority of complaints. Like others here, I decided to keep it for "in-house" use and look for another way to stream Netflix content.

Then yesterday, a friend in the home entertainment business mentioned that he never advises customers to rely on wireless connections for video. Just last week, he had installed a Powerline Ethernet system in my wife's office as a less-costly alternative to replacing a bad Airport Express. I brought the components home that afternoon and hooked the system up: the "mother ship" is plugged into a wall outlet in the study upstairs with an Ethernet cable connected to our Buffalo Air Station Turbo G wired/wireless router, and the satellite unit is plugged in at the entertainment center downstairs with a cable to the ATV2. This converts every outlet in the house to a potential wired Internet connection. Everyone else may know about that capability, but I didn't.

Last evening between 8-11 pm, I watched three episodes of "Damages." Streaming wasn't flawless, but the glitches were very minor: one audio cutout that lasted for about five seconds and recovered on its own; another audio cutout in which I hit the pause button, waited a second or two, pressed play and it recovered immediately (I think I read about that tactic in this thread somewhere); and one instance of pause/buffer with the SWOD that lasted for less than five seconds and recovered on its own. My conclusion: This could work for me if that's the worst of it. I plan to watch something on Netflix during prime time for the next three evenings as a test of the reliability of this solution.

None of this addresses the frustration of comparing the Apple TV-Netflix advertising claims with demonstrated performance. It's supposed to be a wireless device, there is no small print to caution potential buyers about possible unreliability of the wireless signal, and customers have the right to expect it to work right out of the box. Having to purchase a Powerline Ethernet system to obtain acceptable performance really raises my temperature, but the lack of Apple response and the red "unanswered" at the beginning of this thread and others is just typical corporate behavior I can't do anything about. Returning the ATV2 might be one small protest, but at this point, it simply isn't worth the trouble, and my music and photos on my TV is pretty nice.

Hope this helps someone.

I am using wifi so it can be used as advertised