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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

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728 replies

Jul 30, 2017 7:07 PM in response to brette68

I know it's years later, but I am having the same problem. I removed the app and redownloaded, (resign in also inside app), and it seems to have fixed the issue. Netflix also makes an app called Speed by Netflix. It will show you how many Mbps you can download. My iPhone 6p is at 64, while my iPad is at 28. It's a few years old, and not the current faster processor. So I expected it to be a little slower. Hope this helps you now or in the future.

Oct 23, 2010 8:32 PM in response to RebeccaA

Definitely a problem. Netflix on the PS3 has no issues so it has to be the new atv. Quality on ps3 is also higher, quite visibly.

Also had the atv freeze up during my first slideshow.. Music continued, photo stayed frozen and any input on the remote would do nothing although the click sound could be heard. Had to yank out the power and hard restart.

Third problem, movie trailers take over 2 minutes to start. Have a 3mb connection with about 2.3 actual. No problems watching netflix on the ps3 so trailers should be fine?

Oct 25, 2010 1:26 PM in response to RebeccaA

I've been watching a lot of Netflix on Apple TV lately. Overall, pause/rebuffering issues seem less frequent than with my other Netflix clients, and most shows play all the way through flawlessly, but I have had occasional issues. Once, sound went out after a scene change while video continued, and took a few seconds for sound to resume. Another time, I had sound go out, but when I rewound a few seconds it was fine. I've also had one scene freeze that required me to exit the show and then restart it.

Nov 14, 2010 3:28 PM in response to RebeccaA

Another issue with Netflix on ATV that I hadn't seen til last night. I tried to watch two different movies and gave up on both after the ATV refused to play either. By that I mean that the movies both started, played a few seconds and then quit putting me back on the movie's home screen (where you select Play to watch the movie). This was very frustrating, especially since in one case I had watched successfully the first 18 minutes of one of the movies, then paused it, only to then get this behavior.

Nov 14, 2010 6:28 PM in response to RebeccaA

Have the same problem here but only about once or twice on each movie and only for a few seconds. Equipment is AirPort Extreme 802.11n with a average download speed of 20 mbps on my MBP from speedtest.net. Full signal on ATV and network test shows that everything is working as it should. I hate to say it but I think the ATV needs to be a little faster. Networking latency on ATV with Netflix, iTunes and picture sharing is unacceptable in my opinion.

Nov 15, 2010 7:09 AM in response to RebeccaA

Same problem here, but wait.... there is more... Not only do I have the buffering/pausing problem, the quality of the shows/movies is in some cases terrible. I am getting a lot of pixilation and slow move camera shots seem to be wobbly and stutter slightly. Considering that Netflix is only streaming up to 720p without full surround, that's pretty lame. I have had several discussions with Netflix, they blame anyone but themselves. I have no problem with full HD 1080p Apple movies. I even have re-wired the house to have Ethernet connection instead of Wireless N. I also had the cable folks test my connection and I have constant stream of about 10-15 MB.

So far Netflix is pretty much useless.

Nov 15, 2010 7:42 AM in response to RebeccaA

I just started using my Apple TV which I got as a birthday present, and have the buffering issue in spades, every 2-3 minutes. I also experienced the picture quality issues.

Prior to the apple TV, I had a Dell desktop PC sitting behind my HDTV, which I used to stream netflix with no buffering or visual quality issues, so I know my connection is fine(AT&T Uverse).

Does Apple/netflix have an ETA on when the buffering/quality issues will be addressed?

Netflix pausing/buffering issues

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