AppleTV vs Netflix

You may have a slow connection.

Netflix will adapt the quality (downwards) for a slow connection whereas itunes store rentals are fixed quality (and let's face it if you pay for it you don't want quality downgraded and pay the same).

When you consider HD rentals may be 3-4GB and SD rentals 1-1.5GB you may appreciate why they can take hours if you're on a poor connection locally (slow local network) or to the internet.

Don't believe that. The AppleTV1 used to download and play HD movies FAST! Apple screwed something up with the updates.

Using that logic if I rent a movie on iTunes in SD it should be as fast as Netflix. No it's still taking hours and never used to. And no it's not because Netflix downgrades even further.

My experience is pretty much identical whether streaming from Netflix or renting from Apple. In each case, the show starts within a few seconds.

Strange that you would be trolling the apple tv discussion boards if everything works well. Very strange indeed.

I have no complaints about overall performance, but I do have some interface concerns. For example, when scrolling through my Netflix queue, if I click on one show to see details, and then return to the queue, I find that it takes me all the way back to the beginning of the queue instead of the place where I left it. Also, I've found that for some shows, when fast forwarding or reverse, it does not seem to show all of the thumbnails. I'd like it to show the thumbnails in a row, like on some other Netflix clients. And I'd like an indicator to tell me how much of a particular show that I've watched.

No it's not strange. Those of us who have no issues are here to help others troubleshoot.

It would be helpful to list your setup (including actual internet speed)

www.speedtest.net

Why do Netflix movies download and play almost instantly, but AppleTV takes almost overnight to download a movie?

Netflix adjusts the bit rate dynamically based on network speed as the video plays. If the network speed slows down, the video quality may change but the video will continue to stream. The iTunes store simply sends the file data until enough has been cached ahead for it to start playing. If your network speed is too slow, it will take a long time before enough data is received to begin playback.

I agree 50 meg down and renting a movie on Itunes takes hours Netflix almost instant

I also believe that it is helpful also for people to know what kind of performance they should be experiencing: almost immediate streaming of Netflix and Apple content. Slow streaming, either of Netflix or Apple content, is clearly not a generic Apple TV problem. In some cases, people have reporting solving such problems by modifying their home network configurations: changing their router's security or firewall settings, using a wired connection instead of wireless or using a different wireless frequency band, using a different router or modem, resetting routers and modem, changing their DNS settings, etc., but consumer-end network problems may not be the whole story. It could be that there are also some problems at the Apple and/or Netflix server end, as it is likely that people in different locations are be getting their content from different servers or even different content delivery networks.

Slow streaming, either of Netflix or Apple content, is clearly not a generic Apple TV problem.

Netflix and the iTunes store use significantly different methods of delivering their content, so it's not unusual to get better results from Netflix than from iTunes, but I agree that the most likely cause of the problem in either case is network speed, either with the ISP or the LAN.

I don't believe there is a fundamental flaw in the ATV itself. I suspect most performance problems have much more to do with the woeful service provided by ISPs or a lack of understanding of how to configure a LAN for optimal performance, particularly wifi.