Apple TV - Netflix Streaming issue

I've been having issues connecting to netflix the last couple of weeks every time i click to play something it says "an error occurred loading this content try again later" I've ran a nextwork test everything checked out with that, i looked at what the signal strength was that was fine, I reset the router and modem and still having the same issue i was able to play one episode of a show within the last couple of weeks then went to play the next episode kept getting the same message ever since. i tried different shows and movies and nothing will play. I'm not really a tech person but I'm pretty sure it's some kind of network connectivity issue and its not the apple tv, but at this point i feel i should just get the tv checked out just in case if it is something internally with it.

@jam30,

Don't waste your time and money getting your TV checked out. The problem you describe has nothing to do with your TV.

I'm sure you've tried what others have suggested in this thread: reboot the router, the modem, the AppleTV, burn some incense, chant to the full moon, etc etc. Here's something that fixed this problem for a friend of mine. He registered at Netflix for another account (for which he needed to create another e-mail address). Didn't pay - just created a new trial account. Then on his AppleTV (in the Netflix app), he logged out of his primary Netflix account and logged back in with his new trial account. Presto - the "error loading content" message vanished and he was able to continue watching the House of Cards series.

This really makes no sense. There's no guarantee this will work for you, but you could give it a try and see what happens.

We have two apple tvs at our house. one is connected via ethernet to the router, the other is not. The ATV that is connected to router works fine. No problems there. The other which is only connected via wifi runs netflix horribly... often doesnt play at all, or gets caught up with the notorious 'spinning ball' loading the content. Frustrating indeed..it lately is loading the first few minutes and then just stopping. This is a big bummer and makes the netflix app on that ATV completely useless. Meanwhile, the ATV via wifi plays everything else just fine. Movies from itunes, tv shows, music, all play fine. It's only a problem with Netflix. I cant help but think that this is something wrong with the ATV and how it shares the bandwidth with the ther apps.. why wouldn't the Netflix app work as smooth as regular atv itunes content?

We can't hook up that atv to the internet any other way than via wifi due to the cable/internet setup at our house.

But, that's why we bought it, it is supposed to work via wifi right?

So many other devices have no problem streaming on Netflix.. all of our phones (4,5) 1 ipad and 2 ipad minis, the Wii, The xbox, the internet on our smart tv...seems really lame that Netflix won't stream on Apple Tv! at least properly!

Oh well, hope that the problem gets solved at some point.

Just thought I'd share our experience, and maybe others have similar situations.

It was a bit disconcerting (and yet weirdly validating) know that we weren't the only ones experiencing issues with Netflix streaming via ATV. We've had issues off and on since last fall, but for the past three weeks Netflix has not been working via ATV so we've been watchin our shows via Airplay & our iPad.

I read through the variety of solutions to get Netflix to work and I just wanted to add to the conversation. Logging out of Netflix on ATV as well as unplugging ATV did the trick (for now). All I know is that it is frustrating to be paying for a service (Netflix) and having to find a work-around just to get it to work. But it's working for now...so we're just going to keep our fingers crossed.

I thought I was the only one with this problem too.

Now I'm really frustrated. I tried what everyone above did and it still says the same thing :error occurred loading this content.

I opened a new netflix account, unplugged the ATV, and signed in under the new account and I still get that message

I'm not a computer person so what do I do next???? Help me, please!

Do I try and contact netflix or apple? It's hard to even figure out how to contact them - any ideas? Much appreciated. Frustrated in Santa Fe New Mexico.

Streaming NetFlix on your Apple TV: Issues, Fixes and Work Arounds.

If you have been using Netflix via your Apple TV than undoubtledly you have received the loathed, "Sorry, there was an error... blah blah blah..." message or worse yet the unapologetic wheel of death that just spins etnerally.

As we have several devices we access Netflix with, here is what we discovered.

1. Apple TV: if at all possible when you set up your Apple TV try and ensure that your Smart TV is plugged in with a good old fashion Ethernet cable. This allows your internet connection to be hardwired into your TV and will elminate most of your problems streaming providing you have high speed internet of course.

If you are using WiFi to run Netflix on your Apple TV you are going to run into the aforementioned problems more times than you want to. We have high speed internet and a top of the line router but still.. Think of it like this, Netflix and the Apple TV are like Senior year, just before prom, high school girlfriends and your WiFi - even if he is the star hockey / football player is one of their ex boyfriends. You don't know who's because both of them hate you. It doesn't matter why either. They aren't going to play nice.

Solution: Reset your router. Shut it down, reboot it, turn it back on. The "girls" will warm up to its fresh new appearance like it had just returned from winning the big game.

2. The Work Around. If - for the love of Pete - you just want to watch a show we've been successful with grabbing your iPad, streaming the Netflix and using the "Air Play" feature to throw the show up on the Apple TV. Using Air Play is easy, just take your preferred swiping digit and swipe upwards from the home button on your iPad. The faded white screen will appear and you can select the button with a rectangle and triangle presented. It's not ideal but it at least will get you the Friday Family movie night without something getting thrown.

I was at my wit's end with the Netflix streaming problem, until someone suggested a simple restart of the ATV. Voila! Worked like a charm.

I am having the same issues with a brand new apple TV but it is with more than Netflix. It is with all of the video streaming apps like showtime, hbo, and watch espn. No one at apple can tell me what the problem is either

No offense, but most of us try that step on our own before we come to the Web or call apple as it is pretty much standard protocol with most technology

I've read through this thread and have experienced most of these streaming problems using my Apple TV with netflix. HBO go, and even renting films from

itunes.

Nearly every time I try to sit down to watch a film or show on itunes or Netflix, the program will start out fine and within about 10 minutes or so, will abruptly stop. The screen goes completely black and unresponsive to input from the ATV remote. Literally, the only way to reset this crash is to unplug the ATV, go though the lengthy reboot process and start over. Then it will inevitably happen again. Now it's happening when I play just music from itunes via Home Sharing! This certainly cannot be a bandwidth issue can it? I have high speed service from Time Warner Cable and my apple TV is connected via ethernet cable so to avoid the vulnerabilities of Wifi. I've had this problem intermittently for years now and seems to be getting worse despite upgrading my internet speed and doing all ATV and itunes software updates. I literally have ripped one Apple TV from the wall and smashed it on the ground out of frustration and am trying to avoid doing this a second time. I'm also running my ATV and TV output through a Denon HDMI receiver. Could that be my problem?

Does anyone have a similar experience and a solution that has consistenly worked? Help!

Nearly every time I try to sit down to watch a film or show on itunes or Netflix, the program will start out fine and within about 10 minutes or so, will abruptly stop.

Your experience is not that uncommon. In order for a movie to stream smoothly, and uninterrupted, a fragile and complicated network must work perfectly.

Try power cycling your router. I find that sometimes helps. (Do this when not downloading.)

Check your internet download speed, you can do this at, www.speedtest.net.

1080p requires 8 Mbps, 720p requires a 6 Mbps, 480p requires a speed of 2.5 Mbps. I have 85 Mbps, and do not always get smooth, uniform, playback.

But, there is good news coming!

Technology experts are working on a movie storage system where YOU have physical possession of the movie.

This system stores the movie digitally on an optical disk system that will not be dependent upon a congested, complicated, and fragile network. Because all of the data is stored only a few feet from your television, all the bottlenecks are removed. Performance and reliability are virtually flawless.

Further, the system will not utilize any form of security codes, authentications, or passwords. Once the optical disc is purchased it can be moved around freely at will, and can even be lent or given to friends and neighbors with zero hassles. And if you don't like the movie, you can sell it for close to your purchase price!

I've been experiencing intermittent issues loading Netflix on my ATV for over a month now. It used to work great, but now more often than not it just hangs there. Oddly enough, if I open up Netflix on my Mac, the problem goes away immediately on the ATV. Strange?

Same problem here. However, I have no trouble watching Netflix on my Desktop Mac.

I have had this problem on both Apple TV boxes with Netflix. The problem started about three weeks ago. I've done all the troubleshooting, including restarting, logging out and back in, and doing a factory reset; I also spent about 30 minutes online with Netflix. What I finally did, which worked for me, is to go to Netflix, click on my account and then clicked on my profile, playback settings. It was set for auto, which seemed to be causing problems. I tried it at high, since I have very high speed Internet, but the problems persisted. I then tried it at medium, but still no luck. Thus, the only other option was low (data usage per screen) and now it is working on both devices. There is a slight delay before the show starts but it's now only seconds rather than minutes, so I hope this helps someone else.

This totally worked for me! I've been having problems loading content from Netflix for a week now, it was working fine on my computer (PC) but nothing worked on any of my Apple devices (Apple TV, iPhone and iPad). I've been on the line with the Netflix customer services for hours, they even contacted their research team to call me back 24 hours later, still, no solution. Told me to contact my ISP, which had nothing to do with the issue. I finally found your post, tried it and it worked instantly! So I logged in my account, went to Playback settings, changed it from "auto" to "medium" and everything was fine. Thank you so much!

I've contacted Netflix to let them know of this issue and what finally solved the problem, for them to update their Help Center (and possibly fix this problem, since it looks like I'm not the only Apple user with problems loading content from Netflix.)