Apple Tv 3rd Gen Slow!

Ensure you are using your ISPs DNS if you use something like OpenDnS (for example) this will cause long wait times based on how your content is delivered to you

Istumbler will tell you about interference, this will cause issues with buffering

This link explains common things to look for

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3623

Thank you for your help. Last night I had the opportunity to download and run namebench. The DNS number they advised for my location happened to be the Google free DNS number which was 86% faster than the one I had been using. It seems to have solved my problems with ridiculously slow downloads and constant buffering on AppleTV. It seems like everything is even fast than it was the first day I pulled AppleTV into our network.

Thanks, again,

Paul

At first I didn't want to believe DNS was being used for location info but apparently some services do and it is causing problems for Apple TV users. See confirmation http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20026241-263.html

Like everyone else until recently my ATV worked just fine but now YouTube and other content are very slow so something has changed someplace and it's not my home network.

I've used OpenDNS for a couple of years and have always had better performance with it than with AT&T DNS. First Gen ATV worked just fine and until recently my 3rd Gen ATV had worked fine with all content. Interestingly my laptop (WiFi) seems to load content faster than my ATV (wired).

I'll check things with the namebench tool on my home network to verify all this and see if I can improve things. A simple network trace seems like it would provide better info on network location and closest cached info than DNS but maybe not.

I have an ATV 3 (my second one actually since I returned the first assuming slow downloads were a defect in the machine) with sloooow downloads. My wifi is never slower than 16 Mbps in the room where the ATV resides but it can take 30 minutes before a 45 minute show is ready to watch. Applecare can't find an issue with my Airport Extreme or my ATV. I use my ISP's DNS which Applecare said was correct. They say they have no knowledge of whether Apple is having server issues. What's up?

Did you verify with them if there was wifi interference? You can check istumbler (netstumbler on windows) to double check. Sometimes ISP throttling can come into effect as well. You can also try testing on another network or in an apple store.

My ISP has a 400 GB/mo cap. I have had ATV 1 and ATV 2 which both downloaded nearly instantaneously. As soon as I got ATV 3 it all fell apart. iStumbler gives my network 68%

Using my AT&T DNS has helped a little but downloads are still slower than they were a month ago. I'm wondering if the ATV 3 defaults to requesting the best video, at least for YouTube, which would be HD in many cases. However HD labeld content from Vemio seems to load and play well.

I would try Ethernet to rule out interference. Throttling may occur at certain times or content as other users have reported

Starting to be really annoyed. I'm pretty sure it is a server issue with Apple. For about 3 days all my problems went away; movies started virtually instantly. Now it is back to taking 30 minutes to download a 45 minute TV show. I have a buddy who lives across town who bought an ATV3 to replace his ATV1. He is having the same problem.

Have you tried Ethernet?

I don't have ethernet in the room with the ATV.

I suggesst you take it in or test it on another network

Im having the same problem. It started out working great unlike v2 which I returned due to slow issues out of the box. Now its back to loading screens even if I lower the quality to 720. Highly annoying and I know it isnt a network issue. Apple does everything great, but for some reason they dropped the ball with apple tv.

Yes, these issues are more often than not related to the network. I would go through those steps before just ruling it out. If you don't want to on your own network then try it on another or at an Apple store.

Every one who is advising the issue is network related and not device related is failing to properly recognize ATV1 is not being affected by any such network issues. Sure the ATV3 is functioning poorly only on "certain networks" and not for the majority of users; however regardless of that fact, earlier versions are not having these same WiFi troubles. ATV1 is clearly coping just fine and performing FAR superior to the ATV3 in side-by-side testing on the same "problematic" WiFi networks. Apple has created a device capable of functioning properly despite said mentioned local network issues. Therefore, basic logic tells us the problems lie with either ATV3's hardware OR the iOS software that ATV1 does not utilize… regardless of the network.