Apple TV video freezes but audio continues

I'm having the exact same problem with an Apple TV, just purchased today. Purchased iTunes movies and TV shows play for about 20 minutes, then the video freezes. If I hit menu to back out and the restart playback from where I left off, I can watch another 20 minutes or so until it freezes again. Restarting does not fix the problem.

I am also experiencing this issue. I'm attempting a restore on the unit hoping it will fix it.

Same thing. The problem started recently as I've had this Apple TV (2nd gen) for over a year. It only seems to occur for tv shows that I buy - I can't recall if movies have the same issue, but Netflix streams just fine.

Unplugging the device and plugging it back in after a few seconds does not sove the problem.

I'm really hoping for a fix soon as this is starting to get very frustrating.

Thanks,

Mike

Same issue. Just noticed it yesterday while playing a movie that had played fine before. Just ran the update, maybe that will help.

I'm having the same issue on two separate Apple TVs a 2nd gen and a 3rd gen respectively. This issue began last Friday and has persisted. Late last week there were issues with the 2nd gen not being able to connect to the apple servers. This was corrected with a restart/reset. I'm wondering I some settings on Apple's end are impacting the service. It only seems to freeze on apple based media- not Netflix or YouTube.

Tula- Thanks for updating with your information. I'll give that method a go tonight when I get home. It will be great to get through shows again without hearing "Daddy... it did it again!"

Cheers!

I'm somewhat relieved to find that others have been experiencing this problem. It does tend to confirm that it isn't a hardware or local network problem. It just started happening for me today. I find that just exiting out of the content fixes it in the short term. But it's still pretty annoying.

Hi,

Just bought 2 Apple TV 3's (upgraded from 2's) and had the same problem with both, video freezes but audio continues. Stopping the show and starting it again solves the problem. This happened both with the stock software (5.0?) and after updating to 5.1..

Trying to watch a TV program in Full HD.

Any solution to this yet? Are Apple acknowledging a problem?

Having exactly the same issue in Australia. Have restored Apple TV (2G), restarted all network infrastructure and problem remains. Problem remains even after entire file has downloaded i.e. not related to bandwidth. All other HD streaming works as normal. Have reported issue to Apple.

Having the same problem. I've reset my Apple TV and unplugged my Internet and plugged it in again I still have this problem! It's a shame that a great product has become so inconvenient! Losing trust in apple right now!

I have the same problem - any video purchased from iTunes will freeze after about 10 minutes, but the audio continues (I have the latest Apple TV and performed all the updates on it) This problem started yesterday for me (10/19/12) - I haven't done anything to my computer. Not sure why this is occuring, but its a big problem and potential loss revenue - I won't buy anymore movies until Apple corrects this issue. NOTE: Any movies that I have in my iTunes library work fine. Strange????

Jeff121921219 wrote:

I'm having the exact same problem with an Apple TV, just purchased today. Purchased iTunes movies and TV shows play for about 20 minutes, then the video freezes. If I hit menu to back out and the restart playback from where I left off, I can watch another 20 minutes or so until it freezes again. Restarting does not fix the problem.

I'm having the exact same problem.. I have 3 apple tv's with two of them on the current software and one on a beta and they all pause after 20 minutes of play. This just started yesterday when i stream movies from my cloud (havne't tested netflix as of yet). My kids watch purchased movies and tv's shows every day. i'm not confident this is an OS issue since i'm running multiple versions.

Hello everyone, a follow up with my experience with this problem. I pulled the plug on both of my apple tv units last Sunday and left it that way for about 10 minutes. I plugged them back in and checked for an update ( Tula, I think you said this fixed it for you) but they showed as already updated. I then went into my purchased library and tried playing a shows... No issues. This has been the case all week. If you are having issues give this a go and hopefully your experience will be the same.

Roman- your iTunes library has a locally stored version of the video file. The Apple Tv streams it from apple servers. This is why I suspect, but can't prove, the problem lies there.

I must admit, I have held off on purchasing/renting anything until I am convinced the problem is solved. It would be particularly irritating to rent a movie and have the streaming die which the 48hr viewing clock continues to count down. I'm sure apple would rectify that situation but it would still fall on the customer to push the issue.

PLEASE APPLE IF YOU ARE LISTENING... A POST ACKNOWLEDGING THIS ISSUE WOULD BE REALLY REASSURING.

Happy pausing and restarting your streaming everyone *grin*