Apple TV stops playback and goes to menu

Question

Level 1

8 points

Apple TV stops playback and goes to menu

Hi, I'm having an intermitent problem with my apple TV since last update. When playing any content (TV/movie) I select the item, choose to play it, it is authorised, starts buffering and playing and then at some point the program stops and the apple tv main menu appears. It then means when restarting watching the program or movie that it has not saved the point at which I reached and I have to forward wind through the item.

I have checked my router settings and reset the router, nothing makes a difference. I have watched a whole movie without it happening and then today when watching a 45 minute TV episode, gave up after 10 minutes as it happened three times. It has happened with other movies also, very intermitently.

Has anyone else experienced this or heard of it?

Posted on Oct 21, 2013 12:09 AM

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Answer 1

Rob McF

Level 1

5 points

Oct 21, 2013 8:03 AM in response to open critic

Yes, I have this problem. My ATV worked as advertised before the update, not so much anymore. Eventually, I became frustrated enough to do a restore through iTunes. Waste of time. Seems the ATV likes to sporadically drop network connection or ignore it entirely.

One solution I've found is choosing "forget network" (even though the signal shows a good connection), followed by a restart of ATV, then reconnect to the network. However, this is a temporary fix and I am prepared to try this every time I use the ATV.

Another solution is to turn off my Airport, restart the ATV, then turn the Airport on.

Sometimes I get frustrated enough to be tempted to try another restore. Thankfully I have books, and a girlfriend that likes to play chess, so I have other options.

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Answer 2

Oct 30, 2013 6:15 PM in response to open critic

I am having the same basic issue.

Bout my atv on Friday

Installed updates

Connected iTunes home sharing

I start a movie and it will stop approx 5-10 mins in and go back to the main menu screen

It is pretty frustrating since I can not use my atv for anything other then a paperweight basically

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Answer 3

open critic Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 5, 2013 2:26 AM in response to Will Clark

Ok, so having confirmed this problem only occurs when I open my macbook air whilst watching a film/program on ATV I found that ensuring iTunes is closed, so that when you reopen your Mac (having not shut it down) the problem does not occur.

If I then start iTunes on my mac whilst watching ATV, the problem occurs.

I've turned off all file sharing through my Mac preferences and this stops the problem occuring just by opening my Mac, but 'm not sure I can do anything to iTunes to stop that interrupting ATV. Not that I should have to of course.

So, solved it temporarily but Apple need to figure this out as it means I can't use certain things on my Mac whilst watching ATV..... silly.

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Answer 4

Nov 5, 2013 6:02 AM in response to open critic

For me that can't be the issue since I am not running any other computers at the time.

I am running an iMac with 10.6.8 and iTunes 11

The only thing I can still try for me is changing the screen saver time. I have already reset everything on the atv and I did a complete reinstall of the os on the imac. Set the prefs to computer never sleep so the only other thing I can think of is if the screen saver coming on is triggering it.

I don't think so but that's my last test to run when I get some time.

Oh and for me the menu comes up 99% of the time within the 5-10 minute mark.

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Answer 5

Dec 17, 2013 7:22 PM in response to Will Clark

Will Clark, my daughter is having the same problem with a movie she purchased through iTunes. Researching her problem, I found your posts and they are exact same symptoms. Did you have any success troubleshooting the issue?

RecceTitan

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Answer 6

Dec 17, 2013 8:18 PM in response to RecceTitan

I actually have not used the video portion much recently due to my schedule however I think I might have found the answer.

It seems as though it might be related the the computer going to sleep

When I increased the sleep time I had less issues

I wish I had more time to have tested it out but hopefully will in the next few weeks

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Answer 7

RDP13

Level 1

4 points

Apr 19, 2014 5:10 AM in response to open critic

Im new to Apple Support. Im having the same problems described above. But Im confused as to the purpose of the Apple Support Communitie. I see no resolve. Where is the support??

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Answer 8

Apr 19, 2014 5:55 AM in response to RDP13

As I posted above, once I set my sleep settings from 15 minutes to 3 hrs I have not had the problem.

Knock on wood

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Answer 9

May 7, 2014 2:05 PM in response to open critic

LIke this?

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6012766?tstart=0

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Answer 10

Jul 14, 2014 1:26 PM in response to open critic

Hey there...

I had the same issue. Then i remembered that i have changed my DNS settings (Adresses) on my MacBook Pro. Then i applied those settings to my router as well.

So far, every things back to normal.

Try that... Maybe it'll help

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Answer 11

Aug 21, 2015 9:09 PM in response to open critic

ok figured this out. its airplay interfering even though its not on. i had to disable airplay on the ATV and then it worked even while wifi was on my mac.

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Answer 12

bingocat

Level 1

4 points

Sep 19, 2016 7:18 PM in response to open critic

I switched from LAN to Wi-Fi and this stopped.

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