Q: Netflix quality HORRID after update

Whew! And here I was thinking it was Netflix. I am a Netflix subscriber and use the ATV as my primary device to watch it. Until recently, it was streaming HD fine. I started to note the drop in HD quality and thought that it was due to Netflix hitting peak output and thus the drop in quality.

Another thing I've noted is that while streaming Netflix or tv shows purchased on the iTunes store, if I hit pause and shortly after resumed play, the content will fast forward with the audio playing out of sync. If I hit pause again to stop this, ATV wouldn't respond to the command. I would have to repeatedly hit pause and menu to make the fast forwarding stop. After a few repeated pressings of all the buttons on my ATV remote, the fast forwarding would stop then I would have to rewind back to the spot I was, hit play, and all would be well except that then the HD would come and go or just stay at a lower definition.

Has anyone have this happened to you?

Yes, about two weeks ago, I also began to have problems with horrible resolution streaming Nexflix on apple tv. This is also one of the problems that I encountered. If I pause the video, when I unpause it, the audio will be in normal speed, but the video begins fast forwarding. I have to try to exit the video and then reload it for it to restart in the normal speed with the audio synced up.

So add another one with this problem to the list. I live in Santa Fe, NM and have internet service with Xfinity with a speed of 40 mbps. The apple tv is hooked up via ethernet cable to my router. Our apple tv (3rd gen) begin to have problems with Netflix right after the update 6.0.2.  The resolution is horrible. I played the Netflix test video and it never broke over 700 kps and mostly played at 256 kps.  I don't buy any video through the itunes store, so my experience on the apple tv is only with Netflix, the PBS channel, Vevo, YouTube and The Weather Channel.  All of those besides Netflix, stream in HD with no problems.  I am thinking that the problem is a combination of the apple tv update and the Netflix update which happened very close to each other.  I hooked up the ethernet cable back up to my Samsung smart TV, and I don't have any problems streaming any video in HD. On the Samsung the Netflix video looks fantastic.   Also, in our playlist of 236 titles, I have found three titles that won't even load. The thumnail is there, and when you select it, an error comes up about having trouble playing this title, it recommends to try again later.  These titles havn't been able to play for the last week.  They play fine on my PC, my iphone and the ipad. I have removed them from the playlist on the pc and then readded them, but they will still not play and I get the same error through the Netflix app on the apple tv. The titles that won't play are, Leave it Beaver (the original series)  Wings (the NBC tv series from the 90's) and Cartoon Networks "Original Show"

BTW, this is NOT a time of day issue for me. It looks horrible at anytime of the day.

This is in response to DustyStorm, Yes, I have had that same problem,

"Another thing I've noted is that while streaming Netflix or tv shows purchased on the iTunes store, if I hit pause and shortly after resumed play, the content will fast forward with the audio playing out of sync. If I hit pause again to stop this, ATV wouldn't respond to the command. I would have to repeatedly hit pause and menu to make the fast forwarding stop. After a few repeated pressings of all the buttons on my ATV remote, the fast forwarding would stop then I would have to rewind back to the spot I was, hit play, and all would be well except that then the HD would come and go or just stay at a lower definition.

Has anyone have this happened to you?"

Yes!

If I pause the video for a few minutes, when I unpause it, the audio will be in normal speed, but the video begins fast forwarding. I have to try to exit the video and then reload it for it to restart in the normal speed with the audio synced up.

Add me to the list of people having this problem. Was 100% fine before the update. On 52 down 10 up Comcast. HBOGo and PBS on the ATV are full HD quality all the time. Time of day does not seem to be an issue. Netflix plays HD for about 5 seconds then drops down to terrible quality. Sometimes it gets better after a while bot not usually.

+1 for another having the exact issues described.  Two weeks and counting.

I believe the problem is with Netflix and their Super HD streaming. Why? Because I just tried watching Netflix on my PS3 and it also sucked. Netflix on the PS3 dropped out of HD just as it does on my ATV. On the ATV, watching the Example Short 23.976 I started at 5800 kbps and full HD. Then within a minute or so it dropped to 235 kbps and the resolution dropped to 320 x 280 (I think it was) and 3:4 standard definition. Unfortunately, the PS3 version of Netflix does not allow searching for the same short with the incoming displayed on the top. In fact, you only see a whole bunch of red Netflix squares, some with burned in timestamps, but nothing showing the incoming specs. My just run speed test shows 19.16 Mbps download from my ISP.

I agree with neilkna, just downloaded new firmware on 2013 f8000 samsung tv & had the same result.My new atv should be here wed.Will let everybody know what soft ware is on it & how it performs.Hooked up my blu ray & worked better but not where it should . Checked it late afternoon & had super hd pix,just checked 12:00 am & pix was maybe 720.Its running on old software.

I'll add one more report of this here too. I did the Netflix test. It started at 1750 Kbps then dropped to 235 kps and bounced a bit, up to 375 at times. Awful picture. I use Comcasta and get >25Mpbs on my iPad. YouTube, PBS, Trailers, etc. all work well and look great. It seems to be a Netflix problem.

Just got off the phone with Netflix support. He made sense, I'll give him that much. He said Yes, Netflix is trying to corner the streaming market, and they believe others are trying to reign them in, a "conspiracy issue." He said that there is no problem on Netflix's end with their equipment. If there were, they would be on top of it rather than lose customers ... which makes sense. Of course, it's also good talk. While waiting for Netflix, I logged in on my computer and played the example short ... on my 19.6 download with a flat panel monitor doing 1280x1024, no it is not an true HD monitor, but should definitely do much better than the 235 kbps download, 320x240 resolution, PAR 4:3. So an AppleTV, an i7-860 computer with 8 Gb memory and an ATI 5700 video card with 1 Gb on-board memory 64-bit OS computer, and a PS3 all stream just fine from any source except Netflix ... and all normally start full HD from Netflix to drop down in a minute or two to SD.

He suggested calling AT&T U-verse to ask if they have a data cap on my downloaded data, which is supposed to be a thing of the past with all of the streaming going on these days ... and they said NO, they do not. He suggested restarting my home network ... which would make sense if more than one source were affected ... but it is only Netflix. Would they shoot themselves in the foot ... both feet, when they are up and coming? Who do you believe? And which way do you go? I would say though that it is not an Apple problem as mine is spread across multiple devices and proven out as such by running that example short across different devices.

neilkna

Example Short will display the bit rate on all players that support adaptive streaming including the PS3 - make sure you are using 'Example Short 23.976' as there are other verions of the 'Example Short'. The PS3 should have no problem getting 5800 kbps - your PC unless it is running Windows 8 will not get more than 3000 kbps.

If you are seeing the issue on multiple platforms (PS3, Apple TV and PC) then you are seeing a different issue to one being discussed in this thread. Something else is causing Netflix streaming to be an issue for you. It would be better discussed in a different thread discussing Netflix Super HD playback on multiple platforms

In my case (and many others here) I have no problem getting Netflix Super HD on other devices including my Chromecast. My Roku 2's have no problem getting the highest bit rate.

However my Apple TV has been unable to get more than 1750 kbps for just over two weeks now (previously it always got 5800 kbps)

I think we'll delay resolution of both issues if we mix them up here.

Tonight 11.45 PM PST

Apple TV starts at 2360 for less than 5 seconds then stutters and drops to 560 kbps and slowly ramps to 750 kbps (the router real-time bandwidth is ~ 2Mps so it is not clear why the Apple TV isn't moving to higher quality streams. Peak download speed is around 2.5 Mbps).

Chromecast start at 235 kbps and quickly ramps to 5800 kbps in maybe 30 seconds (router real-time bandwidth average is abour 7 Mbps which makes sense including buffer and audio. Peak download is 16 Mbps including the initial period as the video ramps up and the buffer fills).

It is clear that at least for me there is slightly over two week old issue with netflix through my Apple TV. My other devices continue to get Netflix without issues.

Time was 10.45 PST - sorry

Netflix. Apple. Does it matter whose fault it is? They both have something to lose with this recent lack of quality. A few months ago I watched the whole "It's always sunny in Philadelphia". It didn't mater what time of day and the shows would start right up and look fantastic. Now, the same episodes buffer for 30-60 seconds before play, stop during play and buffer, and look like bootlegged VHS recordings. Nothing has changed on my end other than Apple TV updates (am I wrong, but shouldn't updates make things better?). I would switch to Netflix through my Sony blu-ray, but like the Apple TV interface so much better. All other stream channels on the Apple TV look great. Come on Apple. Let's get this fixed before the winter watching months.

I thought this might have been an ISP issue, especially since I have Comcast and they like to do funky things with their bandwidth. The first several posts on this thread are also people with Comcast. But then other people chime in who are on different ISPs.

Last night at prime time, Netflix on my ATV would not go over 235kbps 320x240 playing the Example Short. I tried it several times over the course of about 2 hours. It would start at 1700 or so then almost immediately drop down to 235kbps. I've run the test several times here this morning (about 7am) and its holding strong at 5800kbps 1920x1080 on my ATV.

My theory is that Netflix is trying out some new bandwidth management mechanisms and its not working right. If that's the case, I doubt they'd ever tell any of us that because that's not what we pay for. I think that if several ISPs started to limit Netflix bandwidth, that would be a pretty big conspiracy against Netflix. There is also evidence of other platforms being affected by this which leads me to believe that this issue cropping up after a recent ATV update might just be coincidence.

I have a 4G LTE MiFi that runs on Verizons network. I'll run some tests today. When I notice Netflix start to degrade over my 52/10 Comcast line, I'll switch my ATV to the MiFi (which gets about 14mbps down and up in my house) and see what happens.

I'm based on Boston, MA and I'd like to also confirm issues with NetFlix on Apple TV3. I'm seeing the exact same issue, SD low quality streams on Apple TV any time of day. If I switch over to NetFlix on my Sony TV I can stream in HD. Any other streams like Hulu on Apple TV are fine. My ISP is Comcast on the Blast package, bandwidth is a minimum of 40Mbit, so it's not a bandwidth issue.

I started seeing the NetFlix issue, after I upgraded the Apple TV from 6.0 to 6.0.1, issue still present on the 6.0.2 release.

Does anybody know of a way to downgrade the Apple TV back to version 6.0? Would be good to confirm if the new release screwed up ther NetFlix App.

Vandergraff wrote:

 

neilkna

 

Example Short will display the bit rate on all players that support adaptive streaming including the PS3 - make sure you are using 'Example Short 23.976' as there are other verions of the 'Example Short'. The PS3 should have no problem getting 5800 kbps - your PC unless it is running Windows 8 will not get more than 3000 kbps.

 

If you are seeing the issue on multiple platforms (PS3, Apple TV and PC) then you are seeing a different issue to one being discussed in this thread. Something else is causing Netflix streaming to be an issue for you. It would be better discussed in a different thread discussing Netflix Super HD playback on multiple platforms

 

In my case (and many others here) I have no problem getting Netflix Super HD on other devices including my Chromecast. My Roku 2's have no problem getting the highest bit rate.

 

However my Apple TV has been unable to get more than 1750 kbps for just over two weeks now (previously it always got 5800 kbps)

 

I think we'll delay resolution of both issues if we mix them up here.

 

Very good points. Last night for the first time since the Super HD problems surfaced, I began to also have trouble (pauses/re-buffering) while playing SD video ("The Long Way Down") on my ATV 3. Grabbed my iPad mini and checked Comcast speed (29 Mbps out of rated 30) and Example Short (3000 kbps, which I believe is max for this iPad).

What this suggests to me is that something in Netflix's congestion management is not playing nice with something in the Netflix app on the ATV. If that's true, the cure could be as simple as new ATV firmware. That might require both Netflix and Apple to make changes, but the facts suggest that Netflix's congestion managment works pretty well on other devices.

One other oddity that may indicate Netflix is already tinkering: on my ATV I no longer get the choice to resume or start at the beginning when I access the Example Short test video. I have automatic software updates turned off on the ATV, so if this is a change (not a glitch), it came from Netflix.

-dan