Q: Netflix quality HORRID after update

bodosom wrote:

 

The former is rare the latter is unheard of for me.

Perhaps it is time to put some faith back in the ATV3.

Well my ATV just like every other streamer still connects me to there crappy Netflix Streaming Service in Newark, NJ.  I was able to watch full episodes however with the Clone Wars and Twilight Zone I had to restart the stream a few times in order for it to lock into HD.  However everytime still Netflix Streaming Service in Newark.

Instead of restarting Clone Wars last night I waited for it to ramp up and it went to Super HD in a little over a minute which before 7.1 it would have never ramped up. I also noticed that the initial buffer is double now. Before once the image came on it use to under normal conitioms the LED bunking on SD program was only 15 seconds and HD was 30 seconds but now SD is around 45 seconds and HD is 1 minute 30 seconds estimated.

Without tempting fate the Apple TV update does seem to have had positive effect... does this therefore mean it was indeed the Apple TV all along rather than the Netflix app and if so, why weren't Apple quicker at resolving it.

Antonio Spinozzi1 wrote:

 

it was indeed the Apple TV all along rather than the Netflix app

No.

I am pretty sure that Apple does not write/design the Netflix app.  Just like Apple did not write/design iPad Netflix app. And if you look back at my posts you can see that before the 6.1 ATV update my streaming issues went away. 

My guess is that the issue is a combination of the Netflix streaming servers and the Netflix streaming algorithm between  the servers and the ATV.  I also guess that Netflix modified their ATV app for 6.1. 

Since I updated to 6.1 I have noticed that it sometimes starts at a lower quality, but within 30 seconds or so is up to full quality.  Also since I am happy with the quality I have not spent anymore time watching the test video.

Hopefully everyone is getting higher streaming with this latest update. 

Tempting fate here but the last 2 nights during prime time the ATV started and stayed in high def for ~ 1 hr (my total viewing). That hasn't happened for me since December! Perhaps there is life after updates. FYI, south Texas, time warner, 15 down.

ATV working great but I had to connect it wired. A few days ago it disconnected the WiFi and last night while watching something I got the spinning wheel and I could not load anything. It was not my WiFi as my other 5ghz tablet and iPod was working fine. After I connected the Ethernet cable it was fine.

I just restarted my Netflix subscription to test out the performance on Apple TV. I canceled Netflix 2 months ago when this chain only had 40,000 views on it (now it's 113,000) and 2 updates ago.  I also got a new Blu player that has the Netflix app built in so I can do a side-by-side streaming comparison.

My details:

Los Angeles, CA

Time Warner Cable

100MB/s turbo-ultra service (waaaaay faster than the standard 15MB service)

ATV & BD Player = wifi, not hardwired

ATV3 performance: I used the "Example Short 23.976" which started off at something like 340x260. Every 10 seconds or so it increased, and eventually got up to 1280 x 720 (which isn't SuperHD). I left it run for 2 minutes, but it never got better than that -- but still, that's better than the resolution I was getting when I canceled the service.

BD Netflix performance:  same as above, but after about a minute it eventually worked up to SuperHD which I think was 1920x1080.

The ATV3 was still a bit slower, but at least now I have an alernative.

Kirby

Loner T wrote

 

Perhaps it is time to put some faith back in the ATV3.

Yep. This has always been about business arrangements between Netflix and its distribution "pipeline." Never has been technical problem with the Apple TV (mine has worked properly for months).

Many news articles this morning about a possible new agreement between Apple and Comcast to fix "web congestion," such as this one from USAToday:

"The Wall Street Journal reported that the arrangement under discussion would have Comcast provide special treatment on its cable system to ensure the video data would get around Web congestion, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources familiar with the talks."

See:

http://usat.ly/1m1pTZT

Q.E.D.

jimpal wrote:

Yep. This has always been about business arrangements between Netflix and its distribution "pipeline." Never has been technical problem with the Apple TV (mine has worked properly for months).

Or not.  I get my now (post 6.1 update) working data streams from the same place I got non-working (pre 6.1 update) streams.  Like everyone else with the ATV problem I didn't (and still don't) have problems with my other client devices.  So either (in my case) Time Warner started targeting the ATV with  6.0.4 and stopped the instant I upgraded to  6.1or Netflix fixed the problem with the client.

Sometimes a bug is just a bug without a conspiracy.

You're the only one with that exact timeline.  jimpal was right all aolong.

GaryJR4 wrote:

 

You're the only one with that exact timeline.  jimpal was right all aolong.

Unless you're jimpal you're well aware that that's not correct and is only part of the evidence that utterly refutes the conspiracy/non-bug theories.

ATV3 is now once again my primary Netflix streamer because it does not have the annoying habbit unlike the Roku 3 and PS3 of shriking the credits which I hate so much.  It can't even wait until the program is even over sometimes and it reminds me of cable and broadcast TV.  Only the ATV3 and Chromecast don't shrink the credits.  Even the S5100 BluRay player does not either it waits until the credits are over then it asks me if I want to play the next episode.  I turned off that annoying post play in my account settings however the Roku 3 and PS3 still shrink the credits.  Anyway rant over.

The ATV3 under congestion may start out in SD but unlike before within 30 seconds to a minute usually quicker it ramps up to Super HD.

Still more info on cause. It became obvious this was never Apple's problem, but Netflix's.

Yes, Comcast may not be completely objective, but this totally fits with what we all saw happening. Just business.

http://recode.net/2014/04/24/comcast-says-netflix-slowed-down-its-own-streams/