Q: Netflix quality HORRID after update

bstratton wrote:

 

I just finished a chat session with a Netflix rep who asked me to power down my Apple TV, and then sign out and sign back in to Netflix. Neither fixed the issue with the picutre quality (which is the same as most of you are experiencing).

 

He then said that they've seen this problem a lot recently, and that it only seems to affect users who have Comcast as their ISP and use Apple TV to watch Netflix. He said that it is a known issue, and that they are working on it.

There are many people in this thread who see the '4 week old Netflix Apple TV' issue with many different ISPs.

Likewise there are people seeing Netflix issues that are player independant on many ISPs.

However for us with the '4 week old Netflix Apple TV' issue our other devices (Chromecast, Rokus, PS3s, Blu-Ray player etc) continue to work great and yes in my case I am  on Comcast.

I hope both issues get resolved but let's be careful not to mix them.

I'm consistenty seeing the issue when I try to play any of the SuperHD content.  (which is everything I try to play)   On a hunch, I went into the Apple TV's settings, Audio & Video and TV Resolution and dropped it to 720p 60Hz.  Now all the Netflix content reports as HD instead of Super HD. 

Playing at 720p I do not encounter the terrible quality issue, nor the buffer underrun.  I'm not testing during primetime, but I'll do more testing tomorrrow.

Apul wrote:

 

I'm consistenty seeing the issue when I try to play any of the SuperHD content.  (which is everything I try to play)   On a hunch, I went into the Apple TV's settings, Audio & Video and TV Resolution and dropped it to 720p 60Hz.  Now all the Netflix content reports as HD instead of Super HD. 

 

Playing at 720p I do not encounter the terrible quality issue, nor the buffer underrun.  I'm not testing during primetime, but I'll do more testing tomorrrow.

Thanks - that is very interesting.

I switched my Apple TV to 720p 60 Hz and yes it was a little better - getting 2350 kbps on example short (the lower quality 720P stream) and seemling getting similar on other titles.

Then I switched back to auto - and for the first time in 4 weeks I get 5800 kbps on Example Short. I just tried Pirates of the Carribean, Skyfall, Battlestar Glactia and Thor - all looked great and averaged ~7 Mpbs which seems about right for Super HD (for the last few weeks the best I could get was 2Mbps average).

Now as you say not primetime - but time of day wasn't the issue for me. Will try more titles tomorrow.

bstratton wrote:

 

He then said that they've seen this problem a lot recently, and that it only seems to affect users who have Comcast as their ISP and use Apple TV to watch Netflix.

It would be unkind to call this a lie but ... it is.

While not a fix, I can confirm that switching video on the ATV to 720p 60Hz makes for a pretty decent picture. Thanks @Vandergraff

Well i dont know but right now im getting 5800 kbps on my atv (1:06 pm sat. 12/7/2013).It deteriorates after time goes on thru the afternoon & thru evening, every day about the same time.Im on comcast.Just had service guys here for 2 days & they found nothing wrong.I told them they wouldnt because is always later in the day.Once i called about 9:00 pm to comcast internet line & they reprovisioned the modem & started working again but went back the next day.

Will add that I too am also a Comcast customer.

MacRacer wrote:

 

While not a fix, I can confirm that switching video on the ATV to 720p 60Hz makes for a pretty decent picture. Thanks @Vandergraff

I tried the 720p output solution - did not make a difference on my Apple TV. Still only 560 kbps streaming. I set the video output back to 1080. The streaming quality on my Apple TV with Netflix is all over the place. It erratically jumps to 1080p (lowest setting for 1080p), then back to 560kbps. My latest test was this morning, Saturday in the Los Angeles area. 560 kbps.

Then I tried something else. I registered my Sony 3D Blu-ray player for the first time. Netflix managed 1080p on that device (lowest quality for 1080p, but 1080p nevertheless.) It did jump however back to 720p every now and then.

I am thinking there are a few problems happening at the same time. Streaming in general seems to be not working right with the Apple TV. YouTube, iTunes, Vimeo for example are not streaming services like Netflix or the PBS app or some of the other TV News apps. These other apps download and buffer and the quality is generally excellent. With true streaming, like Netflix and PBS, the streaming quality is mostly terrible as we all know. I am not able to get any 1080p quality out of PBS for example - despite the fact that they are streaming some of the content in 1080p (as you can check on their website). It's the same blurry mess as Netflix. Could there be a general problem with streaming and the Apple TV software? Let’s remember - the iTunes store is basically a downloading service and not a streaming one and that’s Apple’s own business. They don’t make money from Netflix. But they do need more content than their own iTunes Store, so it is in their interest to fix streaming on their device. Let’s hope.

Then I tried Amazon Prime on my Sony Blu-ray player - flawless. I am not sure if that is a true streaming service - it might very well be. Amazon runs a visible bandwidth test in front of every movie or show - in my case it showed between 12 and 19 Mbps. The HD looks outstanding. I tried Vudu on the same device (not sure if that one is true streaming, but it might be) - that app also ran a network test to determine if my network is fast enough for 1080p - speed was off the chart - the video looks fantastic.

Back to Netflix in general. They have been slowly rolling out their new SuperHD for everyone over the past 2 months (not just the the handful of ISP's who support their Netflix Open Connect delivery architecture). That move may have pushed everything over the edge for good (in addition to the streaming problems the Apple TV may have in general). Netflix is now pushing way more data down the pipelines and it's overwhelming the networks everywhere. My Sony player should be getting a constant high quality 1080p picture on a Saturday morning, but it doesn't (at least it doesn't fall below 720p). - This is a serious problem for Netflix. They say ISP's should join their Open Connect network, but fact is - NONE of the major ISP's have joined (or are even thinking of joining): Comcast, TimeWarner, AT&T, Verizon - none of them have signed up (most of them are content providers themselves and yes, that's a conflict of interest, but what can we do...). The vast majority of Netflix customers are getting their Internet through these major providers. We have no choice. Here in Los Angeles I can pick between TimeWarner and AT&T. That's it. I'd say Los Angeles is a huge market for Netflix and none of us can take advantage of Netflix Open Connect. - So this is not an isolated Comcast problem.

It's not looking food for Netflix right now. SuperHD may have been a really bad move they may regret soon. Our monopolized ISP structure here in the US is not ready for that much more data and I don’t think the big ISP’s are going to do much about it. We can’t even threaten to take our business elsewhere. The other guys have the same crappy network.

In the short tern services that seem to have more bandwidth left, like Amazon On Demand, might be the winners - until they get as popular as Netflix and can’t deliver their content to their customers fast enough.

Vandergraff wrote:

 

Then I switched back to auto - and for the first time in 4 weeks I get 5800 kbps on Example Short. I just tried Pirates of the Carribean, Skyfall, Battlestar Glactia and Thor - all looked great and averaged ~7 Mpbs which seems about right for Super HD (for the last few weeks the best I could get was 2Mbps average).

 

Now as you say not primetime - but time of day wasn't the issue for me. Will try more titles tomorrow.

This morning it is back to way it has been for the last 4 weeks - getting 1050 kbps on my Apple TV.My other netflix players working great as normal.

Oh well - if I get time later I may try a call to Netflix support to add my input. I can easily confirm it is not the connection speed of my Apple TV or ISP (iTunes downloads at the 16 Mbps using same Apple TV and connection).

All of you guys with Comcast (and other major providers) should check out my post on page 20, linked below. It explains a bit about the whole Netflix-Comcast issues with the Content Providers (CDNs) which by the responses of the Netflix reps you guys have spoken too seems to point more evidence towards the source of this quality issue. Comcast is one of the major providers and most people having difficulties have Comcast but there also seems to be other ISP (AT&T?) experiencing the same.

So just stop messing with your Apple TV and downgrading firmware, it's all a waste of time. It's not on your end.

Link here

Sorry to beat a dead horse here, but reminding everyone (and to new readers) to:

" Markus Wernig

Netlix on Apple TV is broken right now - basically every Apple TV user is experiencing the same issue - substandard video streaming quality. However, few people actually contact Netflix and Apple about this issue directly. Posting on this forum is helpful for others, but will do little to convince Apple or Netflix to move this issue up the priority chain.

So, everybody here, please call Apple tech supporthttp://support.apple.com/kb/HE57

or send bug reports via their feedback page:http://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html

Call Netflix or chat with them online https://help.netflix.com/help and let them know that streaming works fine on other devices but is broken on the Apple TV (be prepared - they'll try to blame it on your internet connection or a faulty device, which is nonsense in this case). Tell them to send a report to their tech department. They need to hear from as many users as possible."

In fact, you should be calling Netflix to ask for a credit for 30 days+ of streaming service.

Actual Software wrote:

 

In fact, you should be calling Netflix to ask for a credit for 30 days+ of streaming service.

Exactly. The worse they can do is say "no".

Actual Software wrote:

 

In fact, you should be calling Netflix to ask for a credit for 30 days+ of streaming service.

Among a lot of great inputs today, I think this is the best!

Since I subscribe to Netflix for both DVD's and streaming, I've been thinking of cancelling the streaming part until this is fixed, while preserving my account through the DVD part. Adjusting this is very easy in the Accounts part of the Netflix site. If enough people do this, they might really notice.

Zoddie wrote:

 

All of you guys with Comcast (and other major providers) should check out my post on page 20, linked below. It explains a bit about the whole Netflix-Comcast issues with the Content Providers (CDNs) which by the responses of the Netflix reps you guys have spoken too seems to point more evidence towards the source of this quality issue. Comcast is one of the major providers and most people having difficulties have Comcast but there also seems to be other ISP (AT&T?) experiencing the same.

 

So just stop messing with your Apple TV and downgrading firmware, it's all a waste of time. It's not on your end.

 

Link here

I have Comcast and have no problem getting Netflix on all my other devices (Chromecast, Rokus, Blu-Ray player etc).

The issue you raise may be an issue that some are seeing but its not what caused the Netflix Apple TV issue which started for many 4 weeks ago.

A question that has been asked before - and I don't think we know the answer - is whether anyone with an Open Connect ISP (Google, Cox, Cablevision etc) is seeing the Netflix Apple TV issue.