Q: Apple TV 3 Bad Streaming Quality

I have the same problem too.

When i start a Netflix movie, the first seconds are great after that it starts buffering a few seconds and the quality is awful. Most of the problem starts after 4:00 pm, before that time everything seems ok. I have an ATV 3rd gen. running on 6.0.2. I live in the Netherlands, where Netflix has been rolled out for about 4 months ago. On the other hand, on my Sony smart TV netflix app. everything plays at high quality 24 hours a day.

I have contacted Netflix and Apple a few times about this problem and they promised me too research it and hope for a solution soon. But they said at first that the problem was new for them, i can hardly believe that, according how big this thread and other threads are now.

See following thread

https://discussions.apple.com/message/24415754#24415754

TL;DR version - Changed my DNS server and SuperHD was restored  

Long version

I think I may have stumbled upon a solution. I tried it 3 hours ago and so far I still have SuperHD quality with my Netflix stream on my Apple TV 3. I was using OpenDNS for filtering reasons. I switched to Google's DNS servers and instantly the quality was perfect again. I switched back to OpenDNS and the quality was still good. For now I'm leaving it on Google servers and will probably switch back to OpenDNS to see if I can keep with their service and have the quality.

False alarm.

The DNS change gave me better quality for about 16 hours but now I'm back to having the same issue regardless if I am using Google DNS servers or OpenDNS. Well, I shouldn't say the same, it's better than the 240p version I was getting but still, it's not the SuperHD I enjoyed for a brief while. C'est la vie

Sorry to have gotten anyone's hopes up.

Side rant: everyone hoping for a "real" Apple TV, how about Apple just gets back to "it just works" and focusing on a few things. Lately their software has been more "it just works when the stars align just right"

It looks like this could drag on for years to come....what an epic failure this product is.....tried to solve this problem in sooo many ways and none and I mean none of them have worked......at some point in time I would think some one from apple would step forward and state the truth about Apple TV.....it's broken....the ability to stream movies without a cable attached does not exist.....it takes hours to watch a 60 minute show....hours.....where is the fix for this.....where r u apple.....please post a fix for this nonsense ASAP....currently every single wifi tv streams with ease....not the Apple TV tho....

Let's try to keep all the disccusions in one thread.  Maybe Apple and Netflix will notice it.

This thread 15363 views.  This other thread (nearly exact same disccusion) 65,757 views.

See following thread

https://discussions.apple.com/message/24415754#24415754

Same issues here for about 6-8-weeks now.  Everyone (Apple, Time Warner and Netflix) is pointing fingers at everyone else.  Everything on my network and streaming universe works great except the Apple TV/Netflix combination.  I can even stream Netflix to my iPad and send it to the TV via Airplay and it looks fine.

I'm tempted to go pick up a Roku and see if it works better.  That would be a shame as it would be my first departure from the Apple family after 20+ years of satisfaction.

same issue here. ATV3, we actually have two of em. Both were streaming lousing picture quality. After reading this thread I logged into netflix and checked what my setting was for playback. It was set to Auto, and netflix was recommending setting it to High. So I did that just as an experiment, now both ATV3s are streaming in pretty good looking HD. We'll see if it continues.

Same problem here. First altogether unviewable PQ, after loggin in and setting highest resolution at the Netflix website it's better but no HD.

Comcast is limiting the speed to Netflix because Comcast is demanding higher licensing fees, because they are the LARGEST communication company in the world.  This story is all over the news outlets.  The 2 companies have gone back and forth.  Forbes Magazine reported that the throttle is still in place.

Get an internet provider that promises "Net Neutrality".  Comcast limits interent connection speeds to all sorts of sites that it does not own or have an interest in.

I'm confused by this, because Netflix and Comcast just signed a peering agreement in February, as described in this article and elsewhere:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/03/21/reed_hastings_takes_on_comcas t_other_isps_you_should_side_with_netflix.html

My Netflix streaming has been working fine for the last couple of months, after a month or so of terrible quality, so bad that I stopped watching. During the time that Netflix was bad, every other streaming service (Hulu, iTunes video, YouTube, PBS, etc.) was working fine on my Apple TV, and Amazon Video worked fine on my Blu-Ray player (Netflix did not work on the Blu-Ray player).

People who reported problems here used a variety of ISPs, not just Comcast, and many reported that the problems began at about the same time in late November or early December. That seemed to indicate the problem was with Netflix, unless the ISPs conspired to start throttling at the same time.

I'm not saying that Comcast isn't to blame, but it is really impossible for the end-user to know. We can only trouble-shoot up to a point, and then we have to take the word of the providers, and they just point the finger at each other.

I could not find any recent story that said that the throttling is still in place. It doesn't make senese that Netflix would pay for peering if Comcast isn't honoring the agreement.

joelchip wrote:

 

Comcast is limiting the speed to Netflix because Comcast is demanding higher licensing fees ...  This story is all over the news outlets.  ...  Forbes Magazine reported that the throttle is still in place.

 

The above statements are wrong or stale.  The Comcast Netflix deal is old news (a month old).  Current news is Reed Hastings now complaining about the Comcast Netflix arrangement.

Phil M2 wrote:

 

People who reported problems here used a variety of ISPs, not just Comcast, and many reported that the problems began at about the same time in late November or early December. That seemed to indicate the problem was with Netflix, unless the ISPs conspired to start throttling at the same time.

Yes it appears that most/all of the people that had Netflix-on-the-ATV specific problems that started after the 6.0.2 update have returned to speed since the 6.1 update.  There also appears to have been a Comcast specific change made by Netflix in January that resolved performance problems for a number of people.

Hey everyone. I just want to report that I was having all the same exact problems with my Apple TV. Terrible. Netflix being the worst of the problems just like everyone else. I did the update and everything sucked and was blurry or un playable. I was in the process of trying everything and then I found "restart" in my Apple TV settings. I restarted my Apple TV and pow. Everything changed! Now everything works! Netflix perfect HD quality! Doesn't change or skip at all! Yes!!

I have the same problem as everyone else with ATV3 and Uverse. If I do Netflix over the PS4 it works perfectly.

Clearly this is a ATV issue somehow.

Christer