First off, I have multiple Apple TV devices in my home. Over the past week, I have been having buffering issues on movies and TV shows purchased. Everything is hard wired ethernet. In addition, I have download speeds of 42MBS. It's only on Apple TV that I have the issues. I have tried the same movies on all devices. Anyone else having this issue?
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012), OS X Mountain Lion
Has the speed been verified using speedtest?
Make sure DNS is set to auto (settings - general - network)
How old is the router, is it up to date?
Speed has been verified using speedtest.net. DNS is set to auto. I just had the gateway/router replaced by AT&T. Everything is directly connected to the gateway via a 16-Port Gigabit switch. I know a good amount about IT & Networking. All the basics have been gone through. Netflix, HBOGo, & YouTube all work fine on the Apple TV. It's any media that iTunes has to stream from Apple that I am running into the issue. The only thing I can think of is iTunes media may need some weird port opened up to communicate better. Either that or Apple is being cheap on their bandwidth and it's choking at certain times of night. Which I forgot to mention, this only happens at night.
the list of required ports
Well known TCP and UDP ports used by Apple software products
If it's happening at specific times then that could indicate throttling. Those other services adapt to the connection (and Youtube is highly compressed anyway) whereas iTunes is at a fixed rate. Try in another network, best to use a controlled one (like an Apple store).
BioHazzard, I'm having the same problem as you.
I called AppleCare and the advisor advised me to try personal hotspot on my iPhone (as a form of test). My iPhone was put on Wi-Fi, tapped on the same broadband as the AppleTV but I'm puzzled why this is happening. What does it mean if AppleTV can play YouTube movies via personal hotspot?
If you connected the Apple TV to your phone's network and it was able to stream OK, then that means there is an issue with your home network connection.
How old is the router and how far is it from Apple TV? Try changing channels on the router (refer to manual if unsure)
Are there other wifi devices close by?
I don't think it's a throttling issue. I ran speedtest at the same time I was having the issue. Speed held true at 46MBits/sec. I'll check with an Apple store.
That is really odd! I've never heard of that issue. Did he give you any explanation?
There are ISP's known to throttle at specific times and/or specific providers (i.e. iTunes). Either way, testing with Apple will be a good way to go.
I just purchased a new Apple TV from Apple and updated the software to current version. Tried to watch episodes of Breaking Bad last night and they kept buffering. I have Cox High Speed Internet, they just doubled their speed and say it's the fastest in home internet... Also just got a new Netgear Nighthawk X6 WiFi Router. The Apple TV is within 10 feet of the router and the buffering is terrible.
Have you had any luck resolving your buffering ?
I began having this problem after an upgrade of iTunes. I purchased an Airport Express and extended the Wi-Fi network over ethernet. This helped for a while, but now the problem is chronic. The streaming from PBS or other networks is working fine; my problem is with playing HD movies stored on external drives in another part of my house. The distance from my office to the living room is on the same level and very close.
I rebooted the router from AT&T, and I have tried resetting the Apple TV. I don't think that the issue is with AT&T, because the problem with the Wi-Fi is on my side of the network. I am really desparate to fix this problem.
This absolutely happened to me ever since the latest update.
No buffering issues until the update, now it'll take 30mins to download and then play a 20min episode in 720p, whereas there was no issue previously.
Very bug-ridden update in terms of the video loading - looks nicer, but it's terrible for streaming.
I too am having issues with ATV after moving to MacOS 10.10
Here are some things I have noticed.
When ATV is sharing from an iTunes computer, streaming buffer will end shortly after
The work around is to disable screen saver and any sleep modes, have the iTunes window active, and don't use the mac for anything else.
When streaming from the Mac to the ATV, music and movies will also have many start and stops too them.
My conclusion is that using a ATV may not be the best choice for music or movie playback. Good thing I have my DVD player
That indicates an issue with the local network
My problems cleared up with the recent software upgrade to Apple TV
Apple TV Buffering/Streaming Issues
