AppleTV buffering and streaming problems

Question

AppleTV buffering and streaming problems

For the last two weeks now we've been having consistent problems streaming shows on AppleTV. When we start a program, it will often say "Ready to play in XX minutes", where "XX" can be 15, 30, 45 or even more minutes. At some point the program will start playing, often in less time than predicted, but after 5-10 minutes it starts buffering and the screen freezes. I see that the show has caught up with the download progress bar. After a bit it will start playing again, until it catches up with the download again.

My home network is fine. I test the download speed and it is 20 MB/s (it's faster than that during the day, but in the evenings seems to slow down). Also, Netflix, HBO Go, Hulu, and other streaming services work just fine—no buffering issues at all.

Apple's attitude seems to be "it must be your network". But it clearly isn't, given that the other streaming services work without a problem.

Is there anything else that can be done? Anything I can try?

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Jul 28, 2015 8:40 PM

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Answer 1

UGADog

Level 4

1,971 points

Jul 28, 2015 8:45 PM in response to s_w_i_t_t_e_r_s

Which channel is having the buffering problem? Apple TV shows? Have you tried restarting your Apple TV? And make sure the software is up to date.

Update - Settings > General > Software Update > Update

Restart - Setting > General > Restart.

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Answer 2

vazandrew

Level 8

40,348 points

Jul 28, 2015 8:54 PM in response to s_w_i_t_t_e_r_s

Those other services adapt to the connection, iTunes content is at a fixed rate and higher quality. So that doesn't rule out a network issue.

Speed is one factor. If the connection is slowing down significantly in the evening then the ISP may be throttling

Make sure the DNS is set to auto (settings - general - network)

If on wifi try Ethernet

To see a current status of the network get a report from istumbler,netstumbler or similar. Look for signal strength, noise, nearby networks.

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Answer 3

Jul 28, 2015 9:12 PM in response to vazandrew

After further investigation I honk you're right. I have Xfinity Blast and there has apparently been a lot of congestion during peak hours. All of the settings on the AppleTV are correct and it is set to auto-update (it recently updated). I tried restarting.

Amazing that it's impossible to get a reliable, fast internet connection here in the tech capital of the world (SF Bay Area).

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