Apple TV 4th Generation Stuttering

I am having the issue that most of my movies and tv shows from my local library on the mac mini started stuttering recently (have the newest TVOS installed).

I have my apple tv 4th Gen connected via ethernet cat6 to Airport Extreme and the Mac Mini also via ethernet to Airport Extreme. Very frustrating to not be able to watch movies. I use Plex Media Server now and that works but would like this to be fixed. It used to work before and occurs both on big or small video files.

Plex is your best option. In fact, it was recommended to me by Apple. Since posting my lag issue last month, I have been in constant contact with Apple through one of their specialists, who is working with their Apple TV engineers to resolve the issue. Apple is fully aware that this lag issue is occurring on numerous 4th Gen Apple TV devices. Long story short: Apple is aware of the lag issue on the 4th Gen TV but is not going to fix the issue, and suggested Plex as a workaround. I am most likely going to buy a 3rd Gen Apple TV to replace the 4th Gen because it doesn't have the same lag issue. Apple attempted to blame the lag issue on the video content ("known good" v "unknown good") but I was able to demonstrate that the lag issue also occurs with a movie I downloaded from a purchase on iTunes ("known good") into my Computers App. I have wasted hours on this issue with no reasonable answer being given, and received poor customer service. Bonjuor is the name of the software that communicates your iTunes library back to Apple TV. Configuration setting (fps) may be the ultimate cause for this problem but Apple seems content to allow this issue to continue unresolved. A trade in program or class action lawsuit may be the only way forward.

This issue has returned for me, having been dormant for a few months. It happens with "good" content - all stuff I have downloaded form iTunes. I've gone back to my Gen 3 Apple TV, and it is working. I may go back to the 4th gen if Apple ever fixes the problem.

Did either of you try using a 5GHz wireless network on Airport? Go to: Applications/ Utilities/ Airport Utilities/ Airport Extreme/ Edit/ wireless options/ check 5GHz network (will be same password).

It resolved my issue for a week but the lag issue returned. The 5GHz is a less commonly used network( 5 v 2.4), and recommended by Apple.

I tried that, and it worked for a few minutes, but it kept losing the link to my library, and then telling me to turn on Home Sharing. After 4 episodes of this in an hour, I got out the old AppleTV 3.

Use Infuse or Plex. No stuttering. No pausing. Perfect playback and DD sound. AT4 is just not ready for prime time. Released half baked in regards to smooth playback and hampered DD sound. If you keep the AT4, use those two apps. Playback is much superior than native ATV 4.

I have been experiencing this problem with my ATV 2 for some months now. The problem is relatively new. My experience seems consistent with all the posts above. It's a nightmare to debug. Movies play perfectly fine through iTunes and airplay, but not through ATV. I moved from wireless to ethernet, but that did not help. I've done all kinds of things to try to step around this to no avail. Since I had six or so years of perfectly good service out of the device until now, I can only assume that its a software issue on the ATV and/or iTunes and/or their relationship. I've found no clear pattern yet. It seems to arise for any video played off my iTunes library (not streamed), whether the video was iTunes purchased or not, whether HD or SD, whether short or long, whether recently acquired or one that's been in my library for years. The problem is also not predictable, neither in terms of frequency (every few minutes -> not at all) nor severity (minor stutter -> complete lockup). It seems that disconnecting and reconnection the ethernet makes the ATV happy for a while (before eventually going bad again).

Unbelievably frustrating!

Early adopter so got the ATV4 on release. No problems for the first few weeks so stupidly gave away my ATV3.

Have tried everything to fix the stuttering. Wireless 2.4 and 5GHz. Cat6 ethernet, direct, switched through Time Capsule (latest gen), switched through Airport Extreme (latest gen), unmanaged Gigabit switch, managed Gigabit switch, high-end Billion router, Cisco router...and gave up.

I have to concur with this forum's general findings that it's a buffering issue. When it happens, I just go into the ATV4 settings and hit Restart and then it's good for a few days. Hoping the next tvOS update will fix.

Force quitting the ATV app may be enough to do it. That works for the YouTube app, and the problem sounds similar. Only applies to ATV 4, of course. The tvOS on ATV 4 keeps apps loaded, just like iOS, but that may not be the best thing.

Cheers Diana. I keep forgetting that facility is even there.

Same challenge.

I've had an Apple TV 4 from the day it first became available. Playback stuttering is a recent phenomena, one by no means consistent.

The Apple TV 4 is connected to an iMac and the internet via an ethernet cable. At first, only videos and movies located in Photos and iTunes were affected. This morning, YouTube videos began exhibiting the same behaviour.

In all cases restarting the Apple TV 4 fixes the issue. Until it occurs again.

After weeks of working with an Apple Specialist on the 4th Gen Apple TV, the only solution they offered was a workaround. Apple is aware of the problem but not going to fix it anytime soon. The workaround I used, and it seems be be working, is installing Plex and mapping the video files to the Plex Server. It takes about 20 mins to set-up but it's better than using Air Play from the iMac every time I want to watch a video from my iTunes library.

A further update...

I know this thread is ATV 4 and I'm reporting ATV 2, but it seems pertinent, particularly since this problem has only recently arisen (since El Capitan?) after years of stutter-free use.

To debug this further I took my macbook and ATV off my home network and connected them directly with a simple ethernet switch with nothing else on it (simplest network setup imaginable). Same problem.

I have my iTunes library sitting on a 2TB usb HDD. I could see the disk light flashing furiously as the ATV stuttered and it continued to flash for quite some time as the ATV remained locked up, unable to display (I was trying to run The Force Awakens, recently purchased). I then connected my TV to the macbook directly (rather than use the ATV), and of course the movie ran flawlessly.

It seems clear that it's a software problem (only relatively recently arisen on a very stable hardware).

TY for your post. My understanding is that it has to do with the software that communicates from iTunes to ATV called Bonjour.

This is from the engineers at Apple:

1. Different video formats exist for 3rd and 4th Gen ATV:

Video Formats: ATV 4th Gen

H.264 video up to 1080p, 60 frames per second, High or Main Profile level 4.2 or lower

H.264 Baseline Profile level 3.0 or lower with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

Video Formats: ATV 3rd Gen

H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High or Main Profile level 4.0 or lower, Baseline profile level 3.0 or lower with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format

2. "I’d suggest your customer workaround the behavior how ever best suits their needs. As I mentioned previously, one potential workaround would be finding and using a 3rd party app on the App Store that has features similar to Home Sharing but is less strict about acceptable formatting for video files than the Computers app."

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Plex app works for me. Apple has no plans to fix this issue in the near future from what I understand after talking to the Apple Specialist. It's very disappointing.

Thanks for those details. That sheds a lot more light on what may be going on with my setup. Much appreciated.